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MP Intro Pages PDF.pdfPossibilities for Integrating PDF.pdfTHE IMPACT OF DANCE ON STUDENT LEARNING: WITHIN THE CLASSROOM AND ACROSS THE CURRICULUM by Laura Elizabeth Fegley A Project Submitted to the Faculty of The Evergreen State College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree Master in Teaching 2010iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the Evergreen faculty, cohort, my friends, and my family, in their support and encouragement in the development of this research. I would like to thank Dr. Jon Davies for his help and advice in cleaning up my ideas and grammar. A special thank you to Catey Christiansen for our work sessions, late night phone calls, internet chats, and her research expertise—without which, I would not have finished this project. Thank you to my sister, Sara, for her thoughts, thesaurus expertise, wisdom, and constant peer-pressure in getting back to my work when I very much wanted to procrastinate. Thank you to my mother and father for putting me through undergraduate school so that I could continue to further my education. Thank you to my mother for showing me what an outstanding teacher looks like in the way she raised me, and in the ways I hear about her as a teacher of other peoples’ children. Thank you to my younger sister, Kelsey, for her love and support. Finally, thank you to my wonderful husband, Brett, for supporting and encouraging my decision to go to Evergreen and always pushing me to do better in life—without you, this paper would not have been possible.iv ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to examine how dance supports student learning within the classroom and across the curriculum. This topic has the potential to further the prevalence of dance in public education, and can guide educators in the way they choose to instruct dance—whether as its own subject or as an integrative method. The history of dance education traces its rises and falls in public education, discusses government and organizational influences, and explains the rise of national dance standards. A critical review of the literature has brought forward four themes in efforts to understand how dance supports student learning, to include: student engagement, critical and creative thinking, self-concept, and dance as part of a more holistic method. Student engagement and critical and creative thinking in dance are most often found through constructivist methods of learning. Dance education can affect self-concept both positively and negatively based on experience level, competitiveness, and teacher feedback. Utilizing dance as part of a more holistic approach to teaching can create increased motivation and engagement for students. Awareness and use of the findings imply that teachers can be successful in supporting student learning.v TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i APPROVAL PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Controversies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Rise of Arts Education in Today’s Public Schools . . . . . . 11 Dance Education within the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . 19 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Critical Thinking & Creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Self-Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Dance as Part of a more Holistic Approach . . . . . . . . …