Exploring Children Learning and Meanings Constructed in a Music and Arts–Based Program

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Arts, Culture, and Environmental Education

Abstract

Abstract

This study explores the experiences of primarily Latina/o children with learning music in a Music and Arts-Based Program, the context of a low-income neighborhood on the U.S- Mexico border. This year-long ethnographic study was conducted in an after-school art program in the Rio Grande Elementary School, in a low-income neighborhood located within one-mile of the U.S.-Mexico border. The purpose of the study was to understand how music and art can be used as a mediating tool for children to construct social and cognitive learning within a culturally diverse community, thus, enhancing the social environment in which they interact. 36 emergent bilingual students were learning to play violin, cello, and piano participated in the study.

Authors

• Claudia Saldaña, University of Texas at El Paso

• Beverley Argus-Calvo, The University of Texas - El Paso