Smithrim,+Katharine

// Learning through the Arts: Lessons of Engagement. // //Katharine Smithrim and Rena Upitis. Canadian Journal of Education. Vol.28, No.1/2 (2005) pp.109-127// ABSTRACT In this article, Smithrim and Upitis describe the effects on student achievement and attitudes of a Canadian school-wide arts education approach, //Learning through the Arts (LTTA).// The sample included over 6000 students and their parents, teachers, and principals. The authors gathered data, both at the onset and after three years of involvement in //LTTA// on student achievement, student attitudes towards arts and schooling, and out-of-school activities. They found no baseline differences in achievement or in socioeconomic status in the //LTTA// and control schools. At the end of three years, the grade 6 //LTTA// students scored significantly higher on tests of computation than students in control schools. Findings: 1. The LTTA program had a modest but statistically significant positive effect on student achievement on the math test dealing with computation and estimation. This difference did not occur until three years of programming had taken place. The effects are not sudden but gradual. 2. Analysis provided strong indications that involvement in the arts went hand-in-hand with engagement in learning in school 3. There may be other general factors-beyond engagement-that the arts nurture. Examples that were cited included the arts a form of motivation for taking other academic work more seriously and the importance of the discipline required in pursuing the arts (both within and outside of school) can have positive influences on other pursuits. Questions/Implications 1. The article used the definition of engagement put forth by Csikszantmihalyi (1997) and Noddings (1992) “the involvement of the sensorimotor or physical, emotional, cognitive and social dimensions” or as Csikszantmihalyi (1997) described as “the very real feeling we have after an aesthetic encounter that some kind of growth has taken place, that our being and the cosmos have been realigned in a more harmonious way” 2. The authors expected that any contributions made by the arts to achievement in other subjects were likely to be based on a variety of complex reasons, such as those offered by the notion of engagement.