AIRS Inquiry
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AIRS is committed to ongoing collaborative inquiry into the relevance and impact of sustained engagement in the visual arts for children's learning and well-being in schools.
In our inquiry process, lead teachers from each participating school gather and share reflections and observations from classroom teachers and students about student learning and experience in the AIRS program.
Inquiry goals
- Recovering knowledge - The systemic evacuation of expertise in the arts from public elementary education in BC has resulted in a vacuum of knowledge and understanding about the art making process and its relevance and transformational potential for the development of the whole child. AIRS is an active collaboration between artists and teachers that restores knowledge and understanding and makes visible the critical role and relevance of the arts in education. It is our hope that this evidence will help advance future funding and policy priorities that support and protect the central place of the arts within public education for future generations.
- Reimagining the role of art - As a working model for revitalizing the role of art in public elementary schools, AIRS is committed to re-imagining art engagement through a decolonizing lens. This centres student voice and creativity, foregrounds diversity in cultural practice and honors Indigenous understanding of artmaking as a relational practice rooted in and for community.
- Reaching for best practices - Our ongoing inquiry findings inform pedagogical practices and best practices in collaboration between artists and teachers and artists and students, to develop flexible and innovative residencies that contribute to relevant transformational learning.
Our Findings
Teacher Observations
First Peoples Principles of Learning
First Peoples Principles of Learning
Core competencies in creative and critical thinking, communication and personal and social competency were supported across all studios. In addition, the following strong themes emerged:
The studio was a SAFE SPACE of non-judgement that allowed students to find freedom in self-expression, and embrace mistakes as opportunities for learni
Core competencies in creative and critical thinking, communication and personal and social competency were supported across all studios. In addition, the following strong themes emerged:
The studio was a SAFE SPACE of non-judgement that allowed students to find freedom in self-expression, and embrace mistakes as opportunities for learning. This created INCLUSION where all students were engaged, and motivated and students who normally struggle in the classroom were able to thrive. Teachers noted positive impacts on MENTAL WELLBEING with happiness, calm and a sense of pride through the challenges inherent in the art making process. In addition, teachers saw how the art making process allowed for DEEP LEARNING in complex and challenging topics.
First Peoples Principles of Learning
First Peoples Principles of Learning
First Peoples Principles of Learning
In line with First Peoples Principles of Learning, teachers shared how the art making process supported HOLISTIC and RELATIONAL learning that included; meaningful connection to the land, a deeper understanding of interconnectedness and how our actions resonate backward and forward in time, a respect for the patience and time required in
In line with First Peoples Principles of Learning, teachers shared how the art making process supported HOLISTIC and RELATIONAL learning that included; meaningful connection to the land, a deeper understanding of interconnectedness and how our actions resonate backward and forward in time, a respect for the patience and time required in creating art and a place to explore and discover who they are.
Art Matters
First Peoples Principles of Learning
Art Matters
Students shared powerful insights into why art mattered to them. These reflections were striking in their directness and divergence from the kinds of educational benefits adults tend to focus on. Shared in different ways and articulated in their own words, consistent themes emerged in student responses across all 15 school sites. Art mat
Students shared powerful insights into why art mattered to them. These reflections were striking in their directness and divergence from the kinds of educational benefits adults tend to focus on. Shared in different ways and articulated in their own words, consistent themes emerged in student responses across all 15 school sites. Art matters because it creates space for freedom of self-expression, emotional catharsis, connection to self-identity and the experience of beauty.
"Art makes our insides calm and free so we are not afraid to show it and our outside can change when we let our inside out because people can be hiding their unique talents.”
– Student at Trudeau Elementary, 2024
“The AIRS program at the Art and Discovery Studio demonstrates the potential for art activities to enhance children’s self-regulation by integrating social and emotional awareness with cognitive capacities such as patience and sustained attention.”
Dr. Jane Garland, Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry, UBC
AIRS Collaborative Inquiry Past Reports
2020/21
2020/21
2020/21
This year our meetings took place online due to Covid with presentations by Dr. Sylvia Kind in November and Aaron-Nelson Moody (Splash) in February. Dr. Kind is an artist, scholar and ‘atelierista’ at Capilano University in the Department of Early Childhood Education and Pedagogy. She presented some of her current work and research in cultivating the studio as an ever-evolving space of thinking and co-creation. Sylvia is interested in the spaces where children’s ideas collide and intersect, activating new avenues of thinking and discovering. Splash, whose Squamish name means “Splashing Eagle”, is a Coast Salish carver and teacher who has shared his work, practice and cultural knowledge with students in schools across Vancouver for more than a decade.
Although our inquiry was entirely online this year, data was still gathered and documented by teachers over the course of the residencies through photos, shared observation, teacher and student written reflections and post residency on-line debrief interviews.
2019/20
2020/21
2020/21
For the 2019/20 school year, inquiries were developed under the overarching question: "How does sustained collaboration with a resident artist in an established studio impact student learning in relation to the curriculum, the core competencies and the FirstPeoples’ Principles of Learning?" Findings from the collaborative inquiry are documented and compiled into a year end final report that can be accessed below.
The 2019/20 inquiry was facilitated by Christine Giesbrecht, district mentor support teacher with presentations by Maggie Milne Martens, AIRS director and Indigenous teaching artists Shelley MacDonald and Candice Halls-Howcroft.
2018/2019
2018/2019
2018/2019
The 2018/2019 Collaborative Inquiry included talks with guests Dr. Jane Garland, Christine Giesbrecht and Dr. Sylvia Kind,
2017/2018
2018/2019
2018/2019
The 2017/2018 inquiry was based around the question “How does collaborating with a resident artist in an established studio impact student learning within the new curriculum and core competencies.”