John Dewey and Reggio Emilia: Aesthetics and Learning Communities Across Cultures

• In Event: Roundtable Session 47
  In Roundtable Session: Philosophical and Critical Inquiry in Arts Education

Abstract

This study compares parallel philosophies of the work of American educator John Dewey in Art as Expression and the arts infused educational approach of the Reggio Emilia Schools of Italy.
This historical and contemporary comparative, cross-cultural analysis explores educational approaches that incorporate arts in the process of learning and use of democratic processes in collaborative learning approaches. Data sources include primary source historical documents, field observations, interviews, and primary source educational materials.
Similarities are identified across cultures and time in the examples analyzed include: arts creation as central to the processes of learning, democratic processes in collaborative project learning experiences, community involvement as an integral part of the learning processes, and imagination and communication in the experiences of the school.

Authors

• Joy Faini Saab, West Virginia University

• Samuel F. Stack, West Virginia University