Reviews eight documents from the ERIC system that deal with teaching and learning: styles, processes, classroom interaction, innovative techniques (particularly in theatre classes), and obtaining grants to finance innovative ideas. (PD)

Theater, the imagined and enacted world of human beings, is one of the primary ways children learn about life--about actions and consequences, about customs and beliefs, about others and themselves. Theater arts benefit the student because they cultivate the whole person, gradually building many kinds of literacy while developing intuition,…

Now more than ever, there is a need to understand and respect diversity in the classroom--especially in drama and theater work where it is easy for students and teachers to act out unconscious biases. This book offers a pluralistic perspective for the field of educational drama and theater practice, demonstrating how educators can respectfully…

The question of how to provide children with a set of core values and beliefs, while still allowing them freedom of choice or independence, permeates not only the family structure, but the education system as well. The educator/author of this paper, a teaching artist, justifies drama as promoting critical understanding and enhancing the ability to…

This volume contains papers presented at the 1997 meeting of the American Educational Research Association; many were presented as part of Arts and Learning programs. The papers gathered in the volume explore in a variety of ways the notions of space: artistic, cultural, domestic, personal, political, public, private, and virtual and how spaces…

Four papers focus on school programs for gifted and talented students. (CL)

Interviews the directors of university theater programs to find out about course offerings for K-12 educators who want to brush up their theatre skills. Finds that graduate programs are rare--most colleges concentrate on undergraduate theatre education programs; some sponsor certification programs. Discusses Masters programs at Roosevelt…

States that recent research suggests that an education in theater beginning in kindergarten and continuing throughout the educational process can teach students valuable skills that will serve them well in the professional world, including problem solving, team work, and decision making. Discusses the program at Jefferson High School and its…

Discusses four trends in the field of children's theatre: (1) international exchanges of performances; (2) the unification of arts associations and emphasis on advocacy; (3) television's seemingly new awareness of youth and implementation of high quality, substantial programs; and (4) corporate involvement with education. (MS)

Relates that art education has not been an integral part of the university curriculum. Contends that the recent emphasis on design education in universities and the discipline based art education movement in the public schools have a great deal in common that might enhance curriculum development at both the university level and in the public…

Discusses the reform context, the importance of standards, the importance of arts education, the benefits of arts education, and the arts and other core subjects. (RS)

Argues that the assessment of theater abilities should come from careful thought about the heart of theatre work. Discusses online assessment, portfolio culture, and the company model. Argues that students should be welcomed into discussions and provided with problem-solving and decision-making skills. (SR)

Asks whether standards in the arts are necessary. Presents the standards as set forth in the Goals 2000 Act, and provides some commentary on how to achieve them. States that educational reform, national standards, artists and educators working together, teacher education, and teaching leadership are necessary to make the standards work. (PA)

Public confidence figured significantly in the Rockwood (Missouri) School District's improvement efforts. Rockwood's public-engagement strategy is based partly on meeting people where they live and work and partly on Spotlight Productions, a conceptual visual and performing arts/community-education center that allows observation of school programs…

Examines five versions of the Cinderella story. Argues that children's fairy tale drama presents female beauty as a moral absolute, not merely as a physical characteristic. Cites feminist theories of the female body to demonstrate ways in which fairy tale drama establishes female beauty as an unchanging, "universal" concept. Considers…