Description of an Expert Teacher's Constructivist-Oriented Teaching: Engaging Students' Critical Thinking in Learning Creative Dance

Abstract

The focus of this study was to investigate how an expert teacher implemented constructivist-oriented teaching strategies to engage students' critical thinking skills in learning creative dance. The data were collected through videotaping 16 creative dance lessons taught by an expert teacher to 2 kindergarten, 2 first-grade, and 4 third-grade classes and conducting two formal interviews and several informal interviews with the teacher. In addition, one group interview was conducted with 4 kindergarten students, 4 first-grade students, and 8 third-grade students. The three salient themes were: (a) relating students' knowledge and ideas to lessons to spark dispositions, (b) encouraging and facilitating students' inquiries and creative products, and (c) engaging students' metacognition in refining the quality of dance movement.

Key Words:

• engagement of creative thinking
• metacognition