The Arts in Children's Lives : Context, Culture, and Curriculum

Advocates for the arts have contributed significantly to the philosophy and practice of early and elementary education throughout its history. Yet the nature, value, and purpose of arts experiences in the lives of children seem to remain puzzling and problematic to those most directly involved in teaching the young. Conversations between scholars and teacher educators in the arts and in education occur all too infrequently. Seventeen authors, whose work represents the best of contemporary research and theory on a constellation of issues concerning the role of the arts in children's lives and learning, address critical issues of development, context, and curriculum from perspectives informed by work with children in formal and informal settings. This anthology strives to reinvigorate dialogue on the role and significance of the arts in the education of children drawing on various cultural and institutional context and traditional and contemporary practices from different parts of the world. Context Interlude....Pages 9-13 Children’s Contextual Art Knowledge: Local Art and School Art Context Comparisons....Pages 15-27 What’s to be Learned? Comments on Teaching Music in the World and Teaching World Music at Home....Pages 29-41 Becoming Japanese: Manga , Childern’s Drawings, and the Construction of National Character....Pages 43-55 The Musical Cultures of Children....Pages 57-69 Playing the Music — Comparing Performance of Children’s Song and Dance in Traditional and Contemporary Namibian Education....Pages 71-86 Development Interlude....Pages 87-92 We Begin as Poets....Pages 93-100 Constructing an Artistic Self: A Cultural Perspective....Pages 101-111 Early Childhood Musical Development....Pages 113-128 Drawing Together: Peer Influence in Preschool-Kindergarten Art Classes....Pages 129-138 Fictional Worlds and the Real World in Early childhood Drama Education....Pages 139-151 Curriculum Interlude....Pages 153-156 What We Teach is Who We are: The Stories of Our Lives....Pages 157-168 School Art as a Hybrid Genre: Institutional Contexts for Art Curriculum....Pages 169-183 Early Childhood Literacy Education, Wakefulness, and the Arts....Pages 185-194 Pleasure, Creativity, and the Carnivalesque in Children’s Video Production....Pages 195-214 Music Technology and the Young Child....Pages 215-236

Researchers and practitioners in education and various arts explore the role and significance of the arts in the education of children from ages three through eight. The 15 studies offer balanced coverage of the cultural contexts of early arts experiences, how children's abilities to participate in particular art forms develop and evolve, and art experiences that are artistically authentic and developmentally appropriate. They include literature as one of the arts. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Booknews

Researchers and practitioners in education and various arts explore the role and significance of the arts in the education of children from ages three through eight. The 15 studies offer balanced coverage of the cultural contexts of early arts experiences, how children's abilities to participate in particular art forms develop and evolve, and art experiences that are artistically authentic and developmentally appropriate. They include literature as one of the arts. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)