ACT for Residential Programs
The Arts for Critical Thinking® (ACT) Program builds on recent and continuing research that began several years ago in public schools. Since then, ACT has been considered for and tried in a variety of settings including senior centers, community centers and Adult residential facilities.
We are beginning to learn how adults can benefit from exposure to ACT and would love your assistance. We invite you to get involved so we can develop ACT into a program that helps Adults in Residential Programs in a wide variety of settings.
The goal of ACT is to build thinking, learning, and engagement skills. By getting involved with the ACT Program, participants can improve focus, conceptualization, categorization and association skills. This should help many aspects of thinking in day-to-day situations.
Adults who participate in ACT:
- build skill at focusing and maintaining focus more effectively
- refine skills that help them socially
- may find daily life easier
- develop greater confidence in themselves and skill at interacting with others
- enjoy the experience
What is ACT?
Using music and visual arts, ACT provides opportunities to develop and practice thinking skills that can aid learning, not only in the arts, but also in day-to-day situations.
The program includes a series of interrelated ACTivities or lessons that are designed to be fun while developing engagement and thinking skills.
The ACTivities are:
- short, approximately 20-30 minutes each
- easy to use - no special training in music or arts is required to lead them
- structured for both individual and collaborative learning
- designed to help participants discover connections between the arts and other learning
Because the ACTivities are structured on the Dewey concept of inquiry-based learning, leaders are encouraged to ask questions based on experience rather than just present facts. Feel free to present the ACTivities creatively and encourage participants to speak, write, and draw about their ideas without restraint. Through its Inquiry Learning approach, ACT fosters curiosity, initiative, and active involvement in learning.
Each 20-30 minute inquiry-based ACTivity includes two parts:
- activities that involve skill-developing engagement with music or visual arts
- an opportunity to reflect upon what participants have just experienced and associate this learning to their broader interests and experiences
Our books fully describe each ACTivity, including simple instructions and a list of materials you might need – things like a CD player to play music, paper and markers to draw, a xylophone and percussion instruments like sticks. Because the lessons are designed to build skills progressively, instructions are included suggesting how ACTivities should be presented, from simplest to the most advanced.
How do I find out more about the ACTivities?
- Visit Explore ACT to see sample ACTivities and other information from our books
- Visit Watch ACT to see short videos of the ACTivities
- Visit Get ACT to download our books
If desired, training and consulting services are also available. Please contact us for more information.
How does ACT improve the climate for learning?
- ACT participants appear to find the learning process more inviting and take greater ownership of their learning
- ACT uses an engaging inquiry-based approach in which there are no “right” and “wrong” answers
- ACT leaders report that participants become more engaged with their learning and show improved social behavior
What is the thinking behind ACT?
(excerpt from article by Martin F. Gardiner, Ph.D.)ACT uses learning activities involving music and other arts to foster three types of capability which we consider essential to the ability to learn. Not only are all three fundamental in themselves, but they also enhance and strengthen one another.
To be successful, learners must:
- develop not one but a variety of ways of using their minds proficiently to accommodate the wide range of skills they must master
- expect and learn the ability to explore “why” as they learn “what”
- develop proficiency at participating actively in their learning
Arts activities are at the center of ACT because:
- they are attractive and enjoyable for all learners
- they provide rich low risk, high feedback opportunities for learners to practice ways of thinking that are needed, not only in the Arts, but also in other areas
- they affect personal and social development