Sandra Minton

Using Movement to Teach Academics: An Outline for Success

Currently, she conducts workshops for teachers and works with students in the public schools.

Middle school choreography class: two parallel but different worlds

This research explored how middle school students construct meaning from their dance‐making experiences in comparison to the meaning attached to these experiences by an outside observer, the researcher. An interpretive methodology was used to study two nine‐week‐long dance classes taught at a private K‐12 school. Eleven students enrolled in the dance classes consented to participate in this study. The same dance teacher was the instructor for both classes. Observations were recorded throughout the duration of the dance classes. The students also answered the same questions in the form of two questionnaires concerning their feelings about making a dance. In addition, the teacher’s lesson plans were examined as they related to the choreographic process. Two themes emerged from this study. The first one dealt with involvement in the dance‐making process, and the second one was based on student communications. The meanings attached to each theme differed, however, with respect to the observations of the researcher and the expectations of the teacher in comparison to the reflections of the students. As a result, the researcher was able to describe the middle school dance classes as two separate but different worlds by describing the classes first based on the researcher’s observations and the teacher’s goals, and second from the viewpoint of the students.

Parallels Between Alma Hawkins' Approach to the Creative Process and Contemporary Learning Theory

Abstract Alma Hawkins believed that the creative process in dance should address both the mind and body. Her insights into the cognitive processes involved in dance-making are discussed in relationship to current cognitive theories of learning and the creative process.

The International Baccalaureate Dance Programme: Learning Skills for Life in the 21st Century

This study explores how an outside observer, the researcher, and a group of International Baccalaureate (IB) Dance students constructed meaning from their dance experiences. A qualitative methodology was used to interpret the data set consisting of the researchers observations during class and at a dance concert, and student responses to a questionnaire and during interviews. Four themes emerged from this study: self-growth and understanding; interpersonal growth and understanding; growth and understanding related to dance; and understanding connections among dance, other academic areas, and work. Each theme was examined in terms of the data set noted previously. As a result, similarities and connections were found between the themes identified from the IB Dance experiences, and the 21st-century skills of being accountable, flexible, socially responsible, communicative, creative, collaborative, self-directed, and a critical thinker who can reason, make choices, and solve problems.