IN THE SCHOOLS
Since its first pilot project in 2003, Kaleidoscope has been bringing artists into Muskoka schools. In 2008, the Muskoka Lakes Music Festival- Kaleidoscope became a partner with ArtsSmarts and began to follow their models. Together we are a dynamic approach to teaching, learning, doing and thinking that has been changing the lives of students, artists, educators, and entire schools and communities.
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ArtsSmarts projects explore ideas evolving from a BIG QUESTION
- Children collaborate with artist- teacher teams and are exposed to models of creative inquiry.
- The thinking and doing of creative inquiry allows students to focus on more than the finished product and actively engages them in the steps of the creative process.
Our aim is to improve student engagement and cultivate 21stcentury 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 further 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 strive to fulfill those needs.
Benefits
Research reveals that students' experience of engagement is 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 prove to 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 and increase retention rates, it helps prepare them better for future skills and opportunities.
*Please see our PROJECTS page for details on upcoming and previous in-school projects!