Reflection on Past and Present Experiences of Using Arts-Based and Embodied Learning Methods
Prof. Dr. paed. Karine Oganisjana, Riga Technical University, Karine.Oganisjana@rtu.lv
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When I was a student at a secondary school specialising in physics and mathematics, my dream was to become a physicist and … an opera singer. This unusual combination has always helped me through my life. Physics promoted my capability to perceive the holistic picture of the world and understand the causal interconnections between and among processes and phenomena, while singing opera released my inner self and drove me through the unknown, making me feel happy, self-confident and free not just within the bounds of my imagination.[1]
But there was something else that emerged from interweaving them together when I needed to solve complicated problems in physics; in between reading fragments of a problem, I used to sing an opera aria or hum a piece of classical music that resonated with my emotions and state of mind and body at that moment. I combined that process with pacing across my room in full embodiment as if I were performing on a stage. When I needed to read a problem slowly and cautiously so as not to skip an important detail, I intuitively sang something like Gilda’s aria from Verdi’s Rigoletto[2]. When, having wandered in the labyrinths of my thoughts, I finally found a path to a solution of a problem, at once a musical piece similar to the Triumphal March from “Aida”[3] would emerge so naturally that I barely noticed, as if it were an intrinsic part of me. But when I needed to reread a problem repeatedly but could not elaborate the algorithm of its solution, I could become irritated and “turn into the Queen of the Night” from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”[4]; by vocalising her famous aria I released all my negative emotions. As a rule, after singing the coloratura passage I felt much better and harmonised, and a wave of enlightenment washed over me ‘to save the situation’. I did not need to know the lyrics of arias in the original languages; the most important aspect to me was the music, which I expressed through vocalising, varying the rhythms and keys, inventing my own staccatos, crescendos and legatos, dynamically moving from alto to coloratura soprano, slowing down or speeding up as I saw fit and incorporating into my singing and gestures the broad range of emotions that needed to be expressed.
I could not even imagine back then that it was my specific arts-based and embodied way of learning difficult content – learning holistically through integrating cognitive, affective and embodied components into such a strange fusion (Woods et al., 2020; Papastamatis & Panitsides, 2014). How could I know then that active engagement with music enhanced intellectual skills, self-regulation, controlled attention, creativity and other non-musical skills (Halam, 2015), which, in my case, led to beneficial outcomes in learning physics? Or, how could I expect that my body, with all its gestures, movements, facial expressions and breath control was a source of learning and well-being (Payne, 2019; Fugate et al., 2019; Macrine & Fugate, 2022)? In retrospect, I am not sure that the time efficiency, the ratio of expected time to actual time, for that type of learning, was high. However, I can assume that the effectiveness of that approach, which compares the actual outcomes to the intended goals, was high enough as I managed all the tasks.[5]
When I became a teacher in one of the secondary schools of Riga in the late 1980s, I sometimes used to sing in my lessons, integrating it into the theme we were studying in physics. As a rule, students were amazed, applauded and asked why I did not sing opera professionally on stage[6]. I realised that they perceived such unexpected ‘straying away from physics’ more as amusement and fun, rather than an opportunity to disclose the cross-disciplinary versus the mono-disciplinary nature of the world. This could be because of the Soviet tradition of addressing learning physics mainly as a serious cognitive process.
Only many years later, I grasped the core of my school years’ ‘know-how’ of learning difficult themes. In 2019-2020 I had an opportunity to participate in the Erasmus+ project ENABLES, which aimed to use arts-based and embodied learning (ABEL) - collage creation, improvisation, creative writing, vignettes, etc. - to promote distributed leadership skills (Woods et al., 2023). The summarisation of the research findings by the project partners revealed that ABEL had a transformative effect (Woods et al., 2020; Boca et al., 2020; Oganisjana et al., 2020). This effect is not only at the intrapersonal level (more active learning and deeper sense-making; increased inner calmness, self-confidence and resilience to stress; coping with complexity and anxieties; becoming more authentic and true to one’s self) but also at the interpersonal level (enhanced responsibility, adaptability and connectedness with others; greater emotional intelligence, openness to new experiences and receptivity to feedback; increased cooperation and collaboration, playing equal roles flexibly switching responsibilities, etc.)
And what was my vocalisation with the emotional and embodied self-expressions if not arts-based and embodied learning? So, was the effect of that strange way of learning unexpected? Obviously, no.
Today, within the Horizon project AECED[7], we are to elaborate a research-based Pedagogical Framework and Guide meant to lead to significant changes in education for democracy at different educational phases (AECED, 2023).
The research data collected by the Latvian team include students’ and teachers’ written reflections on their experience gained when using drama sketch and collage creation in a responsive pedagogical environment in different learning activities, the observation of the processes, post-activity discussions with teachers and interviews in three secondary schools in 2024. These data suggest that the participants did live democracy as a process of becoming; that was witnessed through the elements of power-sharing, transforming dialogue, holistic learning and relational wellbeing (Woods, 2021). According to the preliminary findings, a range of conditions both to be followed and to be avoided in creating the final versions of the Pedagogical Framework and Guides were revealed by the Latvian team (Oganisjana et al., unpublished data, 2024).
[1] I was a regular Soviet girl who knew very well that the Big World behind the Iron Curtains was not accessible to her.
[2] Maria Callas – Gilda, “Tutte le feste al tempio”, Opera “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi,
[3]“Gloria all' Egitto, Triumphal March”, Opera “Aida” by Giuseppe Verdi
[4] Diana Damrau - Queen of the Night, Opera “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
[5] I finished Secondary School Nr. 1 at the State University of Yerevan with a gold medal in 1977 and won at the Olympiads of Physics and Mathematics in Armenia. To be enrolled in that school, one had to succeed in a competitive selection process among six applicants for a single position.
[6] In the Soviet times it was challenging to get permission for a second higher education. Alumni needed to work in their specialisation almost all their lives to justify the finances invested into their higher education by the state.
[7] The full title of the Horizon project AECED is “Transforming Education for Democracy through Aesthetic and Embodied Learning, Responsive Pedagogies and Democracy-as-becoming” (2023-2026)