Research

We continually examine the impact of the Arts for Critical Thinking® (ACT) program and welcome opportunities to work with you on its ongoing development. Please contact us to discuss this further.

Below you will find references to a variety of sources that are influential to the continued development of ACT.

By Martin F. Gardiner, Ph.D.:

• What is the thinking behind Arts for Critical Thinking® (ACT)?
• Gardiner, M. F. (2000). Music, learning and behavior: A case for mental stretching. Journal for Learning Through Music 1: 72-93, New England Conservatory of Music.
• Gardiner, M. F., Fox, A., Knowles, F., & Jeffrey, D. (1996). Learning improved by arts training. Nature 381:284.
• Gardiner, M. F. (2003). Music. In: Encyclopedia of human ecology, ed. R. M. Lerner, L.B. Schaimberg, P. M. Anderson, & J. Miller, Vol. II: pp 509-514. ABC-CLIO.
• Gardiner, M. F. (2008a). Skill learning, brain engagement, context and the arts. In: Simultaneity: temporal structures and observer perspectives, ed: S. Vrobel, O. E. Rössler & T. Marks-Tarlow, pp. 195 – 214. Springer.
• Gardiner, M. F. (2008b). Academic progress in students receiving musical skill training. Presented at 2008 National Conference of the School Board Association, Orlando, Florida.
• Gardiner, M.F. (2008c). Responses to music: Emotional signaling and learning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(5), 580 – 581.
• Gardiner, M.F. (2008d). Music training, engagement with sequence, and the development of the natural number concept in young learners. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(6), 652 – 653.

Other articles of interest:

• Asbury, C. & Rich, B. (Eds) (2008). Learning, Arts and the Brain: The Dana Consortium Report. The Dana Foundation.
• Chase, W., G. & Simon, H., A. (1973). Perception in chess. Cognitive Psychology, 4: 55-81.
• DeGroot, A.D. (1965). Thought and choice in chess, Moulton.
• Dewey, J. (1934, reprint 1980). Art as experience. Perigee Books.
• Dewey, J, (1910, reprint 1991). How we think.. Prometheus Books.
• Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Norton, A, Schlaug, G. (2008). Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning. Plos One, 3 (10), 1-8.
• Gaab, N., Tallal, P., Kim, H., Lakshnariyann, K., Glover, G. H. & Gabrielli, J. D. E. (2005). Rapid spectrotemporal processing in musicians and nonmusicians. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci, 1060, 82 – 88.
• Hyde, K., Lerch, J., Norton, A., Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Evans, A., Schlaug, G. (2009). Musical Training Shapes Structural Brain Development. Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 3019-3025.
• Juslin, P.N. & Vastfjall, D. (2008) Emotional responses to music: The need to consider underlying mechanisms. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(5), 559 – 621.
• Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., Levine, L. J., Wright, E. I., Dennis, W. R.. & Newcomb, R. L. (1977) Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning abilities. Neurological Research 19: 1 – 8.
• Rips, L.J., Bloomfield, A., & Asmuth, J. (2008). From numerical concepts to concepts of numbers. Brain and Behavioral Sciences, 31(6), 623 – 687.
• Robinson, K. (2001). Out of our minds. Capstone.
• P. Tallal and N. Gaab, (2006) Dynamic auditory processing, musical experience and language development. Trends in Neurosciences, 29 (7): 382 – 390.