The rich learning that accompanies collaborative research practices can go unappreciated without systematic reflection and examination, which is an under-researched area. In this arts-informed inquiry, grounded in the experiences of four scholars, we show how artmaking was integrated into a qualitative research process to represent findings. In…

Our research project explores mentorship in four studies located in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and online. We questioned how and if performing mentorship in communal spaces created online could nurture and facilitate the levels of trust, vulnerability, security, and support we had experienced through in-person mentorship. We share the…

New art teachers find themselves in the position of negotiating, among other things: the knowledge gained in university courses, their own past experiences as students in K-12 schools, pervasive social and cultural myths of teaching, the fact that teaching is ultimately an indeterminable act, and the complex relations of contemporary neoliberal…

Capacity to teach the arts is a problem reported by many teachers in primary (elementary) school settings in Australia. This paper reports on research which explored how to build primary school teachers' capacity in arts-based pedagogy. It outlines the design and development of a co-mentoring program between arts mentor practitioners and…

Learning to become a democratic educator requires listening to and learning from the perspectives, values, goals, and concerns of local communities. Obtaining and learning from this knowledge, however, is not without its challenges. This article will present an overview of community-engaged teacher education as well as some of the challenges…

This study examined how a Creative Arts Initiative (CAI) outreach program could develop aspirations for higher education among students from low-SES backgrounds in Western Australia. Using the lens of bio-ecological systems and social capital frameworks, the Creative Arts program was examined as a facilitator of interactions between students and…

What happens when a teaching method designed around learning new technologies is applied to artmaking for teens in an art museum? How do technology and traditional artmaking techniques connect in the studio? What role does mentorship play? What happens to participants after they leave the program? These questions are central to this case study,…

Background and Context: Women are underrepresented in the field of computer science, a trend that in part can be traced to girls' early experiences with the discipline. Objective: Our aim is to show how three girls who became strong coders talked about their debugging practice at the intersection of problem solving, emotion, and identity. Method:…

Research suggests that the arts can have a positive impact on youth development, from birth through adolescence. This review explores recent research on arts-based programs and arts therapies. Programs were considered arts-based if at least one of the main components was an arts-related activity, or if there was a deliberate use of arts in the…

This article provides an overview of research carried out with early school-leavers in four Youthreach centres in the West of Ireland. It offers progressive perspectives on links between early school leaving and mental health related issues. In particular the participants' stories reveal that their mainstream schooling experiences had a damaging…

Many students in American schools are facing educational limitations due to the effects of poverty and homelessness. Educator preparation programs must address the needs of this special population of poverty by providing training in trauma-informed pedagogy. The goal is to make teachers more aware of the effects of poverty and provide additional…

The practice of mixing grade levels in school settings is increasing (Nishida, 2009) and one third of classrooms worldwide already combine two or more grade levels (Cornish, 2006a). However, many teachers are assigned such mixed-grade groupings without training, and there is some evidence that this may be particularly true for art teachers…

This article examines how arts-based informal learning spaces engage young people at the intersection of creativity and technology. We conducted case studies of four youth media arts organizations to understand how teaching is defined and realized in these contexts. We find that teaching is a distributed act that sits at the intersection of…

Social inclusion for students with disabilities builds on steps taken for physically and academically inclusive learning environments and highlights the need for all students having frequent opportunities to interact with a broad range of peers in a variety of settings within and outside the classroom setting. This article presents some…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the third issue brief in their latest series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This series explores afterschool and: the Common Core State Standards,…