An Arts-Informed Parent Education Program About Play: Exploring a New Approach to Science Outreach and Community Engagement. (December 2019) - Rathunde, Kevin
Background: Parent education programs take many forms and attempt to raise parents' awareness of factors that positively affect child development. Program effectiveness varies greatly depending on whether parents feel engaged and interested by program content.Purpose: This article discusses a novel, "arts-informed" approach to parent education in a program called ThroughPlay. The program was collaboratively developed with local artists and uses a multimedia presentation (e.g., film, photography, music, and design) to translate scientific information about play and human development to public audiences in more visceral and compelling ways.Methodology/Approach: Sections of the article discuss the growing use of the arts for translating science, the benefits of integrating the arts for emotional engagement and education, and how the arts were collaboratively incorporated to create the ThroughPlay presentation.Findings/Conclusions: Consistent with notions of experiential learning and embodied cognition, arts-informed programs are thought to be effective by instigating an intellectually and emotionally engaging learning process.Implications: Arts–science collaborations are emerging at research universities across the country and are increasingly recognized as having great promise for community engagement and science outreach.