In this essay, author Steven Ciampaglia reflects on the creation of a guerilla art course he and a colleague designed to engage students in the process of creating contemporary art relevant to them outside the traditional classroom setting. He examines how reflecting on his teaching practices led him to rethink the key objectives and design…

In this paper, I use Nielsen's (2005) scholARTistry (as cited in Siegesmund & Cahnmann-Taylor, 2008), interweaving art and written text to interpret and challenge the widespread impact of Borders in school and society. With an artistic and scholarly eye, I argue that the Border needs to be removed, not only the physical wall, but also the…

In many early childhood classrooms, visual arts experiences occur around a communal arts table. A shared workspace allows for spontaneous conversation and exploration of the art-making process of peers and teachers. In this setting, conversation can play an important role in visual arts experiences as children explore new media, skills, and ideas.…

This article examines how creativity and the arts can assist teachers who teach from a social justice perspective, and how knowledge built through meaningful experiences of difference can make a difference. Just as imagining is central to visual arts practice, so too is the capacity to imagine a necessity for social justice. The authors ask what…

In this article, Eliza Pitri states, "when allowed to make and explain their own choices, students develop invaluable creative problem-solving skills." Opportunities for such critical thinking abound in the art classroom. The importance of identifying how skills and dispositions related to creative problem solving are expressed in a…

In this article, we discuss the work undertaken in the first phase of a participatory theatre project which took place on a council housing estate in the Midlands of England, in which residents were invited to share their memories for a production which would present the history of the estate. This community is often characterised as deficient,…

In recent years, art education has been recognized as a suitable tool for enhancing emotional intelligence and nurturing a child's creative development. However, it seems that the education of art has lost the race against other primary school subjects, with only a minimal number of lessons being taught. The establishment of the afternoon art…

Framed at the intersection of activist and Indigenous research methodologies, this article explores the way two First Nations senior high school students made sense of their visual and literary identity texts (Cummins & Early, 2011). An Ojibwe artist-in-residence at an urban secondary school in southwestern Ontario and a university-based…

Arts may be scarce in many public schools, especially in disadvantaged communities. But outside school, one sees a "strikingly different landscape," according to this report. Why? Digital technologies are offering young people new ways to engage in the arts on their own time and according to their own interests. The report describes the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a behavioral art program in improving social skills for two children with autism in group settings. A multiple probe design across behaviors was used. The results indicated that for both children, the program increased the percentages of spontaneous verbal communications,…

To test the claim that digital learning tools enhance the acquisition of visual literacy in this generation of biology students, a learning intervention was carried out with 33 students enrolled in an introductory college biology course. This study compared learning outcomes following two types of learning tools: a traditional drawing activity, or…

Viewing YouTube culture as a creative, collaborative process similar to animal swarms can help art educators understand and embrace youth's digital practices. School-age youth are among the most prolific contributors to YouTube, not just as viewers, but also as producers. Even preschoolers now produce videos (McClure, 2010). So pervasive,…

This paper presents an analysis of how guided engagement with the arts can provide leadership lessons for school leaders and administrators. The study was conducted as part of two projects funded by the School Leadership Program (SLP) grants from the U.S. Department of Education. The principal interns and practicing school leaders participated in…

This article describes an expanded case study methodology that was used to explore the value that art therapy processes have in expression and understanding of the complications of immigration and acculturation. Data collected from two art therapy groups of Hispanic/Latino youth and immigrant women at an urban parish were analyzed to develop an…

In this personal reflection, an art therapist explores existential themes and the role of art in creating meaning and a sense of identity as she works with an artist-client at the end of his life. The author is reminded of the importance of being an artist in addition to being an art therapist.