| Purpose. The purpose of this study was to implement a descriptive inquiry about the nature of art experiences in Waldorf Education through the lens of Waldorf graduates' reflective stories. This qualitative study sought to gain insight into the meanings graduates attribute to past Waldorf school arts experiences. Gathering the storied knowledge of the Waldorf graduates provided a description of the Waldorf arts-inclusive pedagogy and its impact on graduates' perceptions. The central research question for the study was as follows: What meanings do Waldorf graduates attribute to their lived Waldorf school art experience?.;Procedures. Three-interview Series (Dolbeare & Schuman, 1982) were utilized to gather data from Waldorf graduates. This semi-structured interview protocol was designed to first, ascertain the graduates' overview about art experiences; second, narrow to their reflections about key moments (epiphanies) within arts experience; and third, attribute meaning to their art experience reflections. A semi-structured interview protocol with open-ended prompts was utilized to collect Waldorf graduate narratives from 15 participants who attended 17 diverse Waldorf schools in the following geographical areas: West, Southwest, Midwest, and Northeast. Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) interviews were utilized in order to access Waldorf graduates throughout the United States.;Memos (Denzin, 1994) were the starting place for interpretation of the data. Through inductive examination of these memos, relationships and classifications were identified among memo impressions as well as seeing new impressions. By narrowing and refining the memo interpretations, themes and dimensions were determined for the entire data set---three interview transcripts per each of the 15 participants. The data was reduced and narratives were organized into emerging interpretation themes. Codes (Merriam, 2002) then became an organizing principle for themes. Constant comparison analysis across the participants' interview data afforded a discovery of both data contradictions and conformations. Guided by the themes across all 15 biographical narratives, summaries of the themes were drafted with support from graduate narratives.;Conclusions. Prior to this study, there existed a limited view about art experiences within Waldorf schools as well as the outcomes of such experience through the eyes of Waldorf graduates, those who intimately experienced the phenomena. The findings of this study provided a baseline for further investigation on the phenomena of arts experiences within both Waldorf Education and other arts-infused school initiatives. The results articulated benefits stemming from students' involvement in seamless arts integration and hands-on arts experiences in Waldorf Education: (1) expanded ways of knowing; (2) internalized knowledge through visual representations; (3) afforded will-developed intelligence, flow experience, creativity, and emotional intelligence; and (4) balanced the whole (sense and reason) being.;As a result of the findings of this study, possible alternatives and considerations could enable educators to more appropriately teach to the whole child. In a climate where the arts are at risk of being de-emphasized within mainstream curricula design, the findings of this study expose benefits generated from an alternative paradigm supportive of arts integration. Understanding Waldorf graduates' epistemological view of their schooled art experience may guide others (i.e. policy makers, educators, parents...) who have similar values and educational priorities. |
