Drawing on research on high-reliability organizations, this interviewbased qualitative case study employs four characteristics of such organizations as a lens for analyzing the operations of one very successful K-5 public school. Results suggest that the school had processes similar to those characteristic of high-reliability organizations: a…

Assessing creativity is commonly believed to be difficult but there is evidence that an intuitive, holistic assessment is easy and reliable. Given that children can engage in creative activity and teachers are expected to foster it, some assessment of it could aid planning and optimise support. Assessing creativity intuitively and holistically…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a composition program, Composers in Public Schools (CiPS), on cognitive skills essential for academic success. The underlying hypothesis is that composition instruction will promote creative expression and increase performance on music-specific skills such as music reading, as well as foster…

One aspect of scientific inquiry that appears to be particularly challenging to learn is how explanatory models are developed and used in science. It is even more challenging to learn to teach through methods that engage young students in building and using explanatory models. In part, this is because to do so requires that teachers make real-time…

This article presents excerpts from a case study describing Angelica Dawson, a New York State music educator. Angelica makes improvisation a central part of her curricula in ways that transcend traditional offerings prevalent in American public schools. Qualitative research methods were used to document Angelica's work over the course of an…

Creative drama activities designed to help children learn difficult science concepts were integrated into an inquiry-based elementary science program. Children (n = 38) in an upper elementary enrichment program at one primary school were the participants in this action research. The teacher-researcher taught students the Full Option Science…

In an effort to push back against contextual factors that have constrained arts instruction and integration while recognizing that schools have limited resources, The Second City Training Center in Chicago has developed several educational programs that bring the art of improvisation to teachers and students. This article specifically focuses on…

Many teachers and researchers have found that motivation and engagement seem to decline as students enter adolescence, and one of the causing factors is limited opportunities for creative expression. Moviemaking a text undoubtedly encourages students' creative expression to a great extent. This article explores the integration of moviemaking in an…

Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's Carnival theory, this article focuses on specific outcomes of a research project the author undertook in Hong Kong, where drama pedagogy has been recently introduced into the official curriculum. It investigates the ways in which laughter, noise, jokes, frolic and popular literacies commonly appear in classrooms where…

It is important to find the means by which struggling writers can find success in the English Language Arts. For students struggling with reading and writing, the visual arts may be a way of accessing and expressing their ideas and ultimately opening up a world of creative possibilities. This article explores drawing and painting as a pre-writing…

One of the author's main goals as an art teacher is to make sure that her students understand at least one technique that any artist might use to make a work of art look more interesting. While she teaches various techniques, she often faces the challenge of how to get her students to explore their own imaginations and feel confident in their…

The present study investigated the strengths and areas of improvement for elementary music teacher preparation from the perspective of multiple members of a single body of music teachers. Subjects for the study were elementary music teachers from an urban school district in the southern United States. All elementary music teachers in the school…

The purpose of this study was to examine and describe children's music improvisations and the interactions that transpired within their four-person groups during regular weekly music classes as they planned and performed music improvisations in response to three different prompts: a poem, a painting, and a musical composition. Participants were…

The aim of the study was to examine how drama fosters children's everyday creativity, its relationship with creative pedagogy, and what teachers can provide for children's development in creativity in an Asian context. A series of drama lessons were designed and taught to two six-grade (11-12 years old) classes by involving pedagogical strategies…

This study examined associations of communicative skills, social behavior, and personality with acceptance and popularity as a function of hearing status, gender, and educational setting. Participants were 87 deaf and 672 hearing early adolescents of 52 6th grade classrooms in mainstream and special education. Acceptance varied as a function of…