Think Tanks
The Southeast Center has conducted four think tanks to date with funding provided by the Getty Center for Education in the Arts:
1992 Invitational Conference on Discipline-Based Music Education
1996 Invitational Conference on Discipline-Based Theatre Education
1996 Invitational Discipline-Based Arts Education Theory Development Symposium
2000 Rethinking Theatre Teacher Education: An Invitational Think Tank
DISCIPLINE-BASED MUSIC EDUCATION CONFERENCE
Recognized experts in music and arts education gathered in Chattanooga in 1992 to corroborate and refine a conceptual framework for a discipline-based approach to music education. Conference participants reviewed existing research, curriculum frameworks and implementation strategies, and examined the programs and activities of the SCEA Music Institute. They also discussed trends in general education that supported a comprehensive approach to music instruction.
DISCIPLINE-BASED THEATRE EDUCATION CONFERENCE
Twenty-four educators from 17 states were invited to represent elementary and secondary school education, university preservice and inservice education, professional theatre, and theatre artists. The 1996 conference focused on the need for a more comprehensive approach to theatre education from Kindergarten through college. Participants examined the research and development conducted by the SCEA Theatre Institute for eight years, and helped refine a conceptual framework for a discipline-based approach to theatre education. The approach called for a comprehensive exploration of theatre from a variety of perspectives including those of researcher, playwright, director, designer, technician, actor, audience, and critic.
DISCIPLINE-BASED ARTS EDUCATION SYMPOSIUM
A National Invitational Discipline-Based Arts Education Theory Development Symposium took place in Park City, Utah, in the summer of 1996. Participating were 41 arts specialists, classroom teachers, university faculty, artists, and administrators. They were introduced to methods of inquiry, which serve as the foundation for discipline-based arts education in dance, music, theatre, and visual art. Meeting together and in facilitated breakout groups, they discussed the interrelationships among the arts for the purpose of creating multi-arts units of study. Various points of focus were identified and possible works of art were brainstormed for units. Several potential models for multi-arts units were developed, and strategies were identified to foster discipline-based multi-arts study in various educational venues.
THEATRE TEACHER EDUCATION THINK TANK
The second invitational Theatre Think Tank was held in 2000 in collaboration with the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Participants included visionary university professors, field experience supervisors, and classroom cooperating teachers who are involved with educating new teachers of theatre. The think tank probed issues of teacher education and envisioned innovative pedagogy that would be student-centered and inquiry-based. Participants identified intriguing issues and provocative questions that stimulated the formation of collaborative teacher education projects.
