Purpose: This paper aims to test a nudge, or intervention, designed through behavioral insights at a university campus to discover cost-effective means for increasing recycling participation and methods for estimating waste removal cost savings. Design/methodology/approach: A series of studies were conducted demonstrating the effectiveness of…

Students need a genuine voice in the content, process, outcome, and assessment of their learning so they can take ownership of their education (Jaquith and Hathaway 2012). Digital art portfolios allow students to research, document, and reflect on the development and assessment of their learning. Unlike traditional portfolios, which typically…

This Instructional Resource relates the experiences of Native American artist Neal Ambrose-Smith, who views himself not only as an artist with a studio practice, but also as an "Arts Worker" who pursues learning new knowledge with his arts-related jobs. Painting, sculpting, and printmaking are only three areas of his studio practice. He…

Once a month, art educators from the Denver metro area have been gathering together in the spirit of inquiry to explore issues of the perceived theory and daily practice divide. The Theory Loves Practice (TLP) group was started in 2010 by Professors Rachael Delaney and Anne Thulson from Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU) and now has 40…

"Who cares?" and "Why do I need to know this?" are not just tired student mantras to be brushed aside by frustrated teachers. They are the questions about significance that lie at the heart of their work. At a time of both international economic recession and unprecedented global competition, educators and policy-makers too…

This text examines educational criticism and assessment with an emphasis on the new media arts. The article shares with readers the versatile, abridged to four points criteria, based on a research on assessment made by students, faculty, and non-art-related professionals, thus providing a preliminary tool for the use in the classroom environment.…

The purpose of this report is to provide insight into how state departments are implementing legislative requirements for educator evaluation, particularly the specific circumstances states encounter around arts education. Spotlights on Delaware, a first-round recipient of Race to the Top funding, and Colorado and Arizona, third-round recipients,…

The arts and music have been unintended victims of the No Child Left Behind Act. Several reports point to sharp reductions in student access to K-12 arts education, yet some school districts nationwide have managed to buck the trend. These districts, in communities rural through urban, are systemically embedding the arts at the core of teaching…

The visual arts can be an important and rich domain of learning for young children. In PreK education, The Task Force on Children's Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight ("Young children and the arts: Making creative connections", Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership, 1998) recommends that art experiences for young children…

"Letras y Arte: Literacy and Art" is a 3-week summer course at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, offering a social justice approach to art education. In this article, the authors outline the background of "Letras y Arte," contextualize the program in art education, and explain three strategies for engaging students: (1)…

Art is visual literacy, some would say more basic than writing and speaking, because it is not hampered by the barrier of language. The process of creating a visual narrative and understanding visual literacy is multi-faceted. Because similar cognitive strategies are used in the practice of both visual and written literacy, incorporation of…

Sandpainting is very much a part of the heritage and culture of the Navajo Indians of the American southwest. To separate the Navajo from their art is like trying to separate them from their land. One of the most unique art forms from the American southwest region is sandpainting. This column describes how to introduce sandpainting into the…

This article reviews some basic issues related to school violence. As observed by the practicing teachers and other educators who have been quoted in this article, adults who serve as role models to children and adults who respect, listen, and share will increase the students' awareness of the need to use assertive, non-aggressive behaviors in and…

This article describes VISTA (Video Instruction for Students in the Teaching of Art), a pilot program which presents videotaped art lessons to kindergarten through third-grade children in School District #12, Adams County, Colorado. (Author/SJL)

The author of this article, an art teacher at Monarch High School in Louisville, Colorado, describes how her experience teaching in a new school presented an exciting visual challenge for an art teacher--monotonous brick walls just waiting for decoration. This school experienced only minimal instances of graffiti, but as an art teacher, she did…