Edward C. Warburton

ASSESSMENT OF TEACHERS' BELIEFS ABOUT CLASSROOM USE OF CRITICAL-THINKING ACTIVITIES

This article reports five studies in which a scale for assessing teachers’ beliefs about classroom use of critical-thinking (CT) activities was developed and its scores evaluated for reliability and validity. The Critical Thinking Belief Appraisal (CTBA) is based on a four-factor “advantage effect” model: the theoretical premise that teachers’ CT-related decision making is associated with their beliefs about the effectiveness of (a) high-CT activities for high-advantage learners, (b) high-CT activities for low-advantage learners, (c) low-CT activities for high-advantage learners, and (d) low-CT activities for low-advantage learners. Results indicated that the scale produced scores with high reliability; a stable factor structure; and satisfactory discriminant, construct, and predictive validity. The studies supported the theoretical and practical utility of the construct and measure of teachers’ beliefs about classroom use of CT activities.

Of Meanings and Movements: Re-Languaging Embodiment in Dance Phenomenology and Cognition

One of my favorite childhood memories is from my first dance class. I ran into the studio and started jumping, jumping, jumping literally for joy when I noticed suddenly that I was not alone. There were other children in class, and they were all jumping too. We jumped together, spontaneously in sync, oblivious to what must have been looks of parental incredulity peeking through the door. The teacher stopped us well before anyone fell to the floor but not so soon as to mistake the extraordinary (teachable) moment. Human beings can bond together through rhythmical movement and expressions like joy, and dance is fundamentally about making those connections: to self, to others, to the world, and beyond. In sixty seconds, our little dance community was born.

Beyond Steps: The Need for Pedagogical Knowledge in Dance

Abstract This essay explores factors influencing high-quality teaching in dance. The author argues that deficiencies in the skills needed to teach the content of dance (i.e., pedagogical knowledge) pose a bigger threat to effective instruction than familiarity with the subject being taught (i.e., content knowledge). The process of learning to teach not only elucidates the basics of sound pedagogy but also reveals key ideas and personal beliefs about dance that engenders better teaching and learning. The author concludes with suggestions for developing pedagogical knowledge in dance.

The Dance on Paper: The effect of notation-use on learning and development in dance

This paper investigates the effect of movement notation on learning and development in dance. Specifically, if children read dance notation, as they would read a musical score, in what ways do their thinking in and about dance change, if at all? The study involves 96 children ages 8-9 who participated in an 8-week dance programme based on Labanotation. A control group was exposed to the new dance programme but not the extra notational intervention. The Assessment of Prime Actions in Creative Movement (APACM) was used to collect pre- and post-test data. Results indicate that putting the dance on paper helps young children learn how to recognize and understand dance when they see it. Dance instruction based on notation-use produced greater gains in recognition abilities, good integration of the recognition skills needed for development in dance, and early skill in performing movement.

The Cognitive Benefits of Movement Reduction: Evidence From Dance Marking

In a number of domains, humans adopt a strategy of systematically reducing and minimizing a codified system of movement. One particularly interesting case is “marking” in dance, wherein the dancer performs an attenuated version of the choreography during rehearsal. This is ostensibly to save the dancer’s physical energy, but a number of considerations suggest that it may serve a cognitive function as well. In this study, we tested this embodied-cognitive-load hypothesis by manipulating whether dancers rehearsed by marking or by dancing “full out” and found that performance was superior in the dancers who had marked. This finding indicates that marking confers cognitive benefits during the rehearsal process, and it raises questions regarding the cognitive functions of other movement-reduction systems, such as whispering, gesturing, and subvocalizing. In addition, it has implications for a variety of topics in cognitive science, including embodied cognition and the nascent fields of dance and music cognition.

Who Cares? Teaching and Learning Care in Dance

Abstract What does it means to be a caring dance teacher? The essay reviews the rise of care in education and examines the concept of care as a moral orientation in personal and educational encounters so that connections to dance education are revealed, defnitions are arrived at, and important related issues are identifed. The essay describes three propositions for creating and sustaining climates of care and trust in our classrooms, studios, and communities of dance.

Of boys and girls

In the past decade, much has been written about threats to boys’ and girls’ healthy participation in dance. This Viewpoints essay considers some of the causes and proposed remedies, which focus almost exclusively on the roles and responsibilities of dance educators and administrators. I suggest that what is missing from recent research, pedagogical applications and clinical intervention responses is the conversation between boys and girls themselves: peer‐to‐peer influences and interactions may be the single best way to combat harmful stereotypes, strengthen relations between male and female dancers, and build healthy dance communities.

Dance Marking Diplomacy: Rehearsing Intercultural Exchange.

ABSTRACT Diplomacy is the art of relationships: the ability to work with individual to international-level concerns in a sensitive way. Like the diplomat, dance artists and educators know that success requires sensitivity to rapidly changing situational demands. A growing body of research suggests that the nonverbal art form of dance can be an effective medium for intercultural communication and exchange between people from different cultures. This article describes how choreographers and dancers from different cultures, educational backgrounds, and ethnic groups bridged the incommensurability of language to create a shared experience of cultural import during ArtsCross (2011–2014). As a microcosm of diplomacy in action, I suggest that the “dance marking” practices found in the rehearsal studio might provide some insight into more macrolevel “public diplomacy” efforts.

Toward trust: Recalibrating accreditation practices for postsecondary arts education

ABSTRACT This article charts the influence of American accreditation policies on postsecondary arts education practices. Some commentators suggest that accreditation is a standards- and evidence-based process. I argue that trust is at the center of concerns about assessment in higher education, especially in the arts. The purpose of this article is to provide to policy makers and arts administrators some recommendations for ways trust might be engendered between and within educational units responsible for collecting data for institutional accreditation.