K-2 Boosts Test Scores & Attendance · UCI Center for Learning inthe Arts, Sciences & Sustainability ArtsBridge America June 2012 In this Issue Page 1-2 K-2 Boosts Test Scores & Attendance

UCI Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences & Sustainability

ArtsBridge America June 2012

In this Issue

Page 1-2 K-2 Boosts Test Scores

& Attendance

Page 3 New UCI Graduate M.S. Program

Page 4 CLASS Spotlight

Page 5-8 A Message from

ArtsBridge America

Page 11 Spotlight Arts Orange

County

!

K-2 Boosts Test Scores & Attendance

Research shows that if children who

speak a language other than English at home are to learn English fast

enough to succeed in school,

practice with oral language is

critical. However, in many urban

classrooms, the opportunities for

one-on-one verbal interaction

between teacher and pupil are

limited by rising class sizes and a

highly structured curriculum.

Theater and dance activities can

help to address this problem by allowing a teacher to model words

and gestures, with many children

responding at once.

Arts integration is especially

effective at the onset of students’

learning a new language—when

children understand more words

than they can produce. Given the

Liane Brouillette, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Center for Learning in the Art, Sciences & Sustainability

chance, children in the primary

grades will exhibit gestures, behaviors, and non-verbal

responses that indicate

understanding of what they’ve

heard. Performing arts activities

allow children to build

vocabulary in a manner that

grows naturally out of their non-

verbal responses.

The K-2 Teaching Artist Project

(TAP), a partnership between the

UCI Center for Learning in the

Arts, Sciences and Sustainability

and the San Diego Unified

School District, is funded by a

grant from the U.S. Dept. of

Education.

continued next page

Communicating Science Page 12

Page 14

UCI Student Teachers

Applauded

2 2



continued from page 1

TAP sends professional teaching artists into

classrooms to coach teachers on how to use arts-based activities effectively with English language

learners (ELLs). The artists visit the classroom of

each participating teacher for 50 minutes each week

for 28 weeks.

At the five San Diego elementary schools that

participated in the program for the first time in 2010-

2011, student scores on the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) increased at

a significantly faster rate than those of students in a

matched set of control schools. In addition, student

attendance on the days that the teaching artists came

to class was found to be significantly higher than on

days without the arts.

Arts advocates have often claimed that well-designed arts programs boost student achievement and

attendance. However, evidence from large-scale

quasi-experimental studies has been difficult to come

by, in part because many arts programs are tailored

to the needs of particular schools and classrooms.

The structure of TAP, with professional teaching

artists co-teaching the same lessons with 47 teachers

in five randomly chosen San Diego Title 1 schools,

provided an unusual level of consistency in the arts

instruction across classrooms. Using the state-

mandated CELDT to measure language development allowed experimental and control

students to be reliably compared across schools.

Lesson plans and videos for the K-2 theater lessons

can be accessed at:

http://www.class.uci.edu/theatre-grades

K-2 dance lessons and videos can be accessed at:

http://www.class.uci.edu/dance-grades

3 3



UCI’s new Graduate M.S. program in Biological

Sciences and Educational Media Design (BSEMD)

is partnering with the Improving Teacher Quality

(ITQ) Grades 3-5 Teaching Artist Program (TAP) to

help provide high quality video production of the

Arts & Science Lessons. Co-Director of the Center

for Learning in the Arts, Sciences and Sustainability

(CLASS), Brad Hughes, is founding director of the

exciting and innovative new BSEMD program and

the collaborations between CLASS and BSEMD are

creating organizational sustainability for both partners and for educational improvement efforts.

BSEMD graduate students benefit through

developing their skills in video production by

helping with the video shoots occurring on location

in San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD)

classrooms. On location in the Grades 3-5

classrooms the training videographers participate in

a professional level multi-camera production under

the direction of Hughes, learning about proper

lighting, white balancing, sound recording, and

techniques of cinematography. Alex Ray, BSEMD

graduate student and credentialed science teacher,

focuses on the ITQ work for his M.S. project,

mastering media production applied to pedagogical research.

In addition to the BSEMD students, UCI’s NSF

Noyce Cal Teach Summer Interns also participate

along with the CLASS interns that work specifically

with the ITQ project. These production events

provide both pedagogical and media training to the

undergraduate Noyce interns, who are considering a

career in teaching by interning at informal science

institutes, such as the Aquarium of the Pacific,

Discovery Science Center, and Crystal Cove

Alliance. After Noyce interns learn introductory

video production methods they apply their skills to

self-produce videos of their intern cohort so that they

can learn from their teaching experiences by

examining the footage and analyzing their

developing pedagogical skills.

New UCI Graduate M.S. Program

Brad Hughes, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Center for Learning in the Art, Sciences &

Sustainability

This Noyce Intern program recruits students into the teaching

profession and specifically into the new UCI Cal Teach degree

programs, which offer a STEM discipline along with Credential bachelor’s degree.

Post-production of the video footage is conducted in Hughes’

Science Education Media Lab, where students practice editing

the lessons under the direction of trained ITQ editors. While

these productions provide an excellent training opportunity for

all of the students involved, the videos themselves are extremely

valuable to the SDUSD teachers. Rather than having to rely on

memory or extra funding for outside educators to direct the

innovative Arts/Science lessons, the teachers will be able to

watch high quality videos of lessons being taught in preparation

for their teaching day. These high-resolution videos may also

be projected in classrooms for use as instructional tools,

facilitating increased teaching effectiveness and sustainable

professional development for sharing these valuable teaching resources.

These videos also increase fidelity of the lesson

implementations, so UCI researchers can more accurately

measure the efficacy of the lessons when teachers are able to

implement more similar versions of the lesson plans with their

students. While these goals could potentially be met by hiring

outside video producers, the increased value of the partnerships

involved in these productions is particularly desirable for

CLASS as a prime example of sustainability through efficient

collaborative organization of educational improvement efforts to optimize mutual benefits.

4 4



Dr. Kimberly Bisbee Burge is a member of the Board of

Directors of Arts Orange County with special expertise in

the annual Imagination Celebration Festival. She is a

member of the Advisory Committee for VSA California

and the annual VSA Orange County Festival; VSA is an

international organization that celebrates the artistic

contributions of disabled children, youth and adults.

Further, she serves on the Orange County Museum of Art

Board of Trustees' Education Committee that develops and

implements education programs for local schools, families

and adults; she has helped recruit UCI student interns who

have contributed to these programs for the Museum.

She also co-Directs ArtsBridge America where she planned

and implemented a national meeting at UCI in 2010, and

conducts an annual survey of the ArtsBridge activities in

other universities including, the University of Utah, Utah

State University, BYU, University of Colorado at Denver,

the University of Delaware, and Lawrence University.

She is also a practicing visual artist with showings recently

in Santa Ana, CA and at the Woodstock Opera House in

Woodstock, Illinois.

CLASS Spotlight

CLASS 2012 Video Production Team on

Location in the San Diego Unified

School District

5 5



A Message from ArtsBridge America The past academic year, while economically challenging

for many of our network partners, has nevertheless seen

several exciting ongoing ArtsBridge programs, and plans

for new and renewed programs, that bode well for a

lively academic year in 2012-2013.

What is ArtsBridge America?

Before providing a review of the current status of

ArtsBridge America, it might be informing to provide an

overview for those of you new to the project. ArtsBridge

was born in 1996 at UCI out of the inspiration of then

Dean, Dr. Jill Beck (now President of Lawrence

University). Her vision was to provide a “bridge” to the

community for her arts students, placing these young

“scholars” in classrooms and health care facilities in the

region. Their objectives were to support and augment the

arts experiences of children while conducting their own

research in the ways that arts education enhanced

language arts learning and connected to other core

disciplines. For example, theatre might tie into history,

music with mathematics, dance with social studies, and

visual arts with science. This was a mutually successful

model that has since been adopted by more than twenty

universities throughout California, the USA, and

internationally with partners in the United Kingdom and

Ireland. Importantly, ArtsBridge America provided

inspiration and content support to emerging programs

with the reality that each site would evolve programs that

met their unique needs and interests. For example, in

recent years some programs have chosen to adopt the

Reading in Motion (RIM) curriculum to their work in the

schools. RIM has worked extensively with schools in

Chicago and involves using movement and sound in

language arts learning. The ArtsBridge America network

has held national meetings at UCI and in 2010 RIM

We Want to Hear from You! Thank you for sending updates about your ArtsBridge

programs.

We invite your feedback and comments any time.

conducted training for network partners. There are

preliminary plans underway to hold a national

ArtsBridge America meeting featuring RIM training

during the Spring of 2013 in Utah, where the RIM

approach has met with great success in local schools.

Meanwhile, over the years individual ArtsBridge

America sites have evolved with changes in

leadership, the foci of programs, and economic

pressures. These influences have resulted, on the

one hand, in the reduction of the number of active

programs, while on the other hand, fortunately in the

growth of others. The following is a summary of the

current status of the ArtsBridge America network.

Active ArtsBridge America Programs

This spring Co-Director (with President Beck) of

ArtsBridge America, Kimberly Burge, conducted an

informal email survey of ArtsBridge America

network sites reporting programming activity in

2011. The following sites reported active

ArtsBridge programming: the University of

California campuses at San Diego, Santa Cruz, Los

Angeles and Davis; the University of Colorado at

Denver; and the University of Delaware. Also, four

universities in Utah have ArtsBridge: the University

of Utah, Utah State University, Brigham Young

University and Weber State University. Lawrence

University is planning on reinstating its ArtsBridge

program in 2012-2013. Other sites pending replies

are the University of Nevada, Wayne State, and

the University of Central Florida.

continued next page

6 6



ArtsBridge America

ArtsBridge America Program Highlights

from Spring 2012

"The ArtsBridge program at the University of Delaware

has been hard at work during this academic year

creating several new projects that bring the arts to

students in a setting where they would not normally

receive arts education…"

This observation could be made of all of the

ArtsBridge America network sites. Other sites

with ArtsBridge activity include: Lawrence

University where President Jill Beck is planning

on reinstating its ArtsBridge program in 2012-

2013, and the University of California at Los

Angeles, the University of California at Davis, the

University of Nevada, Wayne State, and the University of Central Florida. Long time

ArtsBridge America administrator Jasmine Yep

monitors ArtsBridge America activities from the

University of Hawaii, where she is pursuing a

doctorate in education. Maureen Burns of the

UCI Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences and

Sustainability is the ArtsBridge America historian

and the editor of this newsletter. With the

growing interest in ArtsBridge programming and

its central location, Utah is a promising location

for a national meeting in spring 2013. We hope to gather together in the next year to share your

stories.

The extent of programming at reporting sites is

extensive and deserves thorough description,

however that is beyond the scope of this article.

Therefore, the following are brief highlights,

mostly in their own words, from each reporting

site last spring (reports from others are pending).

If your site is not described here we apologize for

the oversight and request that you send an email to [email protected] so that we can include you in

our next newsletter. !

Meanwhile, these are highlights from the past year.

University of California at San Diego, Education

Studies Department

UCSD recruited scholars into undergraduate

coursework in education for their “Partners at

Learning” (PAL) program. UCSD Artsbridge Scholars

were placed in underserved K-12 schools throughout San Diego County and completed a minimum of forty

arts-related field hours (thirty-five hours in the

classroom and 5 hours in the community). These were

carefully crafted, hands-on, standards-based arts

lessons. The statistics are impressive: thirty-two

scholars, conducting one thousand three hundred and

forty contact hours, working with thirty-two teachers,

and seven hundred twenty-nine students.

(Contact: Linda Whiteside, Supervisor and ArtsBridge

Lecturer)

University of California at Santa Cruz, Merrill

College

UCSC sent students in all arts disciplines from media

studies to music into local elementary and middle

schools. Costume Designer Brooke Jennings helped

thirty Middle Schoolers develop their own Project

Runway. Balloon dresses to surfers “voguing” were the

results. Meanwhile four arts students teamed with

Branciforte Middle School eighth graders to make art-

infused social science projects. Art student Nathalie

Fisher taught portraiture as students created a gallery of

notable 19th Century figures. Dancers Tessa Santos

and Terra Cowl choreographed schoolyard games, square dance extravaganzas, Native American and

African American dances for a dance presentation

where five hundred family members joined students. In

individual classrooms, plays directed by Theatre Arts

scholar Sarai Gallegos about Mick Fink, Tom Sawyer,

Dredd Scott and others were presented. History,

literature and the arts melded for the spring culmination

of these multiple projects. Individual projects making

puppets, music, poetry slams and other creative work

rounded out the UCSC ArtsBridge program for 2011-

2012 (see photographs on page 10 below).

(Contact: Kathy Foley, Interim Provost)

continued next page

7 7




University of Colorado Denver, College of Arts &

Media

This past fall and spring, five ArtsBridge projects have

propelled incredible art making at Kunsmiller Creative

Arts Academy. Fourteen CAM students and five

CAM faculty have worked with two hundred and thirty 5th, 8th, and 9th grade students. Projects ranged

from an exploration of the physical properties of light,

through the transformation of an entire classroom into

a camera obscura, to an animated journey through the

circulatory and respiratory systems. Projects were

presented during Kunsmiller’s First Friday events.

One is highlighted below in the ArtsBridge Spotlight

as an example of the many creative projects being

developed through the ArstBridge America network.

(Contacts: David Dynak, Dean and Joann Brennan,

Associate Dean)

The University of Delaware

The ArtsBridge program at the University of Delaware

has been hard at work during this academic year

creating several new projects that bring the arts to

students in a setting where they would not normally receive arts education: the core subjects. Reading,

Writing, and ‘Rithmetic curriculums (and History,

too) have been getting made over by a team of

scholars whose goal is to use their knowledge as artists

(dancers, musicians, and thespians) to enhance

student’s learning experiences. In a fifth grade

classroom at Elk Neck Elementary School in Elkton,

Maryland, a team of scholars created and taught a

series of lessons that integrated transportation, dance,

and drama concepts into the already existing fifth

grade curriculum. The team is made up of Rachel Schotz, a junior English Education Major with a

Theater Studies Minor, Teagan Thomas, a junior

Elementary Education Major with a concentration in

Math, and Paige Glassman, a junior Civil Engineering

Major. Their project is funded by the University

Transportation center so they have made

transportation their main focus, but it is not a part of

the school’s 5th grade curriculum, so they have

creatively incorporated the concepts into lessons on

Natural Disaster Preparation, Cell Structure, and the

Industrial Revolution.

A new scholar, sophomore Elementary Education

Major, Jennifer Ryan, has been starting her project on

teaching a classroom of second graders about

math using dance concepts. Her unit involves

lessons on addition, subtraction, multiplication,

and division. It keeps the students on their toes!(quite literally) using movement to reinforce these

concepts at Kuumba Academy Charter School in

Wilmington, DE.

Jennifer Ferris, a junior History Education and

Music major is teaching her curriculum also at

Kuumba Academy. She has taken the established

Reading in Motion curriculum for first graders that teaches reading and literary concepts

through dance and music, and adapted it for the

older 3rd and 4th grade classrooms. In addition

she has added a history component to the

curriculum making this interdisciplinary set of

lessons plans cover many different areas and

create solid connections for the students.

(Contacts: Dr. Lynnette Overby, Director, Undergraduate Research and Experiential

Learning, & Heather Beach)

Utah State University

In our first five years, USU ArtsBridge has

impacted over 1,400 students in more than 70

classrooms through interdisciplinary, hands-on

arts engagement.

The Utah State University ArtsBridge program

completed its fifth year in 2011-2012. In year five

we reached 219 students in 13 classrooms,

serving 24 in-service teachers and aides, and 26 of

our own USU arts and education student

scholars. We focused our pre-service and in-

service teacher training in the following areas:

1. Reading In Motion in Pre-Kinder,

Kindergarten, extended day Kinder, and Life

Skills classrooms.

2. Legacy Mural Projects at Birch Creek

Elementary School.

3. Arts Ambassador Program at Fast Forward

Charter High School.

4. Traditional ArtsBridge programming - Living

Literature project.

continued next page

8 8




Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated projects have

been those that involved the RIM program. USU has documented the effectiveness of this program

as reported by scholars, teachers and parents.

(Contact: Holly Conger, ArtsBridge Coordinator

for USU)

The University of Utah, College of Fine Arts

The College of Fine Arts collaborated with local schools exploring a variety of arts projects in

music, dance, visual arts, theatre and film.

Seventy-five scholars participated as teaching

artists, in fifteen schools, with thirty teachers and

six hundred and fifty elementary and middle school

students. Creative projects included multimedia,

film and animations exploring subjects like the

theme of “place” and family holiday traditions.

City planning and history was the theme of another

project. Students built their own animal habitats

and created environmentally friendly backpacks. Others explored the possibilities in “air” with

windsocks and pinwheel constructions. Others

explored poetry through dance and participated in

a production of Romeo and Juliette. Whole

schools celebrated the results of these

collaborations with dramatic productions, film

showings and murals. In September the Director

and two scholars attended a RIM training for the

kindergarten level; these trainings are scheduled to

be held in Utah again in the spring.

(Contact: Kerri Hopkins, ArtsBridge Director).

Brigham Young University

The Arts Bridge Program at Brigham Young

University facilitated side-by-side collaborative

teaching between 16 BYU Art Scholars in Music,

Drama, Dance, Visual and Media Arts and 23 Elementary classroom teachers. The Art Scholars

were mentored by 11 BYU faculty members.

Approximately 690 students received quality arts

experiences in their classroom due to these

collaborative projects. Scholars and teachers met

for a brainstorming session at BYU in the Fall of

2011 and then returned for a Final Celebration in

March 2012. At the Final Celebration participants,

both teachers and student artists, presented their experiences and projects integrating art and

curriculum in the classroom. Art Scholars also

documented their projects and experiences on

blogs that are listed on our website at

http://education.byu.edu/arts/arts_bridge/

(Contact: Cally Flox, BYU A.R.T.S. Partnership

Program Director)

Weber State University (a new site in Utah)

The big news for WSU, related to ArtsBridge, is

that we proposed and then passed campus-wide,

‘WSU ArtsBridge’ curriculum. It is now officially

on the “books,” so to speak. We- [the Fine Arts

Education areas: Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts in the College of Arts and Humanities

and the entire College of Education] are in the

process of recruiting student scholars to pilot our

program this coming academic year. We are

seeking students from across campus and are

emphasizing collaborative projects. For us, as it

is such a new program and we build its visibility,

one of our bigger challenges is to get the word out

among students and faculty alike.

(Contact: Kathleen Stevenson, Professor of Art,

DOVA/Department of Visual Arts)

In Closing

There are so many truly moving and inspiring

stories to tell about the experiences of ArtsBridge

scholars and the students they connect with in

special, even life-changing, ways as they help develop awareness of the beauty and

expressiveness of the arts to the schools. In

closing we want to share the following story that

was provided by David and Joann at the

University of Colorado at Denver about a project

that involved a scholar and a young music

student.

continued next page

9 9



Singer Songwriter

A Project at Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy in

Conjunction with ArtsBridge at the University of

Colorado at Denver, College of Arts and Media Teacher: Sara Burton, Grades 8 & 9

CAM Faculty Mentor: Owen Kortz

Music and Entertainment Industry Studies

Instructor ArtsBridge Scholars: Ben Rogers & Kaia

Nutting

Names of Kunsmiller students in project: Angel,

Adrian, Athena, Barry, Choung, Dillon, Matt, Zach

Project Description

For the project, Kaia and Ben worked with

eight advanced students from Sara Burton’s

guitar class that she selected. The project was

designed to give each student an opportunity to write their own song. Workshops delivered by

CAM ArtsBridge Scholars focused on using

their “voice” to tell stories, understanding

simple chord progressions and the elements of

a song, as well as finding inspiration in

mediums such as photography and

imagination. The project culminated in a final

performance where each student (with support

from Ben and Kaia) could share their original

songs.

Quote from CAM ArtsBridge Scholar Kaia Nutting

“I spent a lot of time working with Cheong, a

quiet Asian boy who was almost too shy to speak one-on-one with me. Ben and I were the

most inspired when on our first day, we asked

each of them, “If you had one message you

could share with the world, what would it be?”

And the feeblest voice in the group said,

“Speak up.” The whole time, Ben and I wanted

to encourage him to speak up and use his voice

and hoped music would be the medium to

accomplish that. When we starting meeting

one-on-one with students to go over their

songs, he was one of the first students to

finish his song.

Immediately, his melody was catchy and he had a

full page of lyrics, so I helped him set it to chords

and brought it home to work on a backup track on my computer. I did not get to show him what I had

done until I came back the following semester, but

hearing from other’s how Cheong beamed when I

played and sang his song for the final concert, I feel

that somehow, all of the work was worth it, even if

just for him. I encouraged Cheong that he is a

strong writer and his first song was impressive and

creative; who knows where he will go from here or

how he will remember that moment. Maybe he will

go on to write more songs, or maybe he will never

try it again, but he had an experience of feeling validated before his peers.”

Cheong’s Original Song

Looking at the starry sky, I wish that you would be

That light shining upon me

How I wonder where you are right now

And if you are with somebody else

I think back on all the times - the times we used to

share

It hurts so deep inside me

I am at the movie cinema by myself

I sit and cry alone

That someone I love right now is far away

So far away, my tears will not stop flowing

Tomorrow, I know there is still hope for me

(So I lay) myself to sleep and bid you good night

I still, I still, I love you I'm waiting, waiting forever

I still, I still, I love you

And I'm never gonna stop

HEY!

In the middle of my sleep, a dream makes me relive

The memory of that one day

I recall our conversation You were not totally honest with me

Even though you held me so, told me you won't let

go

I was your one and only

continued next page

ArtsBridge Spotlight

10 10



Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences &

Sustainability (CLASS)

University of California, Irvine

Bio Sci III, Rooms 2654/2656

Irvine, CA 92697-1480

PHONE (949) 824-2528 or 824-2418

WEB SITE www.class.uci.edu

BLOG http://blogs.uci.edu/clat

Dr. Liane Brouillette, Co-Director

[email protected]

Dr. Brad Hughes, Co-Director

[email protected]

Dr. Kimberly Burge

Director of Outreach

Co-Director, ArtsBridge America

[email protected]

Dr. Maureen Burns, Manager

[email protected]


You along with all your promises Disappear away into the night

I will search for you until the end of time

I will search for you for all of eternity

So I sleep and when I open up my eyes I just want to feel your presence in the morning

I lost, I lost, I lost you

You're making, making my music

I lost, I lost, I lost you

Will we never meet again?

NO!!



Tomorrow, I know there is still hope for me

So I lay myself to sleep and bid you good night



So I sleep and when I open up my eyes

I just want to feel your presence in the morning


I'm waiting, waiting forever

I still, I still, I love you And I'm never gonna stop


I'm waiting, waiting forever


And I will see you again

Yeah!!!

ArtsBridge Photographs from UC Santa Cruz

11 11



Spotlight by Richard Stein, Arts Orange County Executive Director

Arts Orange County partnered with El

Centro Cultural de Mexico, a Santa Ana-based all-

volunteer community arts organization, to present a

free one day festival within the 2012 Imagination

Celebration. Entitled “Día del Niño” (Day of the

Child), and based upon the traditional Latin-

American holiday that celebrates the value of children, the festival took place in Santa Ana’s Birch

Park and featured performances and workshops by

guest artists, community performances as well as

offered participatory arts experiences. The festival

was preceded by a month of interactive workshops

in the community staged by El Centro and other

community arts partners. This event was part of a

two-year project to influence a high level of

engagement and value of the arts in the city of Santa

Ana, supported by The James Irvine Foundation.

The Event content was designed to be highly

participatory serving the following outcomes:

• Participant sees themselves as creative and

capable of meaningful participation regardless

of skill level

• Participant understands what is involved in the

creative process and wants to experience more

of the same

• Participant experiences a sense of self-

satisfaction and can articulate what aspects

appealed to them i.e. working with others,

trying something new, etc.

• Participant wants to know where to go to learn

the skills of creating their own art

• Participant feels that their experience

successfully captured the tradition of the “Day

of the Child” in a meaningful and important

way

• Participants embrace the message that children

have important rights, which include being

given opportunities to develop their natural

creativity.

More than 1,000 attended the event on Sunday, April

2012 in Birch Park, Santa Ana. Seventeen performing

arts presentations and fifteen hands-on visual arts

workshops were presented throughout the day.

In order to measure whether we achieved our

outcomes, ten UC Irvine students assisted Arts OC

with face-to-face exit interviews exit interviews with

attendees in English and Spanish, and nearly 200

attendees participated in these. Highlights of the

survey include:

! Many families either practiced arts inside

the home or sought it out in their

community, doing so an average of 4 times

per year.

! 58% were surprised by an activity and

experienced a new arts encounter at the

event

! 77% wished to find out about more

activities like this in their community, gave

their contact information and made

suggestions for next year.

! Many participants mentioned that they were

impressed with all the activities for children

and that community events were often the

way that their family celebrated this

traditional holiday.

! Survey participants were 88.1 % Latino and

70% were parents between the ages of 25

and 40.

! Two-thirds of the participants responded to

the survey in Spanish.

Survey results will now be used to help plan and

expand the next, “Día del Niño” on April 28, 2013.

12 12



The UCI Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences, and

Sustainability and the Newkirk Center for Science and Society cosponsored their first workshop on

“Communicating Science” on May 3. Featured speaker

Dennis Meredith, author of Explaining Research, focused

on helping research scientists explain their work to the

general public in a manner that non-scientists could

readily understand, but that also did justice to the

complexity of the issues involved.

Meredith pointed out that humans are primates and all

primates have certain characteristics that must be taken

into consideration. When not intensely engaged in an

activity, we tend to be easily distracted. So, lacking

effective visual images, the minds of audience members

tend to wander. What's more, verbal presentation need to

be simpler than research papers because people can read

words at twice the rate a person can speak.

Scientists addressing the general public might consider

adopting a style akin to that of television news anchors. A

well-known saying among TV reporters is: “Say cow, see

cow.” Key images are shown, but without putting

unnecessary text on the screen. Also, an image of a cow

tends to be more effective than an anonymous herd.

When the audience is busy reading text on-screen, they

are engaging with the text, nor the speaker. Whereas, if

there is an image on the screen, that doesn’t interfere with

the processing of words (we can process both

simultaneously). Therefore it does not distract. Simple

bullets on a slide also do not distract because they can be

read at a glance. Plus, using bullets allows a presentation

to evolve to fit the audience.

In addition, Meredith noted that a speaker can serve as a

very effective “visual.” Steve jobs was always energetic

on-stage, used props, gestured. He also wore dark clothes

so that his face and hands stood out. Others will have a

different style. Yet, Meredith did offer a few general rules:

• Buy a remote, so you don’t have to stand at the podium.

• Practice your presentation so you don’t have to use notes.

• Use a portable microphone.

• When you are making a new point, move to

another part of the stage.

• Be enthusiastic.

• Gesture informatively. (The bigger the stage,

bigger the gesture.)

• Describe a discovery moment.

• Tell a story about someone involved in the

research. Or tell a personal story.

Why stories? When people hear stories, parts of brain are activated that correspond to muscles

and senses involved in the action in the story.

This makes hearing the story memorable. The

more a speaker evokes the senses, the more

involved the listener will be. Suspense also helps

to keep an audience’s attention. Two techniques

for introducing suspense are: 1) start a story at

the beginning of the article, but don’t tell reader

how it ended till end of article; 2) ask a question

and do no answer it till later.

On May 17th a follow-up session was held in

which UCI graduate students had the

opportunity to have a 3 to 5 minute poster

presentation professionally videotaped by

students from the MS program in Biological

Sciences and Educational Media Design. The

student presenters received a free video of their presentation in a format that could be easily

uploaded to websites such as YouTube and

SciVee.

Plans are underway to continue the

“Communicating Science” series next year.

Communicating Science

Liane Brouillette, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Center for Learning in the Art, Sciences & Sustainability

13 13



Learning in the Arts and Sciences Book Series

Continuing to help expand open access to scholarly publications, CLASS has published two books in a new

online monograph series through services provided by the California Digital Library. The newest book is a work

by Sue Cronmiller called The Poets of El Sol. It engagingly describes the UCI Poetry Academy’s work at El Sol

elementary school. Amy Shimshon-Santo edited the first book-length work entitled Art = Education: Connecting

Learning Communities in Los Angeles. In it, arts educators discuss critical pedagogy in the arts, honor youth

creativity, and share successful teaching and learning strategies in architecture, art, dance, design, and world

music. The work is openly accessible from the Center’s eScholarship site. The UC Press provided an option to purchase print versions of these books through the UC Press, but this program is transitioning to a different

publisher for print on demand. Among the advantages of this hybrid publishing program are: global

dissemination and reach, Google optimization for discoverability, author retention of copyright, and perpetual

access & preservation.

The Center’s other eScholarship publications have already reaped these benefits with working papers, post prints,

and the peer-reviewed Journal for Learning through the Arts. The Center is also pleased to announce the publication

of Volume 8, Issue 1, 2012. This issue features articles on the medical humanities.

Call for JLtA Articles

Manuscripts are currently being accepted for the next issue

of the Journal for Learning through the Arts. THE

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 1, 2012. See

the eScholarship web site for guidelines or to submit a manuscript for consideration for publication.

Journal for Learning through the Arts is a peer-reviewed, online

journal focused on disseminating current theory, research,

practice, and thinking on arts integration in schools and

communities. The Journal provides a forum for discussing

all aspects of learning that integrate the visual and

performing arts within K-12, community, or higher education settings.

Submissions are invited from university faculty, researchers,

teaching artists, and K-12 school district personnel who

have explored the link between learning and the arts

through deliberate and disciplined integration of the arts (1)

across arts disciplines, (2) with other academic content

areas, and/or (3) into community-based educational programs. Manuscripts may be submitted online any time.

Articles discuss theory and practice, highlight current

research, and review teaching and professional materials of

interest to language arts educators. Articles should provide

important insights into--or suggest provocative questions

about--arts integration and learning. Proposals for Book

Reviews on current, recent, and classic works on arts integration and learning are also welcome.

Manuscripts should be in English and prepared in

accordance with the format recommended in the Publication

Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Authors are invited from outside of the United States.

Manuscripts are reviewed anonymously by at least two

members of the Peer Review Board.

The Journal is sponsored by the Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences and Sustainability.

Queries? Contact: Maureen Burns ([email protected])

Production Editor or Dr. Liane Brouillette ([email protected]) Managing Editor.

14 14



VSA California of Orange County, the organization on arts and disability, presented the 36th Annual VSA Festival,

“We Love California,” on Saturday, April 21, 2012, at Westfield MainPlace, Santa Ana. A day filled with performances,

demonstrations, participatory workshops, and a 1,000 piece art exhibit could not have been the success it was, without the

Student Teacher Volunteers from University California Irvine.

For many years, VSA Orange County has recognized the value of UCI’s outstanding student volunteers. An effective

volunteer must be efficient, motivated, productive, and accountable for their work. This can be said for each UCI volunteer

who was assigned to assist with hands-on workshops. The response from the workshop leaders was that of praise and grateful

hearts to have an extra pair of hands assisting VSA participants assemble California Quails, kites and surfboards, wearable art,

abalone necklaces, yucca paint brushes to paint Indian petroglyph, photo magnets, bubble art, arrowheads at the California

Gold Rush Display and many other creative activities. We know that these volunteer experiences benefited the UCI students

as well as the artists with disabilities and the community visitors.

The following is a representative excerpt from comments made by a UCI student teacher volunteer:

“I was assigned to the Wire Jewelry Making Table. My table was staffed by an Art teacher who taught at the high school and

college level – her specialty was therapeutic art. There was also a man who appeared to have a mild learning disability at our

table. In the time that I was there, we invited children to come to our table and create rings and bracelets from wire and pipe

cleaners. The art teacher volunteer told people what was going on but never solicited any type of financial or volunteer

support. The event was simply to raise awareness about how the arts are a universal language for all and how the arts can

affect the abilities with persons with disabilities. They seek to change society’s attitudes toward people with disabilities. The

volunteer experience opened my eyes to how capable – and focused – persons with disabilities are and how they have a range

of abilities in several forms of the arts – just like persons without disabilities.” (Lisa Berry)

VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, was founded in 1974 by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith

to provide arts and education opportunities for people with disabilities and to increase access to the arts for all. With over 52

international affiliates and a network of national affiliates, VSA is changing perceptions about people with disabilities around

the world. Each year, over 7 million people of all ages and abilities participate in VSA programs, in every aspect of the arts –

from visual arts, performing arts, to the literary arts. VSA is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

in Washington, D.C.

From a single day festival in 1977, sponsored by the Orange County Department of Education, on the campus of

Santa Ana College, the beginning of VSA programs emerged statewide. Since those early beginnings, Orange County has

developed new programs and expansion through collaboration with schools, organizations, and service providers. When

Imagination Celebration was launched in 1985, the local VSA Festival became an event of the month-long celebration.

Today, the Imagination Celebration is presented by Arts Orange County, the countywide arts council, and the Orange County

Department of Education.

UCI student teacher participation in this event has been sustained since the mid-1990s by Phyllis Berenbeim of the

Orange County Department of Education and Dr. Kimberly Burge, Director of Outreach for the UCI Center for Learning in

the Arts, Science and Sustainability. For more information about VSA please contact Dr. Burge, [email protected].

UCI Student Teachers Applauded for Volunteer Service by Kim Burge and Phyllis Berenbeim

15 15



New Journal Issue:

Volume 8, Issue 1, 2012

Visit the CLASS Web site at

www.class.uci.edu

Please visit the CLASS Web site frequently as it is

being redesigned and updated with information

about our latest collaborative projects, research

activities, and program initiatives. Additionally, our

site provides K-12 teachers and teaching artists with access to interdisciplinary visual and performing

arts lesson plans and videos of their

implementation.

We plan on continuing to provide online visitors

with dramatic improvements in navigation,

appearance and accessibility, not to mention

additional educational resources. Video lessons will

include streaming videos of three sets of lessons for

grades K-2 from the Teaching Artist Project developed by the Visual and Performing Arts

(VAPA) Department, San Diego Unified School

District. The site was designed by the JDLS

Informatics Team, with support from faculty from

the UCI Donald Bren School of Information and

Computer Sciences. Sincere thanks to Michelle

Rodriguez, who is currently updating and

maintaining the CLASS website.

The Center also has a blog where ongoing information about programs and services can be obtained at http://sites.uci.edu/clat/.

8

The current issue of the Journal for Learning through

the Arts explores the future of the Humanities and

Arts in Medical Education. Johanna Shapiro

edited the issue with Jo Marie Reilly and the

former provides a thought-provoking introduction. Twelve articles follow grouped by the themes of

performing arts, narrative and storytelling,

teaching and learning through the arts, and

multimedia approaches.

All new and past issues of the Journal for Learning

through the Arts are available online at http://escholarship.org/uc/clta_lta

Documents

K-2 Boosts Test Scores & Attendance · UCI Center for Learning inthe Arts, Sciences & Sustainability ArtsBridge America June 2012 In this Issue Page 1-2 K-2 Boosts Test Scores & Attendance