Date of Award
Spring 5-20-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
PHD - Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Education
First Advisor
Caroline Heller
Second Advisor
Peter Cormier
Third Advisor
Priscilla Sanville
Abstract
The aim of my dissertation research is to understand the relationship between interdisciplinary arts experiences and the establishment of a community culture in a mainstream public high school in northeast United States. With this research, I hope to provide evidence to support the inclusion of interdisciplinary arts projects in the fabric of students’ high school curricular and extra-curricular experiences. Through engagement in design, art, video, music, dance, theater and the close study of a minority culture, high school participants provided regular responses to planned survey questions and open-ended survey questions (Experience Sampling), as well as through interviews, written prompts and my own field observations. This mixed-method approach allowed for a deep consideration of the pedagogical and social conditions necessary for students to experience a positive “psychological sense of community” (McMillan and Chavis, 1989).
My research attempted to answer the following overarching questions:
- How does the collaboration of diverse participants from a community in a high school setting influence a student’s broader idea of what community means?
- How does immersion into an unfamiliar culture through interdisciplinary learning impact a participant’s perception of being a member of a global community?
- Do interdisciplinary arts performance projects build a sense of community for students in a school setting, and if so why and how?
- How do elements of democratic learning (Wyatt, 1999), creative design opportunities and moments of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997) contribute to a student’s feeling of being an essential member of a community?
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Language
English
Embargo Period
5-27-2018
Recommended Citation
Pappas, Ida, "Interdisciplinary Arts as an Agent for Community Building in a U.S. Public School" (2017). Educational Studies Dissertations. 133.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/education_dissertations/133
Included in
Acting Commons, Art Education Commons, Dance Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Music Education Commons, Music Performance Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Music Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons
Rights
The author owns the copyright to this work.
