HOW WE WORK The ROOTS of DFS RESEARCH “YPAR offers a different purpose for teaching and learning—one rooted in social change and the realization of students’ capacities” (Mirra et al., 2016, 4). PAR | Participatory Action Research Drama for Schools (DFS) use Participatory Action Research (PAR) methods to support teachers to implement and research novel ways to use the arts to solve educational issues in their school context. PAR places the power of school improvement–the development of and research on new teaching methods and curricular units–under the leadership of classroom educators. DFS uses PAR to democratize research on the arts in education. We use arts-integrated PAR to validate and center teachers’ lived experience, and to ensure that the curriculum and instructional methods that we co-develop are contextualized and relevant to teachers’ needs. YPAR | Youth Participatory Action Research Drama for Schools (DFS) uses Youth Participatory Actions Research (YPAR) methods to support students to use the arts to investigate and share their opinion about issues in their classroom, school and world context. We use YPAR to support students to work as arts-integrated researchers, evaluators, decision-makers, learning designers, and teachers. When students work through a YPAR cycle, they become agents of change. YPAR supports students to see themselves as capable of positively impacting the educational systems that impact their lives. STLC | Student/Teacher Learning Community DFS enacts PAR and YPAR methodologies within schools through our Student and Teacher Learning Community (STLC) model. In the STLC, students, teachers, administrators, and DFS facilitators work together to achieve a series of tasks and goals for their school, over an extended period of time. Then, the STLC shares their findings with school and community partners who influence the systems that shape their lives. The STLC approach is based on twenty years of DFS research which shows that (1) arts integration can increase students’ social-emotional and academic learning and teacher self-efficacy (2) schools benefit from increased youth involvement in decision-making and learning improvement Our current research indicates that the arts-integrated STLC model increases student voice and teacher self-efficacy; it improves academic identity, and supports schools to reach their learning objectives. SLC in South Australia. 2016. STLC at Berkman Elementary School in Round Rock, TX. 2019. Using an STLC to Support Teacher PAR and Student YPAR “As important as the who is the how of YPAR” (Fine, 2008, p. 224). In order to enact STLC projects in scalable ways, DFS uses a three-step STLC Y/PAR process: Clarify, Incubate, and Amplify. Though linear by design, the STLC Y/PAR process is also iterative. Click here to see an example of how we use this model. CLARIFY: A Summer Institute is used to co-design the STLC Y/PAR project.A school team (students, arts/non-arts teachers, and administrators) works closely with DFS (UT Austin faculty and students) and local teaching artists/content experts to design the project. The goals of the opening CLARIFY phase are to: Build community and connection between project participants through arts-integrated curriculum units. Then the STLC evaluates what we did and why we did it Make decisions about how we might use arts-integrated learning in our project Explore and identify goals for the STLC project. Create an action plan for moving forward Develop shared inquiry questions related to project goal/s and consider which research activities (interviews, surveys, arts-based methods) can be used to answer questions. (Dawson et al, 2025) Summer Institute for Berkman Elementary’s STLC, 2019. Summer Institute at UT Austin for Ann Richards School’s STLC, 2024. INCUBATE: During the INCUBATE phase, project leadership guides STLC participants through designing and reflecting on new arts-integrated curriculum. STLC sessions are used to have teachers and students explore the project theme together and model strategies, processes, and ways of thinking and creating that STLC participants can take and apply in the project. During INCUBATE, the STLC Learns how to facilitate arts integration strategies with target academic content. Designs and teaches new arts-integrated lessons in classrooms and collects data about our impact on students and teachers. Plans a community event to share the artistic outputs and YPAR findings of our work with our school and invited guests. (Dawson et al., 2025) Work shared at a community event Eco-Art Walk for school, local community and city/university leaders at Overton Elementary in Austin, TX. Berkman Elementary students leading an arts-integrated professional development session for campus teachers as part of the STLC. 2019. AMPLIFY: In this phase, STLC participants share their learning and discoveries, reflect on their individual takeaways, and present their work with meaningful audiences in a culminating event or presentation. During AMPLIFY, the STLC Shares arts products and arts-integrated YPAR discoveries with other students, teachers, and administrators at the school. Designs a mini audience reception research study to investigate the impact of their work as creative artists Analyzes research study findings to advocate for educational change through arts-integrated learning. Speaks about their experience and learning to others in professional settings (local, state, national conferences) and writes/speaks about STLC work in formal or informal publications. (Dawson et al., 2025) Overton students came to UT to present their work as featured portion of our annual PT2050 Research Symposium on Climate Resilience. 2024. Ann Richards School students presenting their work at the annual PT2050 Research Symposium on Climate Resilience. 2025.
