Nonfiction has long been left out of the discourse on literacy and little is known about the affective experiences that children seek when they choose to engage with facts via reading and otherwise. We have conducted an interview study in which children of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in Czechia (N = 20, age 9-11) reflected on the world of…

There is currently a debate as to whether academic content at kindergarten crowds out time spent in creative arts, free play, and physical activity. Analyzing kindergarten teachers' reports of their instruction from the ECLS-K:2011, this study examined whether core academic content or advanced academic content in math or English language arts…

This book explores tools and techniques for creating the arts with groups. It provides insights into why workshops are such an effective and relevant form of creative practice. Throughout, two experienced practitioners share successful principles and qualities. They also include examples of workshops that explore ways of facilitating creative…

Purpose: Being "literate" is well established as key to active civic participation, right from the earliest years of life. Young children's natural curiosity and motivation to understand the world and their places within it through playful explorations offers rich opportunities for learning. Reported here are findings from a STEAM…

This study investigated the integration of loose parts into preschool arts education to enhance children's learning experiences, particularly within in-between spaces and centered around music, combining visual arts and dramatic play. Conducted as a case study in a Taiwanese private preschool, the research explored the use of loose parts in art…

This paper describes the pedagogical roots of the work we do, both as teachers and as performers; and how our work reaches beyond the classroom and into community, eliciting narratives and weaving them through improvised dance and music collaborations, eventually onto the walls of an art museum. Our concept was to solicit stories that told of some…

A collaboration between youth in a refugee camp in Malawi, U.S. college students, and a professor of folklore has produced a website and forthcoming book manuscript. The project augments opportunities for the artists, all of whom are refugees or asylum seekers, to share their work, bring visibility to the talent in the camp, raise awareness about…

This paper presents how a playful and embodied pedagogical approach (fun-ing) (Huxley, 2023) was applied to an international online poetry workshop for young people, and in doing so, foregrounds qualities of learning experiences, rather than neo-liberal skills-based outcomes alone. The methodology of fun-ing is grounded in a reflexive and emplaced…

Creativity is widely accepted to be a valuable skill to hone, but it is often difficult to define and even more difficult to measure. Artistic endeavors and creativity have historically had a close relationship with the sciences. However, recent trends have largely removed creativity from scientific inquiry and education. This shift has led to a…

This arts-based educational research dissertation is grounded in my emergent practices of photography and understandings about its material medium of photobook through visual reading and small book making. With the four chapters and one separate and accompanying handmade photobook titled "Missing Mountain," I seek to trace, sort out,…

In the past three decades, a variety of policies and programs have been created and implemented globally to promote Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR). However, millions of adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are unable to fully exercise their SRHR, becoming victim to early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and…

Capacity to teach the arts is a problem reported by many teachers in primary (elementary) school settings in Australia. This paper reports on research which explored how to build primary school teachers' capacity in arts-based pedagogy. It outlines the design and development of a co-mentoring program between arts mentor practitioners and…

Schools, community organizations, and major cultural entities can address educational inequities by engaging parents and children in arts processes, projects, and performances. Three cases featuring work in the arts show promise in contributing to the positive academic and social development of learners across the socio-economic spectrum. Learning…

This article analyzes visual art and radio broadcasting as semiotic practices that serve as crucial sites of child and youth participation in Indigenous social movements. Looking specifically at a movement against organized crime, political corruption, and environmental exploitation that emerged in 2011 among the Purépechan people of Cherán,…

There is a paucity of research exploring sources of resilience among transgender and gender diverse (TGD) young people with multiple marginalized identities. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer unique opportunities for authentic self-expression, which is not always possible offline. The primary aims of this study were to…