| This qualitative case study in one nursery school setting identifies the everyday music, drama, dance, and visual art practices of classroom teachers and the reasons behind these practices. It also examines the formal and informal background and education of the teachers to determine if these factors play a role in their use of the arts. Through questionnaires, interviews, observations, journals, lesson plan analysis and arts activity logs, three teachers were intensively examined with five others participating to a lesser extent. Overall teachers were found to use visual art and music more than drama and dance; however, they used visual art in different ways and for different reasons than music. While visual art and drama were more creative in that children were allowed to create their own artwork, music activities were primarily made up of whole group singing and helped children transition from one activity to another or learn class routines. Dance was utilized the least and often grew out of the music in the form of motions or gestures. Both teachers' formal education as well as their own childhood arts experiences were found to influence their approach to teaching the arts in their classroom. Although teachers in this study were highly educated with most having or working towards a graduate degree, few had any classes instructing them on how to best utilize the arts with young children. This study revealed an array of reasoning behind using the arts in the classroom including addressing different learning styles and needs, teaching or reinforcing other subject areas, for socialization purposes, helping children learn routines, and engaging or focusing their behavior. The study recommends that more opportunities be made available for musical and movement-based exploration or play in the classroom, and that teachers be given some guidance in what developmental growth looks like in each art form so that they may best facilitate opportunities for children to construct knowledge in these areas. Additionally, early childhood teacher training programs should reexamine their arts education requirements as teachers of young children spend so much of their day using these materials and are often given little preparation. |
