IN THE SCHOOLS
 |
 |
 |
Since its pilot project in 2003, Kaleidoscope has been bringing professional artists into Muskoka schools. In 2008, the Muskoka Lakes Music Festival - Kaleidoscope became an official partner with the national arts education organization ArtsSmarts, and began to follow their models. Together we are a dynamic approach to teaching, learning, doing and thinking that is changing the lives of students, artists, educators, and entire schools and communities.
-
ArtsSmarts projects explore ideas evolving from a BIG QUESTION
- Children collaborate with artist-teacher teams and work with models of creative inquiry.
- The thinking and doing of creative inquiry allows students to focus on more than just the finished product and actively engages them in the steps of the creative process.
Our aim is to improve student engagement and cultivate 21st Century learning skills such as the capacity to think creatively, understand deeply, take control of learning, work collaboratively and reflect. The success of this model, which can be applied to any discipline or grade level, is in a process that is self-generated by teachers and artists to meet students' needs and priorities, rather than a packaged curriculum lesson plan.
By following the ArtsSmarts model, ArtsSmarts program partners all across Canada including Kaleidoscope, have demonstrated the effectiveness of arts integration in the schools as a way of making core curriculum more relevant and meaningful to students, resulting in a higher level of learning engagement.
In the 2008 annual ArtsSmarts report, more than 27,230 students in 132 different communities across Canada experienced ArtsSmarts. Kaleidoscope alone reached almost 2000 children with over 60 artists, educators and volunteers. There is an increasing demand for arts infused programming in the schools, and Kaleidoscope/ArtsSmarts strives to fulfill those needs.
Benefits
Research reveals that students' experience of engagement was higher during their participation in an arts integrated project than it was when they were learning in a regular classroom environment. By increasing student engagement, student attendance rates are increased. Students who are less academically strong also thrive when an artist is in the classroom. Children taking part in Kaleidoscope programs are also more likely to take up an art form outside of class. Not only does Kaleidoscope/ArtsSmarts help to keep children in school, it helps prepare them better for future opportunities.
*Please see our PROJECTS page for details on upcoming and previous in-school projects!