Researchers

Since 1999, CAPE has conducted studies with implications for the field of arts integration, related to social emotional learning, academic success, and teacher growth.

Collaboration Laboratory (CoLab) is CAPE’s two-year program that introduces new partners into the CAPE network of arts integration practitioners. Co-Lab applies CAPE’s model of inquiry-based, arts-integrated teaching and learning partnerships to schools and arts organizations new to this methodology. The project supports a cohort of teacher and teaching artist teams at ten schools through an intensive program of professional development as they form a professional community organized to develop high-quality arts integration.

Dr. Gigi Schroeder Yu is an assistant professor of art education at the University of New Mexico. She has over 25 years of experience collaborating with young children, adults, and educators in various art-related settings such as art museums, community-based art contexts, and public-school settings. Her creative work and research are inspired by the early learning programs of Reggio Emilia, Italy, which emphasize the importance of children’s artistic languages. Gigi is also the co-founder of the Collaborative Teachers Institute, a community of practice that co-constructs interdisciplinary, aesthetic inquiries based on the interests of families, children, and educators. Her research mainly focuses on collaborations between artists and classrooms, utilizing the co-construction of aesthetic inquiry within ecologies of creative practices. She is the recipient of the National Art Education Association 2020 New Mexico Art Educator of the Year award. Her research is featured in international publications such as the International Journal of Education Through the Arts, IMAG InSEA publication, and Visual Art Research. She is a co-editor with Brenda Fyfe, Yin Lam Lee-Johnson, and Juana Reyes (2023) of Affirming the Rights of Emergent Bilingual and Multilingual Children and Families: Interweaving Research and Practice through the Reggio Emilia Approach. Routledge.

Juana M. Reyes, Ed.D., is an Associate Professor in Early Childhood Special Education at Lewis University in Illinois. She has worked with emergent bi- and multilingual families as an early educator and as a consultant in various Chicago area neighborhoods and in Phoenix, Arizona. She is a founding member and Chair of Crossroads for Learning, an organization that works to connect educators as they seek to understand and apply principles and practices of the Reggio Emilia Approach. Dr. Reyes is also a consulting editor for Innovations published by the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA). She was delighted to be one of the co-editors of Affirming the Rights of Emergent Bilingual and Multilingual Children and Families Interweaving Research and Practice through the Reggio Emilia Approach, published in 2023.

Dr. Patricia Goubeaux, Founder/CEO of DCG Enterprises, LLC, is a former college educator turned researcher, consultant/coach, and executive administrator. As a life-long learner/researcher and advocate for children’s health and education, she has prioritized clients committed to collaborative community-based approaches focused on increasing equitable opportunities for under-served children and families. Examples include Valley of the Sun United Way, First Things First state agency, Arizona Community Foundation, Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, and BUILD Arizona. From 2018 through 2023, Dr. Goubeaux served as researcher/evaluator of a Reggio-inspired professional development program for The Center for Early Childhood Education at Paradise Valley Community College (Phoenix). Previously, as co-founder and president of Odyssey for Peace – an NGO dedicated to transnational partnerships and violence prevention education – she spent 7 months in post-war Bosnia working with government leaders and university students to establish virtual cross-cultural student exchanges and a Sister City relationship between Toledo, OH and Banja Luka, Republika Srpska.

CAPE sustains the development of its long-term teacher and teaching artists collaborations through the A/RP program. Up to forty collaborating teams are selected each year to deepen further their work in arts-integrated practice, inquiry-based learning, and action research. These teams not only expand artistic investigations in the classroom but also infuse exhibition practice in the classroom to work with students on displaying their learning in a public forum. Artist/Researchers work collaboratively at the end of the year in exhibiting their work in CAPE’s annual Convergence exhibition, advancing the development of collective curation.

Erin is an emerging educational researcher and former arts educator who draws upon eight years of teaching visual and digital art. Professional experience includes working with Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, the Chicago Humanities Festival, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Project Zero on program evaluation and research. Research centers on tensions of knowing, trust, and values in adult and student collaborative learning in a variety of contexts, including professional development settings and arts-integrated classrooms. Particular focus is on the role of surfacing tensions through artistic processes, collaboration, and interdisciplinary inquiry to promote agency and spatial transformation. She earned a Master of Education (Ed.M.) in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and is currently a doctoral student in Educational Psychology, Human Development and Learning, at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

CAPE after-school re-envisions and activates the school as a site for arts, learning, and for family and community members. The after-school program partners teaching artists with teachers to develop an original curriculum that supports project-based arts-integrated learning. As a laboratory for in-school learning, after-school students weave academic and social emotional learning with various art disciplines and teachers are able to experiment with academic content and pedagogical strategies.

Creativity Labs – University of California, Irvine (UCI)

The Creativity Labs designs and studies in- and out-of-school learning experiences rooted in constructionist principles, particularly those around creativity, making, and learning. The Creativity Labs partners with a wide range of organizations including schools, libraries, community-based organizations, nonprofits, and technology firms.

Dr. Kylie A. Peppler is a Professor in Informatics and Education at University of California, Irvine and Director of the Creativity Labs. An artist by training, she engages in research that focuses on the intersection of the arts, computational technologies, and informal learning.

Maggie Dahn is a postdoctoral scholar working with the Creativity Labs at University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in Education from UCLA. As a former teacher, her research interests include the design of learning environments and the development of voice and identity through art making.

Lora Cawelti is a Ph.D. student in Education with a background in performing arts, teaching artistry, and arts programming in schools and community spaces. She is focused on understanding unique arts learning pathways and designing for arts learning that is rooted in inclusive, culturally sustaining pedagogies. Lora is interested in community engaged research practices and research practice partnerships.

CAPE’s STEAM Ahead project infuses arts learning with STEM practices, allowing students to apply, connect, and interweave science, technology, engineering, and math concepts, through the arts.

The STEAM Ahead website, created to provide a useful tool for educators, offers unit outlines, agendas for professional developments, activity archives, and curated resources — free to use at any school or district.

STEAM Ahead was developed for and in collaboration with Park Forest-Chicago Heights School District 163 teachers and teaching artists. The STEAM Ahead project is supported by an Assistance to Arts Education Development and Dissemination Grant funded by the US Department of Education.

Dr. Louanne Smolin is an urban educator with diverse experiences in arts research and teacher education. Her areas of expertise include curriculum reform through multimedia and arts integration. She has extensive knowledge in curriculum reform and serves as a researcher on large-scale program evaluations. Dr. Smolin has published journal articles and book chapters related to collaborative program evaluation, multimedia, and teacher professional development, and has also been a recipient of the Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

Arnold Aprill
Cynthia Weiss
Karen DeMoss, Ph.D.
Larry Scripp, Ed.D.
Laura Tan Paradis
Olga M. Vazquez, Ph.D.
Gail E. Burnaford
Raymond Kang

Terry Morris
Andrew Bisset
Stephanie Pereira
Shari Frost

CAPE’s research program was established by Scott Sikkema (1963-2023).

Thank you to all CAPE partners that have participated, and continue to participate in CAPE research.