Education Commons^™

Arts Integration In The Middle School Mathematics Classroom, Cameron Willis

Honors Projects

In this project, we explore the question "How can arts integration techniques be used in the middle school mathematics classroom to heighten student engagement and interest while also developing deeper conceptual understanding?" Through completing a lesson study over incorporating structured improvisation into a simple probability unit, seventh grade students were able to share their thoughts and feelings about using theatre to teach mathematics.

Adapting Higher Education: Revamping Curricula For The Inclusion Of Theatre Students With Disabilities, Kevin Kemler

Theses and Dissertations

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives in higher education have been largely driven by administrators who have little to no contact with the students for whom they are working for. This top-down approach negatively impacts marginalized students and disproportionately affects the quality of experience for students with Disabilities, an often-overlooked demographic. For Disabled students enrolled in performance programs, barriers to access and inclusion don’t just exist at the institutional level, they also exist in the traditional classroom or studio as well. Through a dismantling of ableist structures inherent within higher education (i.e., American grading practices, the Western and Theatrical Canons), I …

Ecodrama And Sustainable Theatre: A Handbook For Creating Remarkable Change, Gigi Buddie

Pomona Senior Theses

The climate crisis is not new to us, nor are the art forms that have taken shape as vital components of the many activist movements that seek to save the planet. Yet, for the first time at Pomona College, a play about environmental devastation and our hand in it finally graced the stage of this progressive institution this past year. This mini handbook is a call-to-action (of sorts), one that stems from the idea that this should not be the last ecodrama performed at Pomona College. These chapters are structured and supported by both experience and research – formulated from …

Student Voice And Choice: Factors Influencing Student Participation In Secondary Arts Classes In An Urban Public School District, Alan D. Lambert Ed. D.

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

The purpose of this study was to capture the student voice regarding the value, importance, and relevance of visual and performing arts education in public schools. The host institution for the study was an urban school district in the southern central United States serving 75,000 students, with 55% students identified as Hispanic, and 52% of students experiencing poverty. Graduating seniors responded via questionnaires with forced choice and open-ended items regarding several topics, including what they do in their free time, how they perceive the value of arts classes at school, access to arts classes and the match of their interests …

Meet And Run, Gia M. Binner

Theses and Dissertations

A defense for Gia Binner’s MFA Thesis, Meet and Run, argues that accessible art, known in this paper as commercial dance, is a meaningful vehicle for social change and that it has the ability to dismantle the outdated, European concert dance dominance by modeling the interdependency of both worlds.

¡Controlamos La Narrativa!: Collaborative Dramaturgy As A Tool For Latine Representation In Secondary Theatre Education, Domenika N. Moncayo

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Current secondary theatre education in America places a priority on Western ideals of theatre history and practices. Latine theatre history is hardly taught, and if it is, it is touched minimally. Latine culture places an emphasis on a collective, both in theoretical and practical work. Similarly, the practice of dramaturgy itself is rarely mentioned in curriculums, rather intertwined within lessons of acting, directing, and design. This creates an imbalance in practice versus theory in theatre education. I intend to introduce the concept of collaborative dramaturgy: a form of dramaturgy where students collaborate as dramaturgs to bring about discussions about identity. …

Educating The Future Of The Arts, Anna Hollingsworth

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Theatre impacts the youth in a positive way. By helping with social connections, learning skills to tell a story, and getting to utilize their imagination. This thesis looks at what comes into creating a lesson plan for grades fourth-sixth grade. Each grade will focus on different themes that pertains to what they are learning in their literature classes and what is more relevant topic in their age group. To take what they learn from the classroom and apply it to a real-life scenario. To help those children explore through learning it academically and getting to devise their own shows. It …

Grit In The Performing Arts: A Mixed-Methods Study Of High School Theatre Student Perceptions Of Grit, Kelsey Gibson

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Previous grit research has not yet studied how the performing arts may have an impact on student grit scores and perceptions of grit. Grit is defined by two main characteristics: consistency of interest and perseverance of effort. Continued participation in an extracurricular theatre production requires students to maintain interest and sustain effort throughout the rehearsal and performance period. This mixed methods interpretivist research study examined how high school students from three groups (performing arts, non-performing arts, and non-arts) measured on Duckworth and Quinn’s (2009) Grit-S scale, as well as how performing arts students perceived their own grit after participation in …

Exploring A Qualitative Approach To Arts Advocacy And Evaluation, Lycette C. Belisle

Undergraduate Theses

The quantitative impact of the arts has become an increasingly important factor in determining the overall value of a project, and is often used to determine acceptance of submissions, public recognition and funding disbursement. This project evaluates current understandings of how the arts function within society, popular methods for determining the value of the arts and explores how qualitative reasoning can be utilized to communicate the value of supporting artistic endeavors. While placing a numerical value on the arts based on data collection can be important, this project will aim to evaluate the implications of relying so heavily on facts …

Speak The Speech: Lessons In Projection, Clarity And Performance, James Hagerman

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

This study compared two classes and their responses to a controlled curriculum versus an experimental curriculum based on teaching high school students in acting classes to project and speak with clarity during onstage performances. The experimental group had fifteen days of instruction, extensive feedback and an additional two lessons, while the control group participated in two out of the four lessons and had eight days of instruction with limited feedback. The driving question of this study was, “How do you get teenagers to project and speak with clarity on stage, so the audience is not left asking, ‘What did they …

Theatre As An Intervention For Empathy Development Among Undergraduate Students, Jonathan Stewart

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Empathy is the ability feel into, or put oneself in the place of another. It is the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes. Studies have shown that this ability is decreasing among today’s college students and on the rise as a desired trait for today’s leaders. This dilemma provides an interesting opportunity to explore how institutions of higher education can help develop the leaders of tomorrow by increasing empathy among students. Specifically, this research explores theatre as an intervention for empathy development among college students.

Theatre, as a program of study, is unique within the college experience in that …

This Is Me: Anxiety And Depression Awareness Event, Stephanie Cotrone

Honors Projects

College and life are stressful, but they don't have to be. We've all been in that place where it feels like life is caving in and there's nowhere else to turn, but it does get better. This event brings awareness to mental illnesses common on college campuses and in the community. There will be engaging and interactive activities to learn about anxiety & depression, and healthy ways to cope through music, art, theatre, amusement parks, learning, reading, and more. Performances by the Humanities Troupe and testimonies by current students who have had experience dealing with mental illness before or who …

A Natural Pairing: Social Justice And Theatre Education, Danielle Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Social justice curricula are often solely geared toward middle and high school students. I intend to prove that a social justice curriculum can be creatively paired with a theatre curriculum. I also intend to prove that social justice can be taught as young as pre-kindergarten. I will design a social justice curriculum for various grade levels, beginning with pre-kindergarten. Through research and age-appropriate strategies, I will develop curriculum goals and learning experiences for all grade levels. The curriculum is not an end point for teachers, but rather a starting point for theatre teachers who want to integrate social justice into …

Visual Rhetoric And Semiotics In Scenic Design: A Pedagogical Analysis, Chris Guzzardo

Masters Theses

Scenic designers are professionals in theatre who design sets for the stage that communicate aspects of a performance, such as time of day, location, and era. Sets are supposed to lay a foundation to performances as they communicate information to audiences through visual design. Since visual rhetoric and semiotics play a big part in the successful completion of transmitting messages, knowledge of both concepts should be taught to scenic designers. This thesis provides a content analysis of ten popular books used by scenic designers and their respective education programs. The analysis provides a structured search for visual rhetoric and semiotic …

A Case For Theatre-Based Programming In Early-Childhood And Elementary Education, Tina M. La Plant

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper seeks to answer the question, How can I use my professional experience developing a theatre-based curriculum for early-childhood and elementary students as a platform to advocate for the importance of theatre-based curricula in early and elementary education? The subject of this research project is a Pre-Kindergarten through Fifth Grade theatre-based education program founded by the author. The program was developed over the past 20 years at the Bertschi School, an independent PK-Fifth elementary school located in Seattle, Washington. For the purposes of this paper, the program itself will serve as a proving ground to explore and define primary …

Theatre Education For Homeschooled Children, Jonathan A. Martin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In recent years, the push for theatre education from arts education advocates has been increasingly prevalent, especially in the face of substantial budget cuts from many public schools’ arts programs. While there is still a long way to go before theatre education will be integral to school curricula, there are clear steps being taken to promote theatre education in the United States.

Similar to the recent push for theatre education is a rise in homeschooling in America. Homeschooling has been on the rise domestically for several years now, continuing to grow between 2% and 8% annually. It is now estimated …

Move, Interact, And Connect Personally Barter Theatre’S Project Real Gets Implicit In Order To Learn, Megan E. Atkinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Body movement, hands-on activity, embodiment, social interaction, emotions, and self-reflection allow teaching artists of Barter’s Theatre’s Project REAL to conduct a lesson with an implicit learning experience as the focus. Barter Theatre’s Project REAL exists as a theatre for education program that collaborates with regular classroom teachers on delivering the curriculum through specific theatre exercises in order to connect the material personally to the students’ lives. Theatre tools provide a human experience that enhances learning for the student by use of kinesthetic movement, social learning, emotions and interpersonal skills. To understand the effects of Barter Theatre’s Project REAL, the director …

The Theatre Missionary: Exploring The Early Career Teaching Experiences Of Theatre Educators Through Artistic Inquiry, Robert Andrew Strickland

Educational Studies Dissertations

For educators entering a fine arts classroom for the first time the transition can be quite difficult. Fine arts teachers are often the only specialists in their subject area at a school, placing them in a new situation without a mentor to guide them through the process. The difficulties can be exacerbated by the ideological, financial, and social marginalization of the arts in many schools. Despite the challenges faced by new fine arts educators, little research has focused specifically on their transitions into K-12 classrooms. To explore these transitional experiences this study was guided by the research question: How do …

“The Autism Adventures Of Watson & Holmes”: Puppet Theatre To Improve Elementary Students’ Knowledge Of And Attitudes Toward Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sarah N. Simon

Departmental Honors Projects

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a growing concern in schools across the nation. More students with high functioning autism are being mainstreamed, and students on and off the spectrum are being exposed to a wider variety of behaviors and new opportunities for friendship in school. Many students who fall on the autism spectrum suffer from the stigmatizing attitudes of their peers, and this stigmatization often stems from a lack of early education about mental health. Puppetry has been proven to captivate young audiences while teaching important messages in an entertaining and relatable way. The purpose of this …

Models Of Faith And Learning In Theatre At Colleges And Universities Affiliated With Churches Of Christ: Selected Case Studies, Catherine Louise Parker

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Churches of Christ, a body of Christian believers descending from the nineteenth century American Restoration Movement, have a well-documented history of establishing and supporting liberal arts colleges and universities. This study of theatre programs at three of these institutions--Lipscomb University, Pepperdine University, and York College--examines the model of faith and learning operating at each school and in its respective theatre department. This study utilizes a mixed-methods approach combining a multiple case study with a self-administered Likert-scale questionnaire, illuminating the ways that the schools describe their model of faith and learning, the ways that the theatre departments at the schools …

Autism Centered Theatre: The Use Of Drama To Improve Social Skills For Children On The Autism Spectrum, Olivia Rhoades

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the benefits of a week-long drama camp on the socials skills of children on the autism spectrum through the perspectives of parents and instructors. Data collection included pre- and post-camp questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that daily intensive exposure to drama and theatre can be a viable option to promote the development of social skills among children on the autism spectrum. The activities seemed to promote particular gains in caregiver/peer interaction, adjusting to routines, eye contact, and social perceptions/cues. Additionally, results indicated that children with greater social communication needs and those with more extensive exposure …

Remembering Thespis: How Former Student Actors Value Their Experiences In High School Plays, Michael Edgar Butterworth

Wayne State University Dissertations

The high school play is an iconic pastime in many schools across the United States. Historically, educators, and scholars often characterize the school play as a performance of a script by an established playwright presented in a school in a manner that replicates the standards of professional theatre. Current scholars and educators discuss the school play as the latter part of a continuum that runs from informal dramatic play to formal presentation in front of an audience. Although scholarship in theatre education regularly discusses the school play as one of the most prevalent forms of theatre education, scholarly studies of …

A Survey Instrument To Collect Student Perceptions Of Drama Class Benefits, Claudia Wiggins

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study is to develop a student survey for a drama class. The focus of the research is to substantiate the need for teaching drama in schools and by using a student survey. Presented is a drama class student survey developed and administered in high school drama classes. Offered are interviews with two drama teachers regarding the use of a drama survey. The study concludes with suggestions for future drama class student surveys.