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From the Stage to the Classroom:
The Performing Arts and Social Studies
Julie Anne Taylor
University of Michigan-Dearborn
| ESTABLISHED IN 1880, the University Musical Society (U.M.S.) in Ann Arbor, Michigan is one of the most innovative venues for music and the performing arts in the United States. Each season, it offers performances by renowned American and international artists. Through the society's youth education program, performers entertain and educate children. Three years ago, a partnership between the University Musical Society and the School of Education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn was formed in response to the requests made by participating teachers for instructional materials. Since the writing of lesson plans is a vital part of teacher education, two courses at the university were selected to participate in the project: secondary social studies methods and multicultural education. Beginning in 2003, hundreds of pre-service teachers in these courses have been involved in the creation of lesson plans for the University Musical Society. Many of the full-time teachers who have implemented their lessons have also attended workshops organized by the musical society to improve their understanding of the performers' cultures and the histories of their art forms. Research on this collaborative project suggests that the deliberate integration of the arts and social studies may enhance teaching and learning both fields. |
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The Orchestration of the Project | |
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The performances for which the college students developed instructional materials were selected by professors in the School of Education and educators at the University Musical Society. Six classroom hours were set aside in the social studies methods and multicultural education courses, both of which are upper division, for work on the project each semester. Prior to conducting their own research, the college students were shown videos of the performers. They were also given lectures and written materials on the artists and their countries of origin. Once written, the students' lesson plans were edited by the professors and staff members at the University Musical Society. Distributed to full-time, public school teachers and posted on the society's website (http://www.ums.org), selected lesson plans were implemented in classrooms within a few months of their creation. After giving the lessons, the teachers brought their students to the performances. |
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Interdisciplinary Instruction and Cognition | |
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The college students created lesson plans for the performances of artists such as the Children of Uganda, the Girls Choir of Harlem, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, and Simon Shaheen. When D.J. Spooky (Paul Miller) came to Ann Arbor to present his Rebirth of a Nation, the students studied the film on which his work commented, D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation. For the high school students who would attend the performance, they prepared lesson plans on slavery, the Civil War, and the struggle for voting rights by African Americans. They asked the high school students to analyze primary sources, including copies of engravings, photographs, and political cartoons. One assignment involved comparing and contrasting the writings of sharecroppers and former slave owners. |
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After developing instructional materials for the University Musical Society, a student who was planning to teach history at the high school level commented, "I feel that arts integration is important in the overall educational experience. The cultural benefits are one reason that I favor the inclusion of the arts. Another reason is the cognitive enhancement that music and arts education offers students of all ages." Many psychologists, artists, and educators indeed argue for art's potential to help students become better thinkers.1 According to Howard Gardner, since artists use symbols, the interpretation of art requires decoding and reflection.2 Scholars such as Gail Burnaford and Arthur Efland think that education in the arts may foster metaphorical thinking.3 David Elliot argues that listening to music involves "thinking in action" and helps to cultivate concentration.4 Somewhat similarly, David Perkins describes the development of "thinking dispositions" when individuals view art.5 Including art in instruction may facilitate the integration of knowledge.6 |
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Understanding Culture and History through the Arts | |
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For many years, the University Musical Society has been offering and conducting research on workshops designed to improve teachers' knowledge of and appreciation for music and performance art. Gathered independently by the society during and after 2003, 129 surveys of full-time, public school teachers were analyzed for this article in order to gauge their perceptions of arts education. While most of the participants were art and/or music teachers, educators in other fields, particularly social studies and English, were also involved. The research findings indicate that the teachers' participation in the society's workshops enhanced their understanding not only of music and art, but also of history and culture. |
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Some of the workshops offered by the University Musical Society clearly raised the teachers' awareness of multiple historical perspectives. In the workshop for the production of Tall Horse by the Handspring and Sogolon Puppet Companies, European and Egyptian history, customs, and viewpoints were discussed. The production was based on a historic event: Pasha Mehmet Ali's giving a giraffe to King Charles X of France in 1826. After the workshop, one teacher wrote that he or she had learned "to look at issues from multiple viewpoints." Another teacher encouraged the University Musical Society to "continue to work toward the ... appreciation of the contributions of others to civilization." |
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Historic as well as contemporary plays may contribute to students' understanding of social studies. As Arthur Efland notes, artistic production in the past was largely determined by patrons, teachers, and censors.7 Works of art were commissioned by the elite members of society. Today, artists have greater freedom, and patrons include members of the public. The work of artists, nevertheless, continues to reflect social, political, and economic conditions.8 When the internationally-acclaimed Palestinian musician Simon Shaheen hosted classes on music in the Arab world in 2003, all of the 20 educators who completed the anonymous evaluation forms either agreed or strongly agreed with the assertion that the workshop had added to their knowledge of Arab music, culture, and history. Most indicated that they planned to integrate the information from the workshop into their classes. |
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In her book Integrating the Arts, Merryl Goldberg describes dance, music, and art as forms of storytelling within cultures.9 Art, she argues, should not be separated from the context in which it was created. Through it, people of diverse cultures can learn about one another. Interestingly, many teachers who participated in the University Musical Society's workshops indicated that they had attended in order to better serve the increasingly diverse student populations in their schools. The workshops increased their knowledge and understanding of the cultures of the students. One educator stated that he or she had attended the workshop for Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano in 2006 because there was a "new influx of Latino students" at school. Another wrote, "this will help me to reach out more to the Hispanic community." A third viewed the workshop as "an opportunity to learn more about Mexican culture." |
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Conclusion | |
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The collaborative project between the University Musical Society and the School of Education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn suggests that integrating social studies and the performing arts increases the understanding of both fields by educators. Interdisciplinary work by both educators and students may broaden students' knowledge of history and diverse cultures. Including the arts in social studies instruction may have pedagogical benefits as well because the inclusion would facilitate differentiated instruction. The preliminary findings from the research on the project in Michigan indicate that interdisciplinary work holds strong educational promise. |
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Notes
1. David Perkins, The Intelligent Eye: Learning to Think by Looking at Art (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 1994); Arthur Efland, Art and Cognition (New York: Teachers College, 2002), 7.
2. Howard Gardner, Art Education and Human Development (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 1990), 9, 17.
3. Gail Burnaford, Arnold April, and Cynthia Weiss, eds., Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning (Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001), 17. Cf. Arthur Efland, "Art Education as Imaginative Cognition," in Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education, eds. Elliot Eisner and Michael Day (Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004), 770.
4. David Elliot, Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1995), 80–81.
5. David Perkins, The Intelligent Eye: Learning to Think by Looking at Art (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 1994), 4.
6. Kerry Freedman and Patricia Stuhr, "Curriculum Change for the 21st Century: Visual Culture in Art Education," in Handbook of Research and Policy in Art Education, 823.
7. Arthur Efland, A History of Art Education (New York: Teachers College Press, 1990), 2.
8. Efland, A History, 3.
9. Merryl Goldberg, Integrating the Arts: An Approach to Teaching and Learning in Multicultural and Multilingual Settings, 3rd ed. (Boston: Pearson, 2006), 12.
Appendix I: Sample Lesson Plans
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