This list of sources is compiled by the Higher Education Network and forwarded courtesy of Dr. Manon van de Water. After a series of email exchanges in the summer of 2009, members of the lists shared their concerns about the cuts in programs and faculty specialists in theatre and education programs across the US. By fall it became clear that threads to cut back arts education had become a reality in many of these programs.  Moving away from anecdotes, members gathered their expertise and put together a list of "scientific" sources that evidences the importance of arts education in the curriculum. The list consists of books and articles and on-line sources.

Books and Articles:

Bresler, L. (Ed.). International handbook of research in arts education. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 2007.
 

Brown, Stuart L., and Christopher C. Vaughan. Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. New York: Avery, 2009.
 

Jensen, Eric. Arts with the Brain in Mind. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001.
 

Mages, Wendy K. "Drama and Imagination: A Cognitive Theory of Drama's Effect on Narrative Comprehension and Narrative Production." Research in Drama Education 11.3 (2006): 329-40.
 

---. Language and theory of mind development in the context of a Head Start

theatre-in-education program. Ed.D. dissertation, Harvard University, United States -- Massachusetts. Retrieved January 24, 2010, from Dissertations & Theses: A&I. (Publication No. AAT 3319195).
 

---. “Does Creative Drama Promote Language Development in EarlyChildhood? A Review of the Methods and Measures Employed in the Empirical Literature.” Review of Educational Research, March 2008; 78: 124 - 152.

---. Drama and Imagination: A Cognitive Theory of Drama's Effect on Narrative Comprehension and Narrative Production. Research in Drama Education 11:3 (2006): 329-340.
 

McFadden, L. & Walker, E. (2009). “A Study of the Impact of an Integrated Theatre Arts

Program on the Cognitive Development of Lowest Socioeconomic Students in Grades 4 and 5.” New Jersey Journal of Supervision and Curriculum Development, 53 (2008), 72-85.
 

Norris, J. “A Quest for a Theory and Practice of Authentic Assessment: An Arts Based Approach.” LEARNing Landscapes: Education and the Arts: Blurring Boundaries and Creating Spaces. Autumn 2008; Vol. 2, No. 1. 211-35.
 

Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. Riverhead

Books pbk ed. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.
 

Podlozny, Ann. "Strengthening Verbal Skills through the use of Classroom Drama: A Clear

Link." Journal of Aesthetic Education 34.3/4, Special Issue: The Arts and Academic Achievement: What the Evidence Shows (2000): 239-75.

 

ArtsEdge at The Kennedy Center: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/

Arts Education Partnership: http://www.aep-arts.org/

Includes the following publications:

- Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development (2002)

- Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning (1999)

- Making a Case for the Arts: How and Why the Arts are Critical to Student Achievement and Better Schools (2006)

- Third Space: When Learning Matters (2005)

The Center for Arts Education of New York: http://caenyc.org/

“Art and the New Biology of the Mind”

“Antonio Damasio: Art and Emotions”

“Education an the Arts: Blurring Boundaries and Creating Spaces”

“Marco Icaboni, Neuropsychiatry mirror neurons (2009)”

“Stuart Brown on play at TED”