Article

Cultivating interest in art: Causal effects of arts exposure during early childhood

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Abstract

Despite a growing body of literature examining the effects of arts exposure and participation for youth, little is known about the development of attitudes toward art in early childhood. In this study, we used an experimental research design to investigate the effect of arts exposure on the development of children's attitudes toward art. Applicant groups (n = 26) with students in kindergarten through 2nd grade (n = 2,253) were randomly assigned to participate in an art museum's educational program, which included pre-curricular materials, a visit to an art museum with a guided tour and arts-based activities, and post-curricular classroom materials. We collected original data from students in their classrooms that measured their attitudes toward art museums and art generally, as well as art knowledge. We found that exposure to the arts at an early age produced significant positive effects on the development of students' attitudes toward the arts. Our findings demonstrate that arts-based exposure facilitated by schools can be an effective strategy for developing positive orientations toward art in young children.

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... En muchos casos, se registra también un interés creciente en el arte y en los museos (e.g. Kisida et al, 2017) y un incremento de autoestima y autoconfianza, debido a que los estudiantes comprenden que pueden intervenir sin temor a equivocarse. ...
... (Docente 16) Las fortalezas de esta área coinciden con las evaluaciones ya citadas, si bien la percepción sobre las dos primeras se acerca más a los efectos de los programas a largo plazo (e.g. Adams et al, 2007;Pou, 2002) que a los monovisita (Kisida et al, 2017;RA&K, 2018). ...
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Se presenta un estudio de caso sobre la aplicación del método pedagógico Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) a las visitas escolares del Museo Picasso de Barcelona. Teniendo como objetivo principal analizar las percepciones del profesorado de primaria y articular sus voces, se recurre a una metodología mixta a través de triangulaciones de instrumentos y técnicas de análisis. Para ello se opta por un análisis DAFO y se interrelacionan sus debilidades, amenazas, fortalezas y oportunidades mediante un mapa conceptual. Los docentes señalan muchos más aspectos positivos que negativos, concentrándose los primeros en tres áreas temáticas: los efectos cognitivos en el alumnado, el modelo educativo constructivista y significativo que impulsa y el concepto de museo como zona de confort donde el estudiantado puede participar y opinar libremente. Los aspectos negativos giran en torno a los rasgos propios del método, las características de la adaptación que de él hace la institución y las limitaciones estructurales del Museo Picasso. De acuerdo al profesorado, la implementación del método mejoraría al aplicarlo de manera más continuada y flexible, combinando las interpretaciones libres sobre obras de arte con contenido histórico-artístico. Al ser un método competencial se sugiere también un trabajo continuado en el museo y/o en la escuela. Editor: Cosme jesús Gómez Carrasco https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/RIFOP/article/view/89816
... If families want to rely on exposure to art making in public sectors, like school, this can clearly be seen as a cause for alarm, most significantly for poorer neighborhoods. A recent study explicitly emphasized that noted declines in art education are concentrated among historically underserved groups (Kisida, Bowen, & Greene, 2017). With this concept as anchor, my research interest was how young children in underserved communities find their place in creative education and creative expression. ...
... This also stands to impact their creative culture long term, if not encouraged in the early years of development. Exposure to art in the early years of childhood is the best indicator of interest in the arts and creative culture in the future (Kisida et al., 2017). Socioeconomic and racial boundaries stand to put an unfair disadvantage upon the children who do not have a creative culture in support of art-making time within their classrooms. ...
Chapter
The early childhood education classroom space is intrinsic to developing localized youth culture. Through a four-month-long qualitative research project in a space that focused on meeting the most rudimentary child needs due to staffing and fund restrictions, young children's creativity through the arts was stunted. In a classroom setting focused on structure and strict routine at the forefront, children's creative expression was observed through independent action and creative twists on order, instead of through activities deliberately designed to nurture creativity and expression. Since the children at the site did not seem to regularly participate in any kind of art making, or unstruc-tured creative expression, my focus instead became the fundamentals of creativity and how young children in the classroom demonstrated choice making and agency. The objective of this study was how to understand the space from a child-centered approach to better project how to include art making, creative education, and creative expression within early childhood education sites that do not currently employ it in their curriculum. This chapter aims to situate how young children created a culture of creative expression within the boundaries of a structured early education classroom when top-down teacher interaction was at a minimum, and open-ended, non-directive materials were provided.
... For example, Kisida, Greene, and Bowen (2014) found that taking children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to art museums had positive outcomes, including an activation of their desire to acquire cultural capital. Using an experimental approach and studying children in kindergarten through second grade, this team (Kisida, Bowen, & Greene, 2018) found that the art museum treatment resulted in students' being more likely to want to go to an art museum in the future, having more favorable opinions of art museums, and being less likely to think that art museums are boring. These findings are important because they imply that not only long-term cultural lessons can generate a disposition toward consuming culture; even a short time spent in a cultural venue such as a museum can influence students who are disadvantaged and lead them to become cultural consumers in adulthood. ...
... The significance of these variables throughout the models implies that cultural experiences may not have to be long-term or repeated activities in order to have lasting impacts. It appears that even visiting a museum occasionally during childhood, or going to a few concerts, increases one's cultural activities in adulthood, as well as the training of one's children; this finding aligns with the results obtained by Kisida et al. (2014); Kisida et al., 2018 in their experiment. Whether it is the interaction the child has with the other museum or concert-goers, the excitement of doing something out of the ordinary, or true cultural capital building, these activities, at least in the analyses here, appear to have a sustained impact into adulthood. ...
Article
Using data from the 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, I examine the association between childhood cultural exposure and adult cultural practices and tastes for first-generation college graduates, comparing them with college graduates who have at least one college graduate parent (continuing-generation). Without accounting for childhood cultural exposure, first-generation graduates, with a few exceptions, have modestly lower rates of cultural participation, though they are more similar to those in their destination group than those in their origin group. Childhood cultural exposure is positively associated with adult participation, appears to explain some of the differences between first- and continuing-generation graduates, and appears to partially explain the higher extent to which continuing-generation graduates involve their own children in culture. My findings imply that treating all bachelor’s degree recipients as similar may overlook continuing cultural capital differences, and that early exposure to culture plays a role in these differences.
... Only two known experimental studies have attempted to estimate this causal relationship. Using data from a randomized controlled trial, Kisida et al. (2018) show that art museum programs positively affect children's interest in art. Using a behavioral outcome as part of their randomized controlled trial, Kisida et al. (2014) found that students who were randomly assigned to participate in an art museum program were more likely to make a return visit to the museum outside of school. ...
... Early childhood education is crucial for children's cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development, and can be enhanced by incorporating new steam concepts (Tabiin, 2020). Parents often engage in "concerted cultivation" of culturally enriching activities for their children, but their ability to do so varies based on social class, with those lacking resources often less successful (Kisida et al., 2018). Teachers' director roles don't significantly influence creativity-fostering behavior scores; onlooker-stage manager and co-player roles predict it. ...
Article
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The study explores the pivotal role of artistic activities in cultivating creative thinking skills during early childhood in identifying the profound impact of these activities on children’s cognitive, emotional and social development. Grounded in Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence has shown the influence of different factors that have included pedagogical approaches, parental involvement, cultural background, and the age and duration of artistic engagement. The literature review has shown the foundational principles of creative thinking programs in early childhood education, emphasising the need for innovative and balanced approaches. Also, with the help of a survey, 300 participants of data were gathered that were teachers and caregivers. Content analysis has been done to get subjective results. The study has included the importance of incorporating artistic activities into educational settings and parents’ support, highlighting the consistent dynamics shaping creativity outcomes and advocating holistic foundations for children’s future success.
... Then we will randomly attribute one child of each triplet to OC, VA or CG groups. Stratified randomization may increase statistical power while retaining the benefits of random allocation [82]. We applied very similar randomization methods in the past [83]. ...
Article
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Background The optimal stimulation for brain development in the early academic years remains unclear. Current research suggests that musical training has a more profound impact on children's executive functions (EF) compared to other art forms. What is crucially lacking is a large-scale, long-term genuine randomized controlled trial (RCT) in cognitive neuroscience, comparing musical instrumental training (MIP) to another art form, and a control group (CG). This study aims to fill this gap by using machine learning to develop a multivariate model that tracks the interconnected brain and EF development during the academic years, with or without music or other art training. Methods The study plans to enroll 150 children aged 6-8 years and randomly assign them to three groups: Orchestra in Class (OC), Visual Arts (VA), and a control group (CG). Anticipating a 30% attrition rate, each group aims to retain at least 35 participants. The research consists of three analytical stages: 1) baseline analysis correlating EF, brain data, age, gender, and socioeconomic status, 2) comparison between groups and over time of EF brain and behavioral development and their interactions, including hypothesis testing, and 3) exploratory analysis combining behavioral and brain data. The intervention includes intensive art classes once a week, and incremental home training over two years, with the CG receiving six annual cultural outings. Discussion This study examines the potential benefits of intensive group arts education, especially contrasting music with visual arts, on EF development in children. It will investigate how artistic enrichment potentially influences the presumed typical transition from a more unified to a more multifaceted EF structure around age eight, comparing these findings against a minimally enriched active control group. This research could significantly influence the incorporation of intensive art interventions in standard curricula. Trial registration The project was accepted after peer-review by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF no. 100014_214977) on March 29, 2023. The study protocol received approval from the Cantonal Commission for Ethics in Human Research of Geneva (CCER, BASEC-ID 2023-01016), which is part of Swiss ethics, on October 25, 2023. The study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05912270).
... The arts are particularly important in early education. Young children's experience with the arts are linked to various cognitive, affective and behavioural outcomes (Kisida et al., 2018;Mages, 2018). Early childhood teachers play a pivotal role in facilitating young children's aesthetic and creative self-expression through the arts (Bautista et al., 2018). ...
... A small number of randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies have made advancements by shedding light on the causal impacts of arts learning and, in some instances, investigating outcomes that are more likely to be theoretically aligned with arts learning. These RCT studies have found that arts exposure through a museum's school partnership program improved students' critical thinking about works of art, historical empathy, tolerance, attitudes toward art, and desire to acquire cultural capital Kisida et al., 2016;Kisida et al., 2018). Similarly, students' attendance at live theater performances positively affects historical empathy, tolerance, and social perspective taking Kisida et al., 2020). ...
Article
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There is a renewed focus on what constitutes a well-rounded education, as well as a growing interest in broader indicators of educational success, including social and emotional development and school engagement. However, identifying educational practices that improve such outcomes has proven elusive. We explore the role of arts education on a broad range of educational outcomes using administrative and survey data from Boston’s public schools. We find that students receiving the arts in school attend more, are more engaged, and their parents and teachers are more likely to participate and be engaged at school, with larger effects for students with individualized education plans, students with lower standardized test scores, and students with a history of chronic absenteeism. These findings call attention to the pivotal role of the arts in providing students with socially and emotionally supportive learning environments that enhance relationships between students and schools.
... Penelitian tersebut menemukan bahwa paparan seni pada usia dini menghasilkan efek positif signifikan pada perkembangan sikap siswa terhadap seni. Paparan berbasis seni yang difasilitasi oleh sekolah dapat menjadi strategi yang efektif untuk mengembangkan orientasi positif terhadap seni pada anak-anak (Kisida et al., 2018). Pendidikan seni adalah kebutuhan seumur hidup bagi orang dewasa dan juga untuk anak-anak. ...
Article
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Anak usia dini lebih mudah menangkap materi pembelajaran yang diberikan dengan mengimplementasikan prinsip bermain sambil belajar, termasuk melakukan kegiatan kreasi melalui aktivitas seni. Kegiatan berkreasi dengan aktivitas seni untuk anak usia dini dalam hal ini adalah kegiatan bernyanyi dan menggambar. Hasil penelitian bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan tentang pentingnya kegiatan seni di sekolah untuk kecerdasan majemuk anak. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah melakukan pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif, dengan teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan studi pustaka, wawancara terstruktur, dan observasi terhadap 4 orang guru, 1 orang kepala sekolah, dan 104 peserta didik sebagai sumber data di TK Pertiwi Jember dan TK Islam 01 Kauman Juwana Pati. Teknik keabsahan data menggunakan triangulasi metode. Simpulan penelitian, bahwa aktivitas seni sangat bermanfaat untuk anak usia dini dan memengaruhi kecerdasan anak dalam proses perkembangannya.
... Secondly, it is necessary to identify the components of social intelligence as a complex phenomenon. It is important to note that most authors define social intelligence as a combination of certain components, distinguishing not only cognitive (knowledge) and behavioural (skill) components, as mentioned above, but also motivational (social needs and interests) (Astramovich, Lyons & Hamilton, 2015;Nolan & Paatsch, 2018;Rodney et al., 1988) and affective (emotions and feelings) (Kaukainen et al., 1999;Kisida, Bowen & Greene, 2018;Wawra, 2009) components. Thirdly, it is necessary to clarify whether social intelligence is an independent formation and establish its connection with the intelligence itself. ...
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We are very happy to publish this issue of the International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research. The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is a peer-reviewed open-access journal committed to publishing high-quality articles in the field of education. Submissions may include full-length articles, case studies and innovative solutions to problems faced by students, educators and directors of educational organisations. To learn more about this journal, please visit the website http://www.ijlter.org. We are grateful to the editor-in-chief, members of the Editorial Board and the reviewers for accepting only high quality articles in this issue. We seize this opportunity to thank them for their great collaboration. The Editorial Board is composed of renowned people from across the world. Each paper is reviewed by at least two blind reviewers. We will endeavour to ensure the reputation and quality of this journal with this issue.
... (Novaković, 2015). In addition, the children's attitudes towards art develop positively when they meet with different artists and works of art in art activities (Kisida et al., 2018). Creating a rich art environment in preschool is essential for developing children's aesthetic awareness, artistic abilities, and critical and creative thinking skills (Cutcher & Boyd, 2018). ...
Article
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Çalışmanın amacı: Araştırmanın amacı okul öncesi öğretmenlerinin sanat etkinlikleri kapsamında gerçekleştirdikleri uygulamaların incelenmesidir. Yöntem: Çalışma nitel bir araştırma olup, fenomenolojik desende yürütülmüştür. Çalışma grubu 15 okul öncesi öğretmeninden oluşmaktadır. Araştırmada okul öncesi öğretmenleri ile yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bulgular: Araştırmada öğretmenlerin üçte birinin sanat etkinliklerinde kendisini yeterli, üçte ikisinin ise kısmen yeterli gördüğü bulunmuştur. Öğretmenlerin tamamı yarı yapılandırılmış sanat etkinlikleri yaptırdıklarını ifade ederken, birkaç öğretmen yapılandırılmamış etkinlikler de gerçekleştirdiğini belirtmiştir. Öğretmenlerin sanat etkinlikleri uygulamaları kapsamında teknik odaklı (boyama, kesme yapıştırma, sanatçı ve sanat eserinden yola çıkılan vb.), beceri odaklı (yaratıcılık, küçük kas becerileri ve duyu gelişimi) etkinlikler yaptıkları ve ortam düzenlemeleri (sanat merkezi, okul bahçesi ve duyu masası kullanımı) gerçekleştirdikleri tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca öğretmenlerin sanat etkinliklerinde sırasıyla en çok sanatsal materyaller, doğal materyaller, artık materyaller ve manipülatif materyaller kullandıkları bulunmuştur. Öneriler: Okul öncesi öğretmenliği lisans programlarında sanat eğitimi derslerinin erken çocukluk dönemine yönelik nitelikli ve işlevsel bir şekilde yürütülmesi gerekmektedir. Okul öncesi öğretmenleri ve erken çocukluk sanat eğitimi konusunda çalışan uzmanlar, çevrimiçi veya yüz yüze eğitim ile bir araya getirilmeli ve öğretmenlerin konuyla ilgili mevcut bilgileri teorik ve uygulamalı olarak güçlendirilmelidir. Öğretmenler, erken çocukluk döneminde sanat eğitimi konusunda hizmet içi eğitimlerle desteklenmelidir. Öğretmenler, sanat etkinliklerini diğer etkinliklerle bütünleştirmeli ve sanatsal deneyimler ve açık havada öğrenme fırsatlarını bir araya getirmelidir.
... Children spend a significant amount of their time engaging in informal educational activities that aid both cognitive and social-emotional development (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001). Art museums have the potential to be an excellent informal educational environments for early emotional development of typically developing children where families and educators can target skills related to perspective taking (Hubard, 2011;Huijgen, van Boxtel, van de Grift, & Holthuis, 2017), human connections and empathy (Arnold, Meggs, & Greer, 2014;Eisner, 2002;Gokcigdem, 2016), aesthetic awareness (Stokrocki, 1984), as well as information learning and cognitive development (Ives & Pond, 1980;Kisida, Bowen, & Greene, 2018;Wolins, Jensen, & Ulzheimer, 1992) and critical thinking (Hubard, 2011;Kisida, Bowen, & Greene, 2016). Importantly, randomized control trials suggests that even a one-time educational visit to a museum has positive influence on children's empathic outcomes, critical thinking, and information learning (Kraybill, 2014). ...
Article
Art exposure can influence children’s emotional growth, but little is known about tools that aid emotional development in art museums. We implemented attentional and social manipulations to test whether (1) modifications to unscripted instructions and (2) caregiver prompts shape children’s attentional focus towards either the emotional or elemental content (e.g., colour and medium) of paintings. These manipulations occurred within an on-going art museum education programme. Afterwards, children’s (N = 60; ages 3–13 years) attentional focus towards emotions or elements was assessed by asking them to select words that best described the art. Children focused on emotion more, but the instructional manipulation successfully influenced word choices towards the targeted focus. Caregiver prompts also influenced focus towards the elements and away from emotions. These findings highlight that children’s attention to art’s emotional content can be altered by social context, which here was demonstrated within a museum programme.
... Hal ini mungkin disebabkan karena pembelajaran aspek seni merupakan pembelajaran yang paling disukai anak. Selain itu, pembelajaran seni yang di fasilitasi oleh sekolah menjadi strategi yang efektif untuk mengembangkan ketertarikan anak-anak terhadap seni, yang kemudian menghasilkan efek positif yang signifikan terhadap pencapaian perkembangan seni pada anak (Kisida et al., 2018). ...
Article
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Sistem pembelajaran daring di TK atau Taman Kanak-kanak masih tergolong baru, dan belum banyak penelitian yang mengkaji pengaruhnya terhadap pencapaian perkembangan anak usia dini di TK. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tujuan mengetahui pencapaian perkembangan anak usia dini di TK selama pembelajaran daring di masa pandemi Covid-19. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif kuantitatif dengan teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan kuesioner. Jenis kuesioner yang digunakan merupakan kuesioner tertutup, yaitu subjek penelitian hanya diperkenankan memilih jawaban yang telah tersedia pada setiap pertanyaan. Subjek penelitian ini terdiri dari 46 orang guru TK di Surakarta. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan cara menyebarkan kuesioner melalui Google Form kemudian tautannya disebarkan kepada para guru TK di Surakarta melalui grup WhatsApp. Hasil penelitian ini memberikan gambaran terbaru bahwa sistem pembelajaran daring memberikan pengaruh terhadap pencapaian perkembangan anak usia dini di TK. Hampir sebagian besar pencapaian perkembangan anak pada beberapa aspek selama pembelajaran daring mengalami penurunan. Keterbatasan penelitian dan saran terkait penelitian lebih lanjut akan dibahas.
... Secondly, it is necessary to identify the components of social intelligence as a complex phenomenon. It is important to note that most authors define social intelligence as a combination of certain components, distinguishing not only cognitive (knowledge) and behavioural (skill) components, as mentioned above, but also motivational (social needs and interests) (Astramovich, Lyons & Hamilton, 2015;Nolan & Paatsch, 2018;Rodney et al., 1988) and affective (emotions and feelings) (Kaukainen et al., 1999;Kisida, Bowen & Greene, 2018;Wawra, 2009) components. Thirdly, it is necessary to clarify whether social intelligence is an independent formation and establish its connection with the intelligence itself. ...
... However, recent research on school-sponsored field trips suggests that these educationally enriching learning opportunities produce meaningful impacts. Students randomly assigned to participate in a school-facilitated art museum field trip experience demonstrated significant increases in political tolerance, empathy, the ability to critically think about artworks, desire to engage in cultural consumption, and tour-related content knowledge Kisida, Bowen, & Greene, 2018). School-sponsored field trips to science learning institutions similarly produce positive student benefits (Weinstein, Whitesell, & Schwartz, 2014;Whitesell, 2016). ...
Article
Preparing students to be effective citizens is a longstanding goal of public education. Historical content provides illustrative opportunities for civic learning. Teaching about the Holocaust exemplifies this approach. Employing an experimental research design with 865 secondary school students, we analyze effects on civic outcomes from learning about the Holocaust through a school-sponsored trip to a Holocaust museum. We find that lessons about the Holocaust increase students’ support for civil liberties and deepen historical content knowledge, but decrease religious tolerance. High school students and those from college-educated households drive increases in support for civil liberties, and these students are more likely to donate to human rights causes as a result of the intervention. Middle school students and those from less-educated households drive the negative religious tolerance effect. These findings suggest that history lessons can produce meaningful impacts on civic educational outcomes. However, a stronger educational foundation that comes with engaging with challenging political issues may be a vital prerequisite to avoid undesirable consequences.
... It is implemented mainly in preschool and secondary educational institutions. Thus, the system of modern preschool education in the part of "Art and Aesthetic Development" educational field is aimed at familiarizing growing children with musical, visual activities, theatricalization, forms an aesthetic attitude to the world around them, etc. (Herzog, Sušic, & Benic, 2018;Kisida, Bowen, & Greene, 2018). ...
... Indeed, the first months of life are critical for children to be able to structure conceptual maps in their future (Palacios 2006). The arts enrich these sensory experiences and could make students retain art and historical knowledge they learned (Kisida, Bowen, and Greene 2018). If schools deny children of this artistic experience, a way of understanding their reality is removed (Mendívil 2011). ...
Article
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This research helps to describe the integral development of children under five years old, of the Initial (preschool) stage in a state educational institution at the rural area of Samborondón City, Ecuador. This research shows the implementation of artistic painting activities within the school process. 28 children participated here. The instructional tasks provided information about the improvement in the development of cognitive, language, motor, and social areas after the completion of artistic activities. The procedure included a bibliographic review about integral development of children, and an observation of educational methods to use arts in the curricula. Our research also considered the concordance with the Initial Education curriculum of Ecuador, selection of the control group, application of guidance (ex pre) of individual observation of each student, making artistic activities, and application of guide (ex post) of individual observation. The results showed that the children significantly improved their abilities in the different areas of development. The best results came from the motor and language areas. / Esta investigación ayuda a describir el desarrollo integral de los niños menores de cinco años, de la etapa Inicial (preescolar) en una institución educativa estatal de la zona rural de la ciudad de Samborondón, Ecuador. Esta investigación muestra la implementación de actividades de pintura artística dentro del proceso escolar. 28 niños participaron aquí. Las tareas de instrucción proporcionaron información sobre la mejora en el desarrollo de las áreas cognitiva, del lenguaje, motora y social después de la realización de las actividades artísticas. El procedimiento incluyó una revisión bibliográfica sobre el desarrollo integral de los niños y una observación de métodos educativos para utilizar las artes en los currículos. Nuestra investigación también consideró la concordancia con el currículo de Educación Inicial del Ecuador, selección del grupo control, aplicación de la guía (ex ante) de observación individual de cada estudiante, realización de actividades artísticas, y aplicación de la guía (ex post) de observación individual. Los resultados mostraron que los niños mejoraron significativamente sus habilidades en las diferentes áreas del desarrollo. Los mejores resultados provinieron de las áreas de motricidad y lenguaje.
... However, recent research on school-sponsored field trips suggests that these educationally enriching learning opportunities produce meaningful impacts. Students randomly assigned to participate in a school-facilitated art museum field trip experience demonstrated significant increases in political tolerance, empathy, the ability to critically think about artworks, desire to engage in cultural consumption, and tour-related content knowledge Kisida, Bowen, & Greene, 2018). School-sponsored field trips to science learning institutions similarly produce positive student benefits (Weinstein, Whitesell, & Schwartz, 2014;Whitesell, 2016). ...
Preprint
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Background The optimal stimulation for brain development in the early academic years remains unclear. Current research suggests that musical training has a more profound impact on children's executive functions (EF) compared to other art forms. What is crucially lacking is a large-scale, long-term genuine randomized controlled trial (RCT) in cognitive neuroscience, comparing musical instrumental training (MIP) to another art form, and a control group (CG). This study aims to fill this gap by using machine learning to develop a multivariate model that tracks the interconnected brain and EF development during the academic years, with or without music or other art training. Methods The study plans to enroll 150 children aged 6-8 years and randomly assign them to three groups: Orchestra in Class (OC), Visual Arts (VA), and a control group (CG). Anticipating a 30% attrition rate, each group aims to retain at least 35 participants. The research consists of three analytical stages: 1) baseline analysis correlating EF, brain data, age, gender, and socioeconomic status, 2) comparison between groups and over time of EF brain and behavioral development, including hypothesis testing, and 3) exploratory analysis combining behavioral and brain data. The intervention includes intensive art classes once a week, and incremental home training over two years, with the CG receiving six annual cultural outings. Discussion This study examines the potential benefits of intensive group arts education, especially contrasting music with visual arts, on EF development in children. It will investigate how artistic enrichment potentially influences the presumed typical transition from a more unified to a more multifaceted EF structure around age eight, comparing these findings against a minimally enriched active control group. This research could significantly influence the incorporation of intensive art interventions in standard curricula. Trial registration The project was accepted after peer-review by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF no. 100014_214977) on March 29, 2023. The study protocol received approval from the Cantonal Commission for Ethics in Human Research of Geneva (CCER, BASEC-ID 2023-01016), which is part of Swiss ethics, on October 25, 2023. The study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05912270).
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Paud Insan Cendekia menggunakan metode STEAM yang mana dalam pembelajaran di PAUD Insan Cendikia menggunakan Sentra Musik dan Olah Tubuh, dalam Pijakan Saat Main dalam Musik dan Olah Tubuh. Setelah peserta didik cukup menggerakkan tubuh dengan aspek perkembangan yang telah di capai nya peserta didik-peserta didik masuk ke Permaianan musik , di sini peserta didik di kenalkan berbagai macam alat musik, sebagai contoh rebana mini , jimbe mini, marakas , xilofon, dan angklung. Peserta didik di ajak untuk memainkan musik sederhana dan megikuti ketukan yang di berikan pendidik. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran STEAM dapat diterapkan dalam pembelajaran seni. Guru dapat mengintegrasikan unsur-unsur STEAM melalui berbagai cara, seperti menggunakan masalah dunia nyata sebagai konteks pembelajaran, menerapkan pendekatan pembelajaran berbasis proyek, dan memberikan kesempatan bagi siswa untuk bereksperimen dan menemukan solusi sendiri. Proses Pembelajaran seni dengan menggunakan metode STEAM dan Loosepart membuat peserta didik lebih tertarik dan lebih kreatif karena alat musik yang mereka mainkan itu menggunakan barang bekas dari lingkungan sekitar yang nantinya di jadiakan alat musik, dan peserta didik sangat senang sekali terhadap hal tersebut. PAUD IT Insan Cendekia Surakarta menerapkan pembelajaran yang bersinergi antara pendidik dan peserta didik. Pendidik dan peserta didik bekerja sama dalam pembelajaran, termasuk dalam menanamkan nilai-nilai karakter kepada peserta didik didik. Pendidik dan orang tua berperan penting dalam menanamkan nilai-nilai baik kepada peserta didik.
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In prior research, museum attendance has been shown to positively impact educational outcomes for children, teens, and adults, yet little has been documented about who is attending and how often. This paper is the first to provide comprehensive descriptive and regression analyses to explore museum attendance among youth (5 to 18 year-olds) in the U.S. using data from five nationally representative datasets spanning two decades. Furthermore, though anecdotal evidence indicates disparities across demographic groups, there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis documenting the magnitudes of these differences. Our analyses identify characteristics that are highly correlated with museum attendance generally, and art and science museums, specifically. Our findings show that attendance rates among youth typically range from 50-70%, but that there are significant differences by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender, and location. These findings indicate that policies to improve access to museums for students, particularly low income youth and those in rural areas, may be beneficial for promoting wider cultural, artistic, and hands-on STEAM opportunities.
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This chapter introduces readers to The Artground (TAG), a dedicated arts space for children in Singapore. Developed by The Ground Co Limited in collaboration with the National Arts Council, Singapore, TAG emerged amidst a growing number of purpose-built arts spaces for young audiences around the world, such as The Ark (Dublin, Ireland) and ArtPlay (Melbourne, Australia). Dubbed as ‘A Curious Place to Be’, TAG provides opportunities to both artists and audiences to be creative, to play, and to delve into an exploration and discovery of the arts. Children and families are offered a variety of arts, music, dance and theatre programmes, while artists are supported in the incubation and creation of these works for young audiences. This chapter traces the development of TAG, describing the various opportunities that are offered to TAG’s artists and audiences to encourage them to be curious.
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The theories of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility have largely shaped the study of the effects of cultural capital on academic outcomes. Missing in this debate has been a rigorous examination of how children actually acquire cultural capital when it is not provided by their families. Drawing on data from a large-scale experimental study of schools participating in an art museum’s educational program, we show that students’ exposure to a cultural institution has the effect of creating ‘‘cultural consumers’’ motivated to acquire new cultural capital. We find that the experience has the strongest impact on students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. As such, our analysis reveals important aspects about the nature of cultural capital acquisition. To the extent that the evidence supporting cultural mobility is accurate, it may be because disadvantaged children can be activated to acquire cultural capital, thus compensating for family background characteristics and changing their habitus.
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Studies of the effects of cultural capital on the educational success of male and female students have reached contradictory conclusions, and few studies have considered the role that habitus plays in educational outcomes. This article analyzes the cultural participation of eighth-grade boys and girls and presents a model that includes a measure for habitus. Through a detailed analysis of cultural practices that have typically been grouped together as a single scale, the author found that female and higher-SES students are more likely to participate in cultural activities. In addition, in both standard ordinary least squares and fixed school-effects models, she found that cultural capital has a positive, significant effect on the grades of female students, both with and without controlling for Bourdieu's notion of habitus. For male students, the effect is weaker and present only in the fixed-effects models. Habitus itself has a strong effect for both male and female students in all models. The author argues that traditional gender stereotypes play a role in the lack of cultural participation by male students and that female students may be more encouraged to make use of their cultural capital to succeed in school.
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Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened on November 11, 2011. Located in Bentonville, Arkansas, it was the first art museum of its size in the region. Since few students had ever been to a museum, this situation provided an opportunity to causally measure the impact of a one-time art museum field trip upon student outcomes through the implementation of a random control trial experiment. Conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform, the research found gains in cognitive and non-cognitive domains in students who received the treatment versus the control group. This article provides background about the programmatic conditions in which the evaluation was conducted, which may have played a significant role in the outcomes.
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This study examines the effects of a school-readiness music program on preschool children's socioemotional readiness to transition to kindergarten. Young children (N = 102) attending a preschool program (four classes) in a children's center run by a state university in the southwestern United States participated in this study. Two of the classes were assigned to the music school-readiness group and two classes were assigned to the control group (no music school-readiness curriculum). Baseline measures of children's development and readiness for school across multiple domains (cognitive, language, socioemotional, motor, self-help) were established before the implementation of the music program and the measures were readministered after the program to examine change over time. The study examined (1) the impact of the school-readiness music program on children's acquisition of social skills as reported by teachers and parents and (2) the impact of the program on teacher reporting of school readiness that include measures assessing language, learning, and self-help skills. The results indicated that the music group improved on the social skills (total score) and specifically on the social cooperation, social interaction, and social independence scales. Using music-based curriculum facilitates the learning of the social skills needed to transition to kindergarten.
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Using data from the Surveys of Public Participation in the Arts conducted in 1982, 1985, and 1992, we analyze the relationship between cultural careers and educational careers. Drawing on ideas of cultural reproduction (Bourdieu) and cultural mobility (DiMaggio), we formulate two competing sets of hypotheses regarding the importance of "high brow" cultural capital at different ages on the likelihood of making particular educational transitions. We find that cultural capital plays a strong role in determining school success. The effects of parental cultural capital, cultural participation before age 12, and cultural participation between ages 12 to 17 and 18 to 24 are largely independent and have enduring effects across the educational career. All cultural effects decline over the course of the educational career. The context of participation is significant-cultural participation in school has less of an effect on educational success than does participation elsewhere. Generally, we find stronger support for the cultural mobility model, although social reproduction still governs the most important educational transition-entering college.
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Arts education advocates belief that quality education in the arts can engage at-risk students in ways other subjects cannot and is therefore an important tool in preventing high school dropout. Although some studies point to lower dropout rates, most do not follow a large number of students over time or account for student and school characteristics expected to influence one’s educational path. We fill this gap in the current literature by tracking nearly 175,000 first-time 9th-graders for 5 years using survival analysis with longitudinal administrative data from Texas. We find that cumulative credits in the arts are consistently associated with reduced dropout, even after controlling for prior achievement and contemporaneous course completion in core subjects. Our results provide evidence that the arts are a potential lever in education reform. Experimental and/or quasi-experimental research studies are needed to isolate the salient conditions under which arts participation can reduce dropout.
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This article examines whether exposure to the arts has an effect on the ability of students to engage in critical thinking. We conduct a randomized controlled trial involving 3,811 students who were assigned by lottery to participate in a School Visit Program at the newly opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Students who participated in the School Visit Program demonstrated significantly stronger critical thinking skills when analyzing a new painting. These effects were larger for students from more disadvantaged backgrounds. In light of recent declines in the availability of the arts for disadvantaged populations, our results have important policy implications for efforts to restore and expand access to the arts.
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Despite the fact that the art market is a multibillion dollar industry, marketing researchers have yet to fully explore the factors that drive consumers’ purchase intentions toward fine art. This research proposes that information about the artist who created a particular work is an important piece of information that consumers consider. This work is the first to empirically examine the impact of how one such characteristic of the artist, perceived authenticity, affects consumers’ behavioral intentions toward the art. This research, drawing on authenticity research in the arts, marketing, and psychology, builds on the proposed art valuation framework presented by Marshall and Forrest (2011) by testing the effect of consumers’ perceptions of the artist's motives. Empirical data involving 518 respondents were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that artist authenticity affected attitude toward the artist, conceptualized as a human brand, which in turn influenced consumers’ evaluation of the artist's work and their behavioral intentions. In addition, this research provides support for the selectivity model by showing woman and men evaluate art differently. Attitude toward the artwork had a stronger effect on behavioral intentions for women compared to men, whereas attitude toward the artist had a stronger effect on behavioral intentions for men compared to women. Overall, the results reveal that consumers use information about that artist's brand in the valuation of the artwork and have important practical implications for the management of the artist's human brand.
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To determine whether preschool-age children's participation in family routines is associated with greater likelihood of having high social-emotional health (SEH). Data come from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort preschool wave, a nationally representative sample of children born in 2001. Based on the literature and distribution of responses, 5 routines were categorized as present if children participated in family dinners ≥5 days per week, reading, storytelling, or singing ≥3 times per week, and play ≥few times per week. A total routines score (0-5) was also computed. Mothers rated children's SEH on 24 items scored 1 through 5. Items were summed into a total score, which was dichotomized at >1 SD above the mean, to reflect low/high SEH. Multivariable analyses assessed associations between SEH, routines score, and individual routines, adjusting for confounders. Among ∼8550 children, 16.6% had high SEH. For each additional routine in which a child participated, there was a 1.47 greater odds of having high SEH. In adjusted models, participating in dinners: 1.4 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-1.6), storytelling: 1.9 (95% CI, 1.6-2.4), singing: 1.5 (95% CI, 1.2-1.9), and play: 1.3 (95% CI, 1.1-1.5) was associated with increased odds of high SEH. Reading was not associated with greater odds of high SEH (1.2, 95% CI, 0.9-1.5). Participation in a higher number of routines and in select routines was associated with increased likelihood of having high SEH. Promoting family routines may contribute to greater SEH before school entry.
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A growing body of research has examined how cultural capital, recently broadened to include not only high-status cultural activities but also a range of different parenting practices, influences children’s educational success. Most of this research assumes that parents’ current class location is the starting point of class transmission. However, does the ability of parents to pass advantages to their children, particularly through specific cultural practices, depend solely on their current class location or also on their class of origin? The authors address this question by defining social background as a combination of parents’ current class location and their own family backgrounds. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement, the authors examine how different categories of social background are related to parenting practices and children’s academic achievement. The results offer novel insights into the transmission of class advantage across generations and inform debates about the complex processes of cultural reproduction and cultural mobility.
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No studies to date examine the impact of arts-integrated preschool programming on the emotional functioning of low-income children at risk for school problems. The present study examines observed emotion expression and teacher-rated emotion regulation for low-income children attending Settlement Music School's Kaleidoscope Preschool Arts Enrichment Program. At a level of p < .001, results indicate the following. First, within Kaleidoscope, children showed greater observed positive emotions such as interest, happiness, and pride, in music, dance, and visual arts classes, as compared to traditional early learning classes. Second, children at Kaleidoscope showed greater observed positive emotions than peers attending a comparison preschool that did not include full integration of the arts. Third, across the school year, children at Kaleidoscope showed greater growth in teacher-rated levels of positive and negative emotion regulation. The implication is that arts enrichment may promote social–emotional readiness to learn for low-income children at risk for school problems.
Article
Although family life has an important impact on children's life chances, the mechanisms through which parents transmit advantages are imperfectly understood. An ethnographic data set of white children and black children approximately 10 years old shows the effects of social class on interactions inside the home. Middle-class parents engage in concerted cultivation by attempting to foster children's talents through organized leisure activities and extensive reasoning. Working-class and poor parents engage in the accomplishment of natural growth, providing the conditions under which children can grow but leaving leisure activities to children themselves. These parents also use directives rather than reasoning. Middle-class children, both white and black, gain an emerging sense of entitlement from their family life. Race had much less impact than social class. Also, differences in a cultural logic of childrearing gave parents and their children differential resources to draw on in their interactions with professionals and other adults outside the home. Middle-class children gained individually insignificant but cumulatively important advantages. Working-class and poor children did not display the same sense of entitlement or advantages. Some areas of family life appeared exempt from the effects of social class, however.
Article
Bourdieu's theory of cultural reproduction posits that social class differences in cultural capital and habitus begin in early childhood and cumulate over time. While the theory maintains popularity in sociological research, no consistent empirical relationship between cultural capital and the reproduction of educational inequality has been established in American research. This study focuses on a population that has not been studied in quantitative research on cultural capital and habitus—children in the early years of elementary school. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study are used to show that children's cultural activities have a positive effect on teachers’ evaluation of students’ language arts and mathematics skills, but only for low-socioeconomic status (SES) students. Only one aspect of parental habitus, expectations that the child will attain a bachelor's degree, has a consistent positive effect on teachers’ evaluations. These findings suggest that the traditional definition of cultural capital may not be appropriate for young American children, and that habitus should be included in future studies of educational stratification.
Article
Arts enrichment provides varied channels for acquiring school readiness skills and may offer important educational opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs. Study 1 examined achievement within an arts enrichment preschool that served low-income children. Results indicated that students practiced school readiness skills through early learning, music, creative movement, and visual arts classes. Students who attended the preschool for 2 years demonstrated higher achievement than those who attended for 1 year, suggesting that maturation alone did not account for achievement gains. Across 2 years of program attendance and four time points of assessment, students improved in school readiness skills, and there were no significant effects of race/ethnicity or developmental level on achievement growth. Study 2 compared students attending the arts enrichment preschool to those attending a nearby alternative on a measure of receptive vocabulary that has been found to predict school success. At the end of 1 year of attendance, students in the arts program showed greater receptive vocabulary than those at the comparison preschool. Results suggest that arts enrichment may advance educational outcomes for children at risk.
Article
Ethnographers and other students of interaction have documented the impact of status factors on students' success in school. Yet survey research data consistently show the absence of family background measure effects on high school grades. It is argued that conventional measures of family background fail to capture those cultural elements of status that make a difference in school interactions. Drawing on Weber's work on status groups and status cultures, and on Bourdieu's work on cultural capital, this paper reports the findings of an effort to assess the impact of one component of status culture participation--cultural capital--on one aspect of life chances--students' high school grades. A composite measure of cultural capital has a significant impact on grades, controlling for family background and measured ability. The pattern of relationships, however, differs strikingly by gender.
Article
The idea that music makes you smarter has received considerable attention from scholars and the media. The present report is the first to test this hypothesis directly with random assignment of a large sample of children (N = 144) to two different types of music lessons (keyboard or voice) or to control groups that received drama lessons or no lessons. IQ was measured before and after the lessons. Compared with children in the control groups, children in the music groups exhibited greater increases in full-scale IQ. The effect was relatively small, but it generalized across IQ subtests, index scores, and a standardized measure of academic achievement. Unexpectedly, children in the drama group exhibited substantial pre- to post-test improvements in adaptive social behavior that were not evident in the music groups.
Article
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of improvisational music therapy on joint attention behaviors in pre-school children with autism. It was a randomized controlled study employing a single subject comparison design in two different conditions, improvisational music therapy and play sessions with toys, and using standardized tools and DVD analysis of sessions to evaluate behavioral changes in children with autism. The overall results indicated that improvisational music therapy was more effective at facilitating joint attention behaviors and non-verbal social communication skills in children than play. Session analysis showed significantly more and lengthier events of eye contact and turn-taking in improvisational music therapy than play sessions. The implications of these findings are discussed further.
Museum field trips tailored to teach to the test
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The art of partnerships: Communities collaborating to enhance arts education
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Report to the education department of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on the 8th grade School Partnership Program Visual Thinking Strategies Adaptation
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A cliff hanger: How America's public schools continue to feel the impact of the economic downturn
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Teaching literacy through art, final report: Synthesis
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Imagine! Introducing your child to the arts DC: National Endowment for the Arts
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Estimating causal effects using experimental and observational designs
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Arts and cultural participation among children and young people: Insights from the growing up in Ireland study
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Access to arts education: Inclusion of additional questions in education's planned research would help explain why instruction time has decreased for some students (GAO-09-286)
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A billionaire's eye for art shapes her singular museum
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