social issues

ArtsSmarts is the largest education initiative in Canada dedicated to improving the lives and learning capacity of Canadian children by injecting arts into their academic programs.

ArtsSmarts…

• Ignites young people’s excitement about learning core curricula through the arts.
• Inspires collaboration among artists, and educators, schools and communities.
• Invests financially and strategically in creative learning networks at the local, regional, provincial and national level to build capacity for arts and education.
• Supports a new vision for public education in Canada.

In this article, grade four teacher Diane Petersen writes:

Ian’s work as a scientist began with a contradiction: “The scientists said that you can’t find any horny toads here. And I said, ‘My dad and I go out and catch them.’” The thirteen-year-old has now traveled to Idaho and California, where he and three classmates surprised working scientists by describing new discoveries about where the 3-inch-long lizards live and what they eat. “One man said that we presented better than most college students did,” says Ian.

A high school in New Hampshire, USA, has developed a curriculum that revolves around working with the local community, as students carry out 150 hours of community service a year.

The service includes stacking wood or clearing leaves, and taking part in projects with local conservation and historical societies, such as protecting wildlife habitats and mapping early graves.