Dramatic Pretend Play Games Uniquely Improve Emotional Control in Young Children
Thalia R. Goldstein and Matthew D. Lerner. | 2020 Thalia R. Goldstein and Matthew D. Lerner, “Dramatic Pretend Play Games Uniquely Improve Emotional Control in Young Children,” Developmental Science 21, no. 4 (2018): e12603. Abstract: Researchers conducted a randomized control trial of dramatic pretend play games with a group of 79 children from low socioeconomic households to test whether dramatic pretend play causes generalized […]
Can Guided Play and Storybook Reading Promote Children’s Drawing Development?
Jeremy E. Sawyer and Thalia Goldstein. | 2020 Jeremy E. Sawyer and Thalia Goldstein, “Can Guided Play and Storybook Reading Promote Children’s Drawing Development?,” Empirical Studies of the Arts 37, no. 1 (2018): 32–59. Abstract: Children’s drawings are implicated in their emotional, cognitive, artistic and semiotic development, raising the question of how early educators may best facilitate drawing development. This study compared three […]
The Effectiveness of a Music and Dance Program on the Task Engagement and Inclusion of Young Pupils on the Autism Spectrum
Athina Stamou et al. | 2020 Athina Stamou et al, “The Effectiveness of a Music and Dance Program on the Task Engagement and Inclusion of Young Pupils on the Autism Spectrum,” Music & Science 2 (2019): 2059204319881852. Abstract: This study explored whether music and dance can promote the inclusion of children with autism attending mainstream schools through participation in a novel music […]
Selection Into, and Academic Benefits From, Arts-Related Courses in Middle School for Low-Income, Ethnically Diverse Youth
Adam Winsler et al. | 2020 Adam Winsler et al, “Selection Into, and Academic Benefits From, Arts-Related Courses in Middle School for Low-Income, Ethnically Diverse Youth,” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, (2019). Abstract: This research on the effects of arts engagement identifies and carefully controls for preexisting selection factors that differentiate those who do and do not get exposure […]
The Arts and Human Development: Framing a National Research Agenda for the Arts, Lifelong Learning and Individual Well-Being
Hanna, Gay, Michael Patterson, Judy Rollins and Andrea Sherman | 2019 Hanna, Gay, Michael Patterson, Judy Rollins and Andrea Sherman. 2011. “The Arts and Human Development: Framing a National Research Agenda for the Arts, Lifelong Learning and Individual Well-Being.” National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, November. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/TheArtsAndHumanDev.pdf. Abstract: This paper is the result of a convening hosted by […]
Dancing Effects on Preschoolers’ Sensorimotor Synchronization, Balance and Movement Reaction Time
Chatzihidiroglou et al | 2019 Chatzihidiroglou et al. “Dancing Effects on Preschoolers’ Sensorimotor Synchronization, Balance and Movement Reaction Time.” Perceptual and motor skills 125, no. 3 (2018): 463-477. Abstract: This study compared an experimental group of preschool children (n=22; mean age=5 years, 8 months) who followed an eight-week dance program with a control group (n=20; mean age=5 years, 5 months) on pre–post […]
Cultivating Interest in Art: Causal Effects of Arts Exposure During Early Childhood
Kisida, B., Bowen, D. H., & Greene, J. P. | 2018 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. This study uses an experimental research design to investigate the effect of arts exposure on the development of children’s attitudes toward art.
Does Participation in Music and Performing Arts Influence Child Development?
Foster, E. M., & Marcus Jenkins, J. V. | 2018 This article reconsiders the association between childhood arts participation and cognitive and developmental outcomes.
Music, Language and Learning: Investigating the Impact of a Music Workshop Project in Four English Early Years Settings.
Pitts, S.E. | 2016 This research used a range of methods to evaluate the ‘Soundplay’ project which ran in four early years (pre-K/K) settings in Sheffield, UK, in 2014-15.
Effect of a performing arts program on the oral language skills of young English learners.
Greenfader, C.M., Brouillette, L. & Farkas, G. | 2015 The Teaching Artist Project (TAP) is a literacy program that provides K–2 teachers with professional development in theatre and dance with the goal of helping teachers boost the oral language skills of English learners (ELs).
Evaluation of professional development in the use of arts-integrated activities with mathematics content: Findings about program implementation
Ludwig, M., Song, M., Kouyate-Tate, A. F., Cooper, J., Phillips, L., & Greenbaum, S. | 2014 Researchers designed a qualitative study to evaluate the program design and implementation of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Arts Institute for Early Childhood Learning’s professional development (PD) program.
Arts enrichment and preschool emotions for low-income children at risk
Brown, E. D., Sax, K. L. | 2013 This study examines the effects of arts integration on preschool students’ emotional expression and emotional regulation.
Biological impact of preschool music classes on processing speech in noise
Strait, D.L., Parbery-Clark, A., O’Connell, S. & Kraus, N. | 2013 This study compared auditory brainstem responses (ABR) to speech in noise in 32 preschool children, half of whom were engaged in musical training.
Increasing the school engagement and oral language skills of ELLs through arts integration in the primary grades
Brouillette, L., Childress-Evans, K., Hinga, B. & Farkas, G. | 2014 Building on previous research on the relationship between the arts and student engagement and achievement, researchers studied the impact of San Diego’s Teaching Artist Project (TAP) on the attendance and speaking and listening skills of children in kindergarten through second grade, with a focus on English Language Learners (ELLs).
The arts and achievement in at-risk youth: Findings from four longitudinal studies.
Catterall, J. S., Dumais, S. A., & Hampden-Thompson, G. | 2012 This study examines the relationship between participation in the arts and academic and civic outcomes for teenagers and young adults.
Singing one’s way to self-regulation: The role of early music and movement curricula and private speech
Winsler, A., Ducenne, L., & Koury, A. | 2011 Investigators studied the effects of music classes on a child’s self regulation through private speech.
Arts Education in America: What the Declines Mean for Arts Participation.
Rabkin, N. and Hedberg, E. | 2011 This report examines the association between arts education and art participation for adults found in the 1992 administration of the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA).
Short-term music training enhances verbal intelligence and executive function.
Moreno, S., Bialystok, E., Barac, R., Schellenberg, E. G., Cepeda, N. J. & Chau, T. | 2011 This study examines the effects of two interactive computerized training programs developed for preschool children, one teaching music (focused on music listening activities) and the other visual art.
Promising Findings on Preschoolers’ Emergent Literacy and School Readiness in Arts-Integrated Early Childhood Settings
Phillips, R.D., Gorton, R.L., Pinciotti, P., & Sachdev, A. | 2010 This quasi-experimental study examines the implementation of a performing and visual arts integrated arts professional development model (Art as a Way of Learning – AWL) within an integrated arts program (Promoting and Supporting Early Literacy through the Arts – PASELA) designed to improve literacy in three community-based early childhood education (ECE) settings.
Evaluation of the nature and impact of the Creative Partnerships programme on the teaching workforce
Lamont, E., Jeffes, J., & Lord,P. | 2010 This study examines the impact of the UK’s Creative Partnerships program on the teaching force at participating schools.
Using the Reggio exhibit to enrich teacher candidates’ perceptions of how children construct and represent knowledge
Anita R. Ede and Denise A. Da Ros-Voseles | 2010 This study explored the changes in 37 early childhood teacher candidates’ perceptions of how children construct and represent knowledge following repeated exposure to The Wonder of Learning: the Hundred Languages of Children exhibit.
Arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk.
Brown, E. D., Benedett, B, & Armistad, M. E. | 2010 Arts enrichment programs provide varied channels for acquiring school readiness skills, especially for children at risk.
Oklahoma A+ Schools: What the research tells us 2002-2007. Volume three, quantitative measures.
Barry, N. H. | 2010 Researchers conducted a five-year evaluation study of how the A+ arts integrated school reform strategies (developed in North Carolina) played out in Oklahoma’s growing network of A+ Schools.
Effects of a preschool music and movement curriculum on children’s language skills
Noreen Yazeijian, Ellen S. Peisner-Feinberg | 2009 This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of a supplementary music and movement curriculum on children’s language skills in a Head Start preschool classroom.
Science and theatre education: A cross-disciplinary approach of scientific ideas addressed to student teachers of early childhood education
Tselfes, V. and Paroussi, A. | 2009 This study followed 57 early childhood education student teachers in a theatrical applications and physics education course to explore how theatre benefited the teaching and learning of scientific ideas.
The impact of music on childhood and adolescent achievement
Darby E. Southgate and Vincent J. Roscigno | 2009 This large-scale, longitudinal study examines the relationship of music involvement to math and reading achievement for 4376 children and 7781 adolescents in public and private schools in the U.
Singing in science: Writing and recording student lyrics to express learning
Nelson, S., & Norton-Meier, L. | 2009 This qualitative case study examines an integrated arts project in which students in two grade levels write song lyrics to express learning in science.
Theatre for a young audience: how can we better prepare kindergartners for the experience?
Aram, D., & Mor, S. | 2009 This study considers whether the traditional story comprehension or the theatre semiotics approach is a more effective means of preparing young children to experience and understand a theatrical performance.
Parental perceptions of music in storytelling sessions in a public library
Vries, P. | 2008 This case study examines parent/caregivers perceptions of music in storytelling sessions provided in a public library to children under the age of five, including music activities and ideas parent/caregivers implemented in the home as a result of the sessions.
Impact of arts integration on voice, choice, and access.
Mason, C. Y., Steedly, K. M., & Thormann, M. S. | 2008 VSA arts conducted this study to investigate the relationship between substantive arts involvement and social, cognitive, and artistic development among students with disabilities.
Arts in the Classroom Professional Development Program:Final Evaluation Report
Powell, D. | 2007 This study is an evaluation of The Arts in the Classroom Program which engaged 91 Kindergarten through sixth grade classroom teachers from a single school district in order to build their capacity to deliver standards-based interdisciplinary arts instruction to their students.
Differences in mathematics scores between students who receive traditional Montessori instruction and students who receive music enriched Montessori instruction
Maureen Harris | 2007 This experimental study was designed to determine whether mathematics achievement varies between students who receive traditional Montessori instruction and students who receive music-enhanced Montessori instruction.
“It’s work, work, work, work”: Young people’s experiences of effort and engagement in dance.
Karen E. Bond, Susan W. Stinson | 2007 This study is the second phase of a large research project examining young people’s experiences in dance education.
The effects of a creative dance and movement program on the social competence of head start preschoolers.
Lobo, Y. B., & Winsler, A. | 2006 This study assesses the effects of a creative dance/movement program on the social competence of preschool children.
In the beginning: Young children and arts education.
Jeff Meiners | 2005 This report describes an arts education partnership between Windmill Performing Arts, an Australian national performing arts company for children and families, and the University of South Australia.
Focus in creative learning: Drawing on art for language development
Shirley Brice Heath and Shelby Wolf | 2005 The researchers used a blend of data collection methods from action research and linguistic anthropology to examine the learning environment in which students (ages four to seven) worked with a professional visual artist, one day per week for an entire academic school year.
Relations among musical skills, phonological processing, and early reading ability in preschool children.
Sima H. Anvari, Laurel J. Trainor, Jennifer Woodside, and Betty Ann Levy | 2002 This study examined the relationship between phonological awareness, music perception skills, and early reading skills in a population of 100 four and five year-old children.
Mute those claims: No evidence (yet) for a causal link between arts study and academic achievement
Winner, E., & Cooper, M. | 2000 The purpose of this study was to quantify the results of existing research (from the period of 1950 to 1998) testing the claim that the study of the arts is associated with improved academic achievement.
Music and mathematics: Modest support for the oft-claimed relationship
Vaughn, K. | 2000 The author conducted three meta-analyses to investigate the effects of music instruction/exposure on improvements in mathematics.
Classroom keyboard instruction improves kindergarten children’s spatial-temporal performance: a field experiment
Rauscher, F. & Zupan, M. | 2000 The aim of this study was to determine the effects of classroom music instruction featuring the keyboard on the spatial-temporal reasoning of kindergarten children.
Learning to make music enhances spatial reasoning
Lois Hetland | 2000 This study describes the relationship between active music instruction and performance on spatial tasks.
Bears don’t need phonics: An examination of the role of drama in laying the foundations for critical thinking in the reading process
Montgomerie, D., & Ferguson, J. | 1999 The researchers use a case study approach to discover whether and how educators’ use of process drama contributes to the development of critical literacy skills for four- to eight-year-old students, some who speak another language in addition to English.
“I feel like I’m going to take off!”: Young people’s experiences of the superordinary in dance.
Bond, K. E., & Stinson, S. W. | 2000 This study presents phenomenological research about how dance students describe their experiences with dance.
Strengthening verbal skills through the use of classroom drama: A clear link.
Ann Podlozny | 2000 This study examines the relationship between in-school drama instruction and student verbal achievement.
The Effect of Early Music Training on Child Cognitive Development
Terry D. Bilhartz, Rick A. Bruhn, and Judith E. Olson | 1999 The researchers conducted an experimental study to determine the relationship between the structured early childhood music curriculum, Kindermusik, and cognitive development.
The literate potentials of book-related dramatic play
Deborah Rowe | 1998 This research, based on two related studies, explores dramatic play and how it may assist young children in understanding the content of stories.
Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning.
Francis H. Rauscher, Gordon L. Shaw, Linda J. Levine, Eric L. Wright, Wendy R. Dennis, and Robert L. Newcomb | 1997 This study examined whether music training improves preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning and spatial recognition abilities.
A meta-analysis on the effects of music as reinforcement for education/therapy objectives
Standley, J.M. | 1996 The purpose of the study meta-analysis was to examine the effectiveness of music as a reward (or removal of music as a punishment) in education and therapy settings.
Symbolic Functioning and Children’s Early Writing: Relations Between Kindergartener’s Play and Isolated Word Writing Fluency
Pellegrini, A. | 1980 This study examines the relationship between play and isolated word writing fluency—a crucial beginning component in the process of becoming literate.
Kaleidoscope: Profile of an arts-based early childhood program. Final Report
Raymond C. Collins, Laura J. Colker & Carol E. Copple | 1994 Researchers conducted an outside program evaluation on Kaleidoscope, an arts-integrated early childhood program that combines visual arts, music, dance and language arts with other subjects.
“You can’t be grandma; you’re a boy”: Events within the thematic fantasy play context that contribute to story comprehension
Williamson, P. A. & Silvern, S. B. | 1992 This study examines how kindergarten students’ behavior during dramatic reenactments of stories affects their story comprehension.
Attention and perseverance behaviors of preschool children enrolled in Suzuki violin lessons and other activities
Scott, L. | 1992 This study examines the effects of Suzuki violin lessons on preschool children’s development of attention and persevering behaviors, behaviors that increase students’ capacity to learn and rate of learning.
Naturalistic Study of the Relationship Between Literacy Development and Dramatic Play in Five-Year-Old Children
Goodman, J. R. | 1990 This study investigates the relationship between dramatic play and literacy and explores some of the critical factors that influence that relationship.
The effect of dramatic play on children’s generation of cohesive text
Pellegrini, A. | 1984 This study focuses on how a child conveys meaning and the importance of the familiarity of the knowledge base of the listener (informed versus naïve), in retelling of stories.
Identifying causal elements in thematic-fantasy play paradigm
Pellegrini, A. | 1984 This study examines the effect of adult-directed and peer-directed thematic play on both immediate and sustained recall.
The Effects of Thematic-Fantasy Play Training on the Development of Children’s Story Comprehension
Pellegrini, A. and Galda, L. | 1982 This study outlines a brief intervention in which kindergarten and first grade students heard a story and participated in one of three story-related activities—drawing a picture, discussing the story with an adult, or acting out the story with three peers and an adult.