Empowering Women is a traveling exhibition of folk art that focuses on ten cooperatives from four continents and ten countries. The exhibition is a window into the ways that cooperatives empower women to: (1) preserve and reinvigorate their country's traditional arts; (2) generate steady livelihoods for their families; (3) send their children to…

School associates (SA's), or cooperating teachers (CT's), have arguably been one of the most powerful influences on the teacher candidate's (TC) pre-service experience. For this reason, most studies about the practicum have focused on this relationship. However, while observing one visual art student's practicum as her Faculty Advisor (FA) for the…

Family engagement, in many forms, has been shown to be an essential component to successful learning for children. A child's first exposure to the arts is often through family rituals and traditions. New research suggests these activities can form the basis for personal exploration and skill development and reinforce in-school learning. Because…

This issue explores the nature of childhood by offering selections that re/imagine the idea of the child as art maker; inquire about the relationships between children and adults when they are making art; and investigate how physical space influences approaches to art instruction. Readers are invited to join a dialogue that questions long-standing…

This narrative chronicles the story of the Lunch Bunch, a group of 4 students with autism, 1 student with a specific learning disability and their art educator/researcher as they ate lunch together and discussed creativity and at times made art. A chronological story of the Lunch Bunch was crafted utilizing narrative inquiry as the overarching…

Exploring mathematical symmetry is one way of increasing students' understanding of art. By asking students to search designs and become pattern detectives, teachers can potentially increase their appreciation of art while reinforcing their perception of the use of math in their day-to-day lives. This article shows teachers how they can interest…

Art is all about the process of exploration. The final results are less important than what a child imagines, experiences, and learns along the way. Packed with a year's worth of art projects kids can create out of everyday objects and recycled materials. From buttons to Bubble Wrap and rocks to socks, the author shows how to plan exciting art…

This paper will critique the values embedded in the Western classical tradition from a Foucauldian perspective. It will identify issues of power as a central problem for Western culture which is developing into a monoculture in which many people are disempowered. It identifies the role of the dialogic imagination in challenging the dominant…

Afterschool programs are becoming an increasingly important part of many elementary students' educational experience. Though individual afterschool programs vary, arts experiences are often a part of the curriculum. This article discusses a three-day art project in an afterschool program with no specific arts component which illustrates the…

This article shares contributions from a moderated e-forum in 2007 that explored the transformative potential of arts in learning and social change. It draws on examples of poetry, creative writing, and experiences of innovative practice shared through these conversations by adult educators in contexts as diverse as Africa, Asia, Europe, North…

Targeting students in grades K-8, Art in Action's program consists of 12 age-appropriate lessons per year led by parent and teacher volunteers. The curriculum is based on historically significant artists and their works of art. Through semi-structured discussions, students examine a variety of masterpieces, learning about the artist as well as…

Despite the current press to improve school leadership, little scholarly attention focuses on building problem-solving skills in university leadership preparation programmes. This paper reports on two qualitative case studies that examined educational leadership students' probing of school problems through the arts. Fieldwork was used to derive…

In the San Fernando Valley of Southern California, the entire community participates in Youth Art Month through the Annual Valley Wide Student Art Show. The mission of the show is to provide students with an opportunity to exhibit their work publicly and to promote school arts programs during Youth Art Month. Apart from promoting arts education…

Few studies have been conducted on the physiological effects of creative art activities. In this study, the effects of creative art activities on human stress were investigated, and their effects were compared in 57 healthy college students (27 males and 30 females). Subjects were divided into four groups, each of which participated in 30-minute…

This publication is only available as a downloadable file. See who's giving and getting grants in your field. Strengthen your search for funds with the Foundation Center's digital edition of "Grants for Arts, Culture & The Humanities." This new "Grant Guide" reveals the scope of current foundation giving in the field. You'll find descriptions of…