Alberta Education, Fine Arts Programs of Studies
http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/finearts/

Alberta’s Fine Arts programs of studies encompass art, drama and music (choral, general and instrumental) through elementary, junior high and senior high school. These programs enable students to enhance the depth and breadth of their expression and intuitive response to the fine arts and to become involved as creators, performers, historians, critics and consumers. To learn more about Alberta’s fine arts programs, see http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/finearts/. The following section provides information about authorized learning resources for these programs.

Art/Drama/Music Learning Resources from the Authorized Resources Database and LearnAlberta.ca

A search for art, drama and music on either Alberta Education’s online Authorized Resources Database or the LearnAlberta.ca web site returns several hundred print and multimedia resources to support the teaching and learning of these disciplines. Teachers’ manuals, student books and multimedia resource kits, VHS and streamed videos, slide sets, and recordings are available. Three examples are listed below:

• A National Film Board of Canada series profiles several Canadian artists through the teaching and learning experiences of teachers and students (see “I Can Make Art Like Emily Carr" on LearnAlberta.ca).
• In a Earth Voices Video Series, Billy Joe Green, an Ojibway award-winning blues musician and residential school graduate, talks about how he taught himself to play guitar and what influenced the development of his particular blend of blues and rock music (see “Billy Joe Green” on LearnAlberta.ca).
• Creative Communication: Projects in Acting, Speaking, Oral Reading (2003) includes classroom videos, source materials, and project items. It addresses theatre, speech and interpretation needs (see http://education.alberta.ca/apps/lrdb/detail.asp?id=9989 for ordering information).

Culture.ca: Arts> Education> Educational Materials; >For Teachers; and >For Students
http://www.culture.ca/explore-explorez-e/Arts/Education/Educational-Materials; http://www.culture.ca/forteachers-pourlesprofs-e.jsp; and

In support of the Government of Canada’s stated belief that “art education is about personal development, leadership, teamwork, creative thinking, and the appreciation of others,” the Culture.ca web site offers teachers and students a range of educational materials including but not limited to cultural podcasts, virtual gallery tours, interactive exhibits and more. A sampling of these resources is offered below:

• Artists for Kids is a virtual gallery where students can view contemporary Canadian art that will one day become part of a museum in North Vancouver. The site offers K-12 teaching units which use images from the collection as inspiration.
• The National Arts Centre (NAC) ArtsAlive.ca Music web site provides students with opportunities to discover the performing arts and learn about orchestral music, the NAC Orchestra and its musicians and friends, .great composers, conductors and more. For example, students can visit an instrument lab where they can learn about, virtually handle and listen to a range of instruments. They can listen to music, watch videos and web casts, listen to pod casts, play online music games , and explore a dictionary of music. Teacher and parent resources are also available.
• The National Arts Centre ArtsAlive.ca English Theatre web site which provides annotated reading lists, a glossary, video clips, study guides, an interview with a playwright and Canadian theatre actors, and more. A French Theatre web site is also available.
• The National Arts Centre ArtsAlive.ca Dance web site offers photo and video galleries, interviews with dancers, and a information about types of dances and dance terminology. Visitors can also choreograph a ballet, or modern dance for either a male or female using the tool provided in the virtual dance studio.
• A collection of Canadian cultural audio and video pod casts, curated with the expertise of the National Arts Centre, is posted at http://podcasts.culture.ca/explore. This collection includes podcasts in French, English, and other languages on a variety of cultural topics. For example, podcasts such as an interview with author Philip Pullman on innocence and experience, Greek myth, religion and adventure from the CBC Radio Series entitled Writers and Company is available.
• Links to several art galleries and museums in Canada are provided including the Art Gallery of York University (http://www.yorku.ca/agyu/), the Gardiner Museum of ceramics, the National Gallery of Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum and many others. Several of these web sites offer virtual tours and educational materials.
• The Library and Archives Canada ArtVenture: A Collector’s Challenge is an interactive exhibit that provides a glimpse of life in Canada before the wide-spread use of the camera through the Peter Winkworth collection of 18th- and 19th-century Canadian art. This exhibit has been organized into three main themes, which are closely linked to social studies curricula across Canada. Teacher’s resources are included.

Other Web-based Resources

The World Wide Web offers a wealth of resources to support teaching and learning in fine arts. In addition, the 2Learn.ca Education Society has compiled several fine arts resources which can be found by searching their site by the category/subject ‘fine arts’ at http://www.2learn.ca/search/. The following three sites provide a sampling of the results of this search.

Alberta Teachers’ Association: Fine Arts Council
http://fac.teachers.ab.ca/

The objective of the Fine Arts Council is to ensure the inclusion of the fine arts (music, art, drama, dance) in school curricula. The Council strives to help educators “teach students to appreciate, understand and develop critical awareness of the products of the mind, the voice, the hand and the body.” The Fine Arts Council sees the arts as

• basic to life and fundamental to the development of the human spirit;
• unique ways for children to learn through their senses;
• a means to develop critical and creative thinking skills in children;
• an enabler that helps students to make informed choices and decisions; and
• an enhancement to one’s cultural and individual identity.

To promote these beliefs, The Council acts as an advocate for fine arts programs and for teachers of fine arts by liaising with the provincial government and Alberta Education, by influencing policymakers at all levels, by affiliating with other specialist councils and support groups at the local, regional and provincial levels. The Council sponsors an annual three-day conference as well as an annual day-long workshop. Twice yearly, the Fine Arts Council publishes A Fine Facta, a newsjournal designed to improve practice in the fine arts by increasing members' knowledge and understanding in the fields of art, dance, drama and music. Visit http://fac.teachers.ab.ca/ for more information.

Catterall, J. S.; Journal for Learning through the Arts: A research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities; “Conversation and Silence: Transfer of Learning Through the Arts”; Vol 1, No. 1 Article 1; 2005; http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=clta/lta

In this article, Catterall presents an analysis of two models of learning in the visual and performing arts with implications for the transfer of learning in the arts to non-arts learning. He presents his analysis in the context of theories of knowledge acquisition generally, however behavioral and neuro-function processes are also discussed. Catterall suggests that the important implications of his analysis lie in its suggestions about the conversations (social and autonomous) embedded in art making as well as in beholding works of art. More study is needed about the mechanisms of creative work and the processes of learning through creative expression, that is, it is important for us to understand how children create and what they learn from creating. Catterall summarizes by saying “the interactions of children around art should be a focus of research; …the individual is at the center of the creative process, and how young minds create in the worlds of art and beyond is worth …continuing study.”

Conference Board of Canada - Report, Valuing Culture: Measuring and Understanding Canada's Creative Economy; July 2008;
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/documents.asp?rnext=2671

This Conference Board of Canada report describes the viability of and economic benefits accruing from Canada’s arts and culture sector. The Board estimates that the economic footprint of Canada’s arts and culture sector was $84.6 billion in 2007, or 7.4 per cent of Canada’s total GDP. The report also stated that employment in this sector exceeded 1.1 million jobs in 2007.

The report summarizes other benefits as follows:

• Arts and culture industries are widely recognized for their multi-faceted role in contributing to personal and community development, enhancing social cohesion, and improving quality of life.
• In recent decades, there has been growing understanding of the important economic contributions that arts and culture industries make and of the central role that this sector plays in the creative economy.
• Technologies such as the Internet and Web 2.0 applications invite participation in creative activity on a mass scale and will have profound social and economic implications as people come together virtually in communities of interest that are increasingly focused on creative activities.
• Creative communities are important drivers in Canada’s economy; acting as magnets for skilled, creative people and for business investment. An important challenge for governments is to ensure communities have the means necessary to support creativity and diversity, and to build a thriving arts and culture sector.

It follows that students educated in the fine arts would more fully appreciate the value of and/or participate in this sector.

Note: There is no charge to download this report from the e-library, however you will be asked to register and sign in before access to the report is possible.

Floyd, R. and Bender J.; Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education; Academic Performance, Drop Out Rates and Attendance Rates in Texas Public Schools Correlated to Fine Arts Course Enrollment; March 4, 2007; http://www.tmea.org/025_Advocacy/ FineArtsCourseImpactPressReleaseandSummary.pdf

The Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education analyzed 2005-2007 data from the Texas Education Agency; data representing academic ratings, attendance rates, drop out rates and fine arts course enrollment from 951 Texas high schools. The authors reached the following conclusions based on their analysis: schools with a higher percentage of student enrollment in fine arts courses achieved higher academic ratings; reported lower drop out rates; and reported higher attendance rates.

Project Zero
http://pzweb.harvard.edu/index.cfm

Project Zero is an educational research group at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. Their mission is to “understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels.” They have several research projects underway, many of which are designed to advance promising practices in arts education (see a 2007 update of their current work at http://pzweb.harvard.edu/PZis40.pdf). A sampling of current research projects are described below.

• Learning in and from Museum Study Centers: The Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM) and Project Zero are conducting a one-year collaborative research project to identify, examine and articulate the special kinds of visitor learning experiences offered at study centers, specifically the Agnes Mongan Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings and Photographs and the Study Room of the Busch-Reisinger Museum (see http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/HUAM.htm for more information).
• The Qualities of Quality: Excellence in Arts Education and How to Achieve It: This study aims to synthesize what is currently understood about the critical elements of high quality arts teaching and learning and to identify effective strategies for creating those experiences for school-age youth in diverse settings (see http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/Quality.htm for more information).
• Studio Thinking Project: This study is being conducted in two high schools where teachers are artists, and students enter by audition in the visual arts and participate for a minimum of ten hours per week in visual arts classes. The Studio Thinking Framework being employed in this study involves eight habits of mind (i.e., develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and understand art world) and three classroom structures (i.e., students at work, demonstration-lecture, and critique) (see http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/StudioThink/StudioThinkEight.htm and http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/StudioThink/StudioThinkThree.htm respectively for more information). The project's purpose is to develop an understanding of instructional goals and practice in this environment (see http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/StudioThink.htm for more information).
• Visible Thinking Projects: Four studies use a visible thinking approach to teaching and learning. Visible thinking includes several classroom routines, easily and flexibly integrating the arts with content learning, to make thinking more visible in the classroom. Areas of thinking include: understanding, truth and evidence, fairness and moral reasoning, creativity, self-management, and decision making. This approach emphasizes the use of thinking routines and documentation to make thinking more visible in classrooms and to support the development of students as self-directed learners. It also includes a practical framework for how to create "cultures of thinking" in schools. See http://pzweb.harvard.edu/Research/VisThink.htm for more

Ruppert, S. S.; National Assembly of State Art Agencies; Critical Evidence: How the ARTS Benefit Student Achievement; 2006;
http://www.nasaa-arts.org/publications/critical-evidence.pdf

This report, commissioned by the National Assembly of State Art Agencies and the Arts Education Partnership, describes what the research says about how the study of the arts contributes to academic achievement and student success. Research has shown that the benefits of student learning experiences in the arts are

1. academic (i.e., improves skills in reading, language and mathematics);
2. basic (i.e., improves thinking and social skills as well as students’ motivation to learn); and
3. comprehensive (i.e., contributes to a positive school environment).

This report is based on a commented compendium of over sixty research studies about the effects of art education on students’ academic and social skills entitled Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development (2002) (see http://www.aep-arts.org/files/publications/CriticalLinks.pdf to download a pdf version of this compendium). A summary of the Critical Links research by author James Catterall is available at http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/arts/catterall.htm.

Walker, K. Dr; The Principals' Partnership; Fine Arts in Education: Research Brief; 2006; http://www.principalspartnership.com/Finearts.pdf

This research brief, sponsored by the Union Pacific Foundation, responds to the question ‘What are the benefits of a fine arts education?’ Walker summarizes research findings that show higher academic achievement among students who study the arts, especially when the arts are meaningfully integrated throughout different content areas. Particular gains among students considered to be disadvantaged were noted. The author stated that a well-rounded education in the fine arts helps students develop a range of skills and attitudes including but not limited to: imagination, observation skills, spatial reasoning and temporal skills. pattern recognition, symbolic thinking and recognition, qualitative judgment, enthusiasm for diverse courses, awareness and appreciation of their own and other’s cultures, teamwork, positive self-esteem, self-expression and perseverance.

In her brief Walker also identified the following characteristics of successful fine arts programs:

• Community involvement by parents, businesses, artists, and cultural leaders who help promote and implement the program;
• A board of education that values and supports the arts through policies and the provision of ample resources;
• Superintendents who support the arts by providing personnel, materials, and resources, and by attending arts events;
• Credible district arts coordinators who are involved in the community, advocate for the arts, and seek funding and support from other agencies;
• School principals who advocate for and support the arts through appropriate scheduling and the provision of resources;
• Strong interdisciplinary elementary programs that help establish a foundation for continued fine arts development in later grades as well as build positive relationships with parents and the community;
• Well-trained teachers who are active artists in their personal lives and strive for continuous professional growth;
• Planning of fine arts programs aligns with the goals and vision of the school; and
• Art is part of the formal assessment process.