Student access to arts education and the quality of such instruction in the nation's public schools continue to be of concern to policymakers, educators, and families. Specifically, research has focused on questions such as: To what extent do students receive instruction in the arts? Under what conditions is this instruction provided? What is the…

Best-selling author Marcia L. Tate brings her trademark "dendrite-growing" teaching strategies to this practitioner-friendly collection of brain-compatible methods for engaging K-12 students in social studies. Included are 20 proven strategies and more than 200 grade-leveled activities for applying them. Teachers will find concrete ways to…

The focus of this outcome study was on art therapy as a support for medical treatment and palliative care. A total of 41 patients were placed in 2 matched groups: 22 patients with Parkinson's disease and 19 patients without Parkinson's disease. Each participant completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) (Derogatis, 1993) pre- and post-session,…

The Pardada Pardadi Girls Vocational School (PPGVS) in India was established in 2000 by Virendera (Sam) Singh, a retired U.S. Dupont South Asia department head to address the issue of gender bias in India. According to the school's website, nearly half of India's population is illiterate: males outnumber females two-to-one in literacy and drop-out…

Although bookmaking activities continue to multiply in all educational contexts, ways that many artists have worked with the form and concept of the book have received scant attention. An art form developed, matured, and recognized beginning in the 20th century, artists' books occupy a particular niche among bookmaking practices. In this article I…

In this article, the author relates how she learned knitting and how she taught this craft to her own students. She learned knitting at the age of 40. After learning how to knit, she introduced the craft to her students as part of the art curriculum at Shady Hill School. She realized how knitting not only promotes intimacy, but it also helps…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

The ancient art of creating knots is undergoing a revival. (CK)

Ways to construct paper figures are discussed. (CK)

A method to construct puppets is described. (CK)

What is happening in arts teaching and learning in our classrooms? Recent NEMP reports tell us that Year 4 students are not performing well but that there is an increase in scores at Year 8. This new professional development resource builds on research into teacher practice in Years 0-6 classrooms in New Zealand primary schools. It offers new…

This article derives from a qualitative study in which four women artists/educators of color shared narratives of the input of feminism and ethnicity in various areas of their lives that included identity, education, professional activity, and artmaking. The scope of the article is limited to their art making (connected to personal experience)…

Appreciation of diversity begins in our classrooms with the children we know and interact with on a daily basis. Each child has a unique history--a story that gives us insights when we interact, plan our classroom community, and design our instruction. Children who have a primary language other than English have stories that they can communicate…

Over ten years ago, Tom Barone and Elliot Eisner (1997) described seven features of existing artistic approaches to educational inquiry. Their chapter dealt primarily with written, prosaic forms of Arts-Based Educational Research, or ABER, particularly educational criticism and narrative storytelling. In their concluding section, Barone and Eisner…

This paper reports on a small-scale research inquiry, designed to support teachers in a Melbourne primary school to bring together the arts, reading and writing in their classrooms in ways that create possibilities for "art-full" teaching and learning. The principal, concerned by underperformance on State literacy tests of the school's…