Thalia R. Goldstein – författare

Discover the cognitive, social, emotional, and other psychological benefits of learning how to act and perform. This book looks behind the curtain of theatre education to see how thinking on stage happens in real secondary classrooms. Reporting on the first large scale systematic qualitative analyses of acting classes for adolescents, the author introduces the eight Acting Habits of Mind--thinking strategies to solve problems and creatively complete tasks. Each Habit is tied to current scientific research findings for related psychological constructs, including creativity, self-esteem, empathy, emotion regulation, and well-being. Connections are then made to individual student needs, future research, and the complexity of theatre education. Based in the science of development and actual theatre education in a variety of setting and with a diversity of students, this book provides an answer to the question, "What, psychologically, is an acting class?" Every educator, administrator, and arts lover can use this book to not only better understand and advocate for their art forms, but also to demonstrate why theatre should be included in schools.Book Features:A go-to text for any theatre educator challenged to justify the teaching of acting in schools--uses systematic empirical evidence to show the psychological foundations of acting classes and how students learn to think on stage.A reference text for graduate study--discusses the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral techniques underlying acting exercises and moments in teaching.A summary of current knowledge in the transfer effects of theatre--offers a full exploration of the psychological underpinnings of acting classrooms across contexts, student type, and community.Exercises and techniques from acting classes across a variety of contexts--showing how they are tied to research-based psychosocial constructs, skills, and abilities.A foundation from which future tests of the effects of theatre education can be built--includes studies relevant to constructing policy and practice of arts education and developing interventions that use techniques and theories from theatre education.

Discover the cognitive, social, emotional, and other psychological benefits of learning how to act and perform. This book looks behind the curtain of theatre education to see how thinking on stage happens in real secondary classrooms. Reporting on the first large scale systematic qualitative analyses of acting classes for adolescents, the author introduces the eight Acting Habits of Mind--thinking strategies to solve problems and creatively complete tasks. Each Habit is tied to current scientific research findings for related psychological constructs, including creativity, self-esteem, empathy, emotion regulation, and well-being. Connections are then made to individual student needs, future research, and the complexity of theatre education. Based in the science of development and actual theatre education in a variety of setting and with a diversity of students, this book provides an answer to the question, "What, psychologically, is an acting class?" Every educator, administrator, and arts lover can use this book to not only better understand and advocate for their art forms, but also to demonstrate why theatre should be included in schools.Book Features:A go-to text for any theatre educator challenged to justify the teaching of acting in schools--uses systematic empirical evidence to show the psychological foundations of acting classes and how students learn to think on stage.A reference text for graduate study--discusses the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral techniques underlying acting exercises and moments in teaching.A summary of current knowledge in the transfer effects of theatre--offers a full exploration of the psychological underpinnings of acting classrooms across contexts, student type, and community.Exercises and techniques from acting classes across a variety of contexts--showing how they are tied to research-based psychosocial constructs, skills, and abilities.A foundation from which future tests of the effects of theatre education can be built--includes studies relevant to constructing policy and practice of arts education and developing interventions that use techniques and theories from theatre education.

Arts education is often said to be a means of developing critical and creative thinking. Arts education has also been argued to enhance performance in non-arts academic subjects such as mathematics, science, reading and writing, and to strengthen students’ academic motivation, self-confidence, and ability to communicate and co-operate effectively. Arts education thus seems to have a positive impact on the three subsets of skills that we define as “skills for innovation”: subject-based skills, including in non-arts subjects; skills in thinking and creativity; and behavioural and social skills.

This report examines the state of empirical knowledge about the impact of arts education on these kinds of outcomes. The kinds of arts education examined include arts classes in school (classes in music, visual arts, theatre, and dance), arts-integrated classes (where the arts are taught as a support for an academic subject), and arts study undertaken outside of school (e.g. private music lessons; out-of-school classes in theatre, visual arts, and dance). The report does not deal with education about the arts or cultural education, which may be included in all kinds of subjects.