Preservice student teachers engaged in a collaborative research initiative to examine the memory of the 1954 "Brown v. Topeka Board of Education" decision that culminated in a public performance. Ethnographic data were translated into performance texts through students' performances that confronted issues of privilege, race, and institutional…

It is widely acknowledged that sustainable development is a long-term goal, which both individuals and institutions (and countries!) need to pursue. This important theme is characterized by an intrinsic complexity, since it encompasses ecological or environmental considerations on the one hand, and economic matters, social influences and political…

Community engagement has been used for many years to enhance and strengthen teacher education courses, preparing student teachers with real life learning experiences as they work with community groups in mutually beneficial projects. This research examines a community engagement project that involved 13 undergraduate creative arts students who…

In this outcomes study (N=40), changes in stress levels were compared across two participant conditions for a period of artistic activity with a cognitive focus on either a personally stressful or positive situation. Results indicated that participants in the positive-focus condition demonstrated a significant decrease in stress, whereas…

Artists have always had a role in imagining a more socially just, inclusive world--many have devoted their lives to realizing this possibility. In a culture ever more embedded in performance and the visual, an examination of the role of the arts in multicultural teaching for social justice is timely. This book examines and critiques approaches to…

This book will be an original and indispensable resource for all who believe in the importance of art in the wider educational realm. Framing the recent "educational turn" in the arts within a broad historical and social context, this anthology raises fundamental questions about how and what should be taught in an era of distributive…

C.P. Snow calls for communication between the "two cultures" of arts and humanities and science and mathematics so that, globally, humanity can survive and prosper. This paper suggests that when individuals begin to identify with both "cultures," they will be less tolerant of such polarity within education and society and will…

Rehabilitation counselors work with clients who have a variety of counseling issues related to grief and loss--including potentially life-threatening illnesses and disabling conditions, the death of loved ones, and loss of employment--and there is a documented need for additional training to serve these clients better. This paper provides an…

Shawn Brixey's "Altimira" is a decidedly strange work of art--so strange that he has not, to date, put it on public display. He turns on a device, housed in a basketball-size glass chamber, and it converts rapidly pulsating radio signals emanating from pulsars--collapsed stars that spin violently, sweeping their poles like lighthouses…

Teacher educators are often challenged to demonstrate the same kinds of constructivist educational practices in their own teaching they so often recommend for public school educators. We report here on our efforts to reconstruct our university teaching practice through experiments with artmaking as a pedagogical strategy. Two case illustrations…

Creating paths for the active engagement of Californians serves as a unifying theme for The James Irvine foundation as it pursues its mission of expanding opportunity for the people of California. Through the foundation's grantmaking programs in arts, California Democracy and Youth, it aspires to a California where opportunities to participate…

This study examined the effectiveness of different types of art activities in the reduction of anxiety. After undergoing a brief anxiety-induction, 84 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to color a mandala, to color a plaid form, or to color on a blank piece of paper. Results demonstrated that anxiety levels declined approximately the…

The teaching of human anatomy has had to respond to significant changes in medical curricula, and it behooves anatomists to devise alternative strategies to effectively facilitate learning of the discipline by medical students in an integrated, applied, relevant, and contextual framework. In many medical schools, the lack of cadaver dissection as…

Practice-based research in art and design is the focus of postgraduate programmes at many universities. The term is useful when practice constitutes a critical part of the research methodology resulting in a form of research through practice. This study uses one such postgraduate programme to examine student researchers' understanding of their…

The artwork created by David Hammons titled "The Door," is a glass in wood door that shows the words "Admissions Office" on it in reverse. There is a black shadow image of a person peering in. This powerful statement of inequality reflected the frustration of African-Americans trying to get into colleges and universities during…