Culture Case

This section comprises a relatively large number of studies that describe the educational impact of engaging in arts and culture. Most of the research focuses on children and young people. This includes activity within formal educational settings as well as out-of-school and informal learning experiences.

For more information about this area of research we would advise contacting the Cultural Learning Alliance or visiting ArtsEdSearch (a resource specifically dedicated to research in this area).

The summaries in this category are:

The effects of music training on hearing in children

This research was conducted by Asal Habibi, B. Rael Cahn, Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio at the University of Southern California, USA.

Summary

This study found that children engaged in music training had an enhanced ability to detect changes in pitch and to process sounds, compared with children who were not …

By | 3 August 2017 |
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Playing a musical instrument increases educational attainment

This research was conducted by Philip Yang at Eberhard Karls University, Germany

Summary

This research used a survey of German teenagers to investigate the relationship between educational attainment and playing a musical instrument, either in early childhood or during one’s teenage years. The survey asked a sample of 17 year-olds a …

By | 2 March 2016 |
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Group music training improves children's pro-social skills

This research was conducted by E. Glenn Schellenberg, Kathleen A. Coriggall, Sebastian P. Dys and Tina Malti at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada

Summary

This study investigated whether group music training in early childhood is associated with improved pro-social skills. The researchers followed 38 Canadian eight- and nine-year olds over …

By | 14 January 2016 |
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Can arts in education prevent high school drop outs?

This research was conducted by M. Kathleen Thomas, Priyanka Singh and Kristin Klopfenstein at Mississippi State University, Citigroup and the University of Northern Colorado, USA

Summary

In America it has been shown that those who complete high school have less trouble finding jobs, earn higher wages, often have better health and …

By | 21 December 2015 |
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Singing can facilitate foreign language learning

This research was conducted by Karen M. Ludke, Fernanda Ferreira and Katie Overy at the University of Edinburgh and the University of South Carolina, USA

Summary

This research examines the phenomenon of language acquisition. The paper concludes that 'a 'listen-and-sing' learning method' can improve verbatim memory for spoken foreign language phrasing. …

By | 11 December 2014 |
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Youth theatre provides a space for young people to gain skills they need to succeed

This research was conducted by Jenny Hughes and Karen Wilson at the University of Manchester

Summary

This paper presents the findings of a study of youth theatre.  The paper explores some key questions around the impact of taking part in youth theatre on young people’s personal and social development. Overall they …

By | 11 December 2014 |
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Arts engagement has a range of benefits for young people

This research was conducted by Andrew J. Martin and five other people at the University of Sydney and the Australia Council for the Arts

Summary

This paper is about the role of arts engagement on the academic and non-academic outcomes of children and young people. It reports a large and multi-faceted …

By | 15 May 2014 |
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Using talk to affect learning in museums

This research was conducted by Jennifer DeWitt and Jill Hohenstein at King's College London, UK

Summary

This paper examined the quality of children’s talk to better understand the ways in which children learn in a museum setting. The research was based upon four separate school visits to the Science Museum in …

By | 26 April 2014 |
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Using an after-school arts programme to help ‘at-risk’ children

This research was conducted by Michael J. Mason and Susan Chuang at the University of Rochester, USA [Now at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA]

Summary

This paper reports the findings from an intervention that sought to prevent anti-social and delinquent behavior amongst children from low-income families in Rochester, New York. They found …

By | 16 April 2014 |
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Using contemporary art to explore children’s identity

This research was conducted by Fiona Collins and Susan Ogier at the University of Roehampton, UK

Summary

This paper describes what happened when primary school pupils in London participated in a project called Images and Identity, using digital art to interrogate the issue of identity in the context of the European …

By | 16 April 2014 |
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