Secondary / High School

The Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education

Many children in the United States have little or no opportunity for formal arts instruction, and access to arts learning experiences remains a critical national challenge. In addition, the quality of arts learning opportunities that are available to young people is a serious concern. Understanding this second challenge: the challenge of creating and sustaining high quality formal arts learning experiences for K12 youth, inside and outside of school is the focus of our recent research initiative, The Qualities of Quality, commissioned by The Wallace Foundation and conducted by Project Zero. The study focuses on the character of excellence itself and asks three core questions:

How do arts educators in the United States including leading practitioners, theorists, and administrators conceive of and define high quality arts learning and teaching?

What markers of excellence do educators and administrators look for in the actual activities of arts learning and teaching as they unfold in the classroom?

How do a programs foundational decisions, as well as its ongoing day-to-day decisions, affect the pursuit and achievement of quality?

Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media: A Synthesis from the GoodPlay Project

From the abstract:

The new digital media are a frontier that is rich with opportunities and risks, particularly for young people. Through digital technologies, young people are participating in a range of activities, including social networking, blogging, vlogging, gaming, instant messaging, downloading music and other content, uploading and sharing their own creations, and collaborating with others in various ways...

In this report, we explore the ethical fault lines that are raised by such digital pursuits. We argue that five key issues are at stake in the new media—identity, privacy, ownership and authorship, credibility, and participation. Drawing on evidence from informant interviews, emerging scholarship on new media, and theoretical insights from psychology, sociology, political science, and cultural studies, we explore the ways in which youth are redefining these five concepts as they engage with the new digital media. For each issue, we describe and compare offline and online understandings and then explore the particular ethical promises and perils that surface online.

Multiple Intelligences around the World

Since its introduction in 1983, Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (MI) theory has become a touchstone of education. Embracing a wide array of human talents that significantly contribute to our intellectual and cultural life, MI theory offers a broader definition of intelligence than is measured by standard IQ tests. MI theory supports and celebrates the diversity of children's strengths in school and other learning environments. Now, more than a quarter of a century later, Multiple Intelligences around the World draws upon a select group of MI practitioners to show how Gardner's theory is applied in the international arena. In this dynamic book, the contributors representing countries such as China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Norway, Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, Romania, Turkey, Argentina, Colombia, and the United States share thoughtful stories and strategies of educational innovation. Multiple Intelligences around the Worlds cross-cultural discussions provide a valuable resource for teachers and administrators who are working with diverse student populations. In addition, the experiences of exam-driven countries like China and Japan will prove instructive to professionals faced with the task of improving both teaching and test scores. This book addresses a number of key questions including: How have different educational settings implemented MI? How does an educational idea created in one cultural milieu travel and take root in highly diverse educational soils? And, what universal lessons can be drawn from these experiences? ISBN-13: 978-0787997601

Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum

Common Sense Media's Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum was originally developed in collaboration with Project Zero's Good Play Project. Informed by the Good Play research findings, this curriculum emphasizes the ways in which youth can leverage the positive affordances of digital media while protecting themselves and making socially responsible, ethical decisions. The curriculum covers issues from online privacy to building positive community online to copyright and creation.

Teaching for Understanding Unit vs. Traditional Unit

What makes a Teaching for Understanding (TfU) unit different than a traditional unit? View an example of a TfU unit and then use this template to transform existing or create new units that leverage the principles of TfU.