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.

Integrating Theatre And Biology: How Embodied Performance Can Enhance Empathy Among College Science Students, Annika C. Speer, Begona Echeverria

The STEAM Journal

In these field notes, we examine the integration of the arts into a 20-person honors biology seminar at UC Riverside “Beyond Science: Being Humane Amid Human Rights Crises.” We held a four-hour workshop to examine the ways in which performance and theatrical storytelling can enhance science learning. The workshop provided a unique avenue for exploring how human activities result in downward consequences including refugee displacement, one of the course objectives. In addition to the workshop, we conducted surveys and a focus group with the students to better understand their experience incorporating the arts into their science class. A key concept …

The Importance Of Our Performing Arts, Gina Parker, Russell Brakefield

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

This essay is titled "The Importance of Our Performing Arts" and it was written in February 2022. I was taking an argumentative writing class at the time where we have free range to choose a topic to write about, so naturally, I choose something I am passionate about, the impact of youth theatre on our adolescents. The prompt was to identify a driving question or phenomenon related to the arts to investigate and develop a complex thesis you could argue in the paper through the use of rhetorical strategies, I decided on the discussion between funding in STEM (science, technology, …

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 …

Successful Post-Covid Theatre Recruitment And Retention Practices, Biliana Stoytcheva-Horissian, Kevork Horissian, Aaron Scully, Shawna Mefferd Kelty

Faculty Conference Papers and Presentations

In the past several years and especially after the COVID-19 outbreak, recruiting and retaining students has become more challenging than ever before. Even before the pandemic, there has been an increased pressure for colleges and universities to be able to demonstrate tangible educational benefits. This has been especially valid for liberal arts institutions and theatre programs since they are considered to be “less practical and useful.” Often students and their parents focus more on securing jobs rather than exploring interests and passions and seem unable to see the connection between theatre education and other careers.

The panel of presenters brings …

Lessons Learned: Kinesthetic Learning And Engaging Students With Adhd (In The Time Of Covid), Claudia Freedman

Education | Master's Theses

While many studies have examined the benefits of movement and kinesthetic learning on the engagement of all elementary school-aged children, especially those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or children with common characteristics or behaviors of ADHD (undiagnosed ADHD), less research exists on how the COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid learning affected and continues to impact the engagement of children, especially those with ADHD or undiagnosed ADHD. The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers engage students, particularly those with ADHD or undiagnosed ADHD, in an elementary classroom using practices from movement, music, dance, and theater, especially during COVID-19. …

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.

A Documentation Of A Year As An Artistic Director For Unl, Philip Crawford

Honors Theses

The goal of this project was to document a year of being an Artistic Director for UNL’s student run theatre company Theatrix. Through this documentation, I will be able to reflect upon and learn from my experiences as a leader, director, and theatre maker.

This thesis will be broken up into eight different parts to outline the eight different stages I experienced as Artistic Director this year: season selection, the 24-hour Play Festival, The Revolutionists, The Thanksgiving Play, Clown Bar, season changes, Based on a Totally True Story, and Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons. Through these eight stages, I will …

Ouachita's All Night Theatre Festival To Be Held March 12, Abigail Blankenship, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Theatre Arts will present its 22nd annual All-Night Theatre: A 10-Minute Play Festival on Saturday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Verser Theatre. The festival, hosted by Ouachita’s chapter of Alpha Psi Omega national theatre honor society, is run entirely by students. Performances are free and open to the public.

The festival showcases what students can achieve through a unique, collaborative process. First, student playwrights may submit original works no more than 10 minutes in length to be considered for the festival. A panel of anonymous faculty, staff and students judge the submissions, and those …

Ouachita Theatre Department Presents Musical By Senior Sammy Campione From Feb. 16-21, Felley Lawson, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

The Department of Theatre Arts at Ouachita Baptist University will present “Tanglewood,” a musical written and directed by senior Sammy Campione, from Feb. 16-21 in Verser Theatre, 409 Ouachita Street. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 16-17; Saturday, Feb. 19; and Monday, Feb. 21. A matinee is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 20, at 2:30 p.m.

“Tanglewood” was selected for the department’s annual Muse Project, which allows students majoring in theatre, musical theatre or theatre education to create works based on what most inspires them and then bring those works to the stage.

¡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 …

Pivoting Rural Community-Based Fine Arts Programs For Youth Due To A Global Pandemic, Heather Olson Beal, Cc Conn, Lauren Burrow, Amber Wagnon, Chrissy Cross Ph.D.

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This personal experience essay features five women professors who, as engaged scholars, seek to continuously respond to the needs of their local community by volunteering their time and expertise to offer educational programs that focus on creative arts and academic assistance for K–12 students. This piece explores the opportunities and obstacles we experienced in using virtual platforms, during the 2020 global pandemic, in order to re-envision our civic responsibilities to engage communities beyond our previous place-based programs.

Book Review Of The Routledge Companion To Theatre Of The Oppressed, Amy Phillips

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

In my review of The Routledge Companion to Theatre of the Oppressed by Boal, J., Howe, K., and Soerio, J., eds. (London and New York: Routledge, 2019), I compare the book’s call for Theatre of the Oppressed to embrace a nuanced investigation of social problems with its response: the international movements detailed in its chapters. While demonstrating that the first-hand accounts provide a measured answer to contradictions inherent in a system which Augusto Boal developed in response to a specific political climate, I emphasize the beauty of theory and practice sitting side by side, in paradox, and encourage scholar and …

Taking Youth Voices Seriously: Theatre, Storytelling, And Empowerment With Refugee Youth In Memphis, Tn, Taylor St. John

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

This project report documents the most recent play-turned-podcast in a multi-year partnership between the Orpheum Theatre Group and the Refugee Empowerment Program in Memphis, TN. Youth from the program have been engaging in From Where I Stand, a theatrical storytelling program that weaves first-person narratives into theatrical performances that are presented for the community. While our third performance entitled, Refugee Portraits, was postponed due to the pandemic, it was given new life in the form of a podcast. This report will explore the process of creating the live theatrical performance, pivoting that performance to a podcast, and reflect on …

Theatre And Art Club Lesson Plans, Hailey Revord, Madelyn Kreifels

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

After school club that explores elements of theatre and art.

The Conscience Of Little Women: Beth's Epic, Mcewen Baker

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

From its conception, and through countless retellings, there is no doubt that Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is an American classic that has stood the test of time. Kate Hamill’s stage adaptation affirms and extends this legacy; the playwright adopts a contemporary feminist approach that defies gender norms and exclusivity in casting and encourages an actor-centered approach. This essay explains the importance of this adaptation and its influence on my portrayal of Beth March in Belmont University’s Fall 2021 production. It touches on the often overlooked significance of the second youngest sister as well as how my personal battle with …

Ouachita To Present One Act Play Festival April 29-30, Meagan A. Woodard, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Theatre Arts will present its biannual, student directed One Act Play Festival on Thursday, April 29, and Friday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Verser Theatre. Due to health guidelines, limited seating is available only to Ouachita students, faculty and staff; Friday’s show will be available for the public to attend and watch via simulcast in Jones Performing Arts Center. Tickets are free and available at www.obu.edu/boxoffice.

The One Act Play Festival features a variety of short plays produced by seniors for their end-of-semester project in Ouachita’s directing class; the performances highlight what the …

Ouachita's School Of Fine Arts Announces Adjusted Spring Events, Mandy Halbert, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Fine Arts has adjusted its Spring 2021 events, including concerts, theatre productions and art galleries, to allow students to continue their performance education as well as provide safe viewing for audiences following COVID-19 guidelines from the Arkansas Department of Health and Ouachita’s Health Monitoring and Action Team.

Live events for the spring semester will follow the same protocols that were introduced last semester, with attendance limited to the Ouachita campus community and reduced seating in order to follow social distancing guidelines. Most performances will be available to audiences to view for free at www.livestream.com/obu, …

Musical Theatre Education’S Influence On High School Students’ Self-Esteem, Michael John Penna

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Studies have shown that middle school students’ involvement in performing arts classes helps to improve self-esteem, but there is a gap in understanding how high school students and teachers perceive the influence of musical theatre education on students’ self-esteem. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to extend research to include high school musical theatre students by examining how high school students and teachers perceive the influence of rehearsals, performance, and musical theatre education classes on students’ self-esteem and education goals. Bandura’s social cognitive theory and Kolb’s experiential learning theory were used as the conceptual framework. Eight students and …

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 …

Ouachita To Present One Act Play Festival For On-Campus Audiences Nov. 19-20, Meagan A. Woodard, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University’s Department of Theatre Arts will present its biannual, student directed One Act Play Festival on Thursday, Nov. 19, and Friday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in Verser Theatre. Due to health guidelines, limited seating is available only to Ouachita students, faculty and staff. Tickets are free and available at www.obu.edu/boxoffice.

The One Act Play Festival features a variety of plays entirely produced by students for their end-of-semester project in Ouachita’s senior directing class. The performances highlight what students have learned in the course and in their years at Ouachita.

Joker Exchange Online - Meeting The Risks And Opportunities Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Uri Yitzchak Noy Meir, Anne Larcher

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

In this article, we narrate and analyse patterns of engagement and harvest key learning from the Joker Exchange Online (JEO) events on 11th April and May 2nd. We map the impact of these online events to inform future events as an effective collective response/strategy to global challenges. At the same time, we are Theatre of the Oppressed practitioners who attended/presented in the JEO, and this informs our research and engaged interest in theatre and community work on the margins of theatre, activism, and social change. The article has three parts: the first part look at the “triggers” for the Joker …

Theatre Of The Beat’S Restorative Justice Theatre Program: Highlights From The Baseline Evaluation, Karen Nelson, Keely Kavcic, Courtney Primeau, Kimberlee Walker

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

This report highlights the findings from the evaluation of Theatre of the Beat’s (TOTB) Restorative Justice Theatre Program, which works with incarcerated persons at the Grand Valley Institution for Women (GVIW), a federal prison in Kitchener, Ontario. The project was conducted by the Research Shop, part of the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph, in partnership with Theatre of the Beat (TOTB), a not-for-profit theatre company with a process rooted in restorative justice principles and a passion for promoting conversations around social justice.

Ouachita's Fall Concerts And Theatre Productions Available Online, Jessica Daniell, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Fine Arts has made adjustments to its fall concert and theatre season to both allow students to continue their performance education and allow viewers to experience their art safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

With reduced seating available to allow for physical distancing, in-person attendance for many events will be limited to Ouachita students, faculty and staff only. However, streaming options will be available for most events for off-campus patrons or those who prefer the virtual option. Some events will be streamed live for free via Ouachita’s typical Livestream channel: www.livestream.com/obu. Others will require paid …

Prosthetic Ontology Into Pedagogy: Applying Garoian’S Theory To The Performing Arts, Elise Lael Kieffer

International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education

Prosthetic pedagogy, as developed by Charles Garoian, provides a framework for using artificial-real worlds created by the arts to influence and impact teaching practice. The prosthetic space is artificial, separate, from the artist and audience, yet it is felt authentically, as if it were part of their being. Garoian explored prosthetic pedagogy through visual arts and museum experiences. This research further examines prosthetic pedagogy by applying it the Theatre. The art of theatre builds worlds onstage and through performance that allow performers to be and exist apart from their physical selves in the realm of prosthetic reality. The artist and …

Capturing Quarantine: Student Pandemic Experience Journal, Taylor Koski

Public History Journals

Journal submitted from the first Public History 2020 summer session class at Columbia College Chicago reflecting on aspects of the global pandemic from the student perspective.

Capturing Quarantine: Student Pandemic Experience Journal, Peyton Cooper

Public History Journals

Journal submitted from the first Public History 2020 summer session class at Columbia College Chicago reflecting on aspects of the global pandemic from the student perspective.