Arts, Aesthetic and Cultural Education

Several of our research projects on arts education address a wide range of artistic and cultural leisure activities of children and young people. Despite their educational relevance and intrinsic value, such activities are often insufficiently considered in large educational studies. Our particular focus is on musical and artistic activities. Beyond the artistic activities belonging to the field of cultural education in the narrower sense, we also consider activities for the preservation of intangible cultural heritage as relevant to cultural education. These can relate to the culture of building as well as to the cultural landscape in rural areas.

In view of a fundamental digital transformation of society, it is also becoming increasingly important for cultural participation for people to learn to use digital technology for their own goals. We therefore investigate how children and young people in particular can be encouraged to use technology in order to develop creative ideas. The boundaries to STEM education are fluid here.

Similar to the STEM field, investigating the role of parents, peers, and teachers is also vital to our studies on the development of children’s and young people’s activities with regard to cultural activities and to the exploration of design features for low-threshold interventions.

Our empirical studies on cultural education are part of a larger research program on education and empowerment in the post-digital age.


Selected Publications

Kröner, S., Christ, A., & Penthin, M. (2021). Stichwort: Digitalisierung in der kulturell-ästhetischen Bildung – eine konfigurierende Forschungssynthese. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 24, 9-39. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11618-021-00989-7

Smolarczyk, K., Wießnet, V., Birnbaum, L., & Kröner, S. (2022). The effects of setting and music on the intention to participate in out-of-school music classes: An experimental video vignette study. Psychology of Music, 50(2), 345-364. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F03057356211000124

Kröner, S. (2013). Kulturelle Partizipation bei Jugendlichen als Feld der Person-Umwelt-Transaktion. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 16, 233–256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-013-0432-y


Third-Party Funded Projects

Principal Investigators: Benjamin Jörissen, Franz Krämer, Michael Kerres, Pia Sander, Stephan Kröner, Lisa Birnbaum Staff: Robert Rohm, Franz Krämer, Anna Heinemann Period: 2024-2028 Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research The project is part of the research unit on "Cultural E...

  Principal Investigators: Tobias Chilla, Stephan Kröner, Lisa Birnbaum Staff: Jessica Fittkau, Carola Wilhelm Period: 2023-2026 Funding: Federal Office for Agriculture and Food Abstract: Vital cultural events in rural areas are an important factor in the quality of life. Cultural a...

How can practical music performance competencies and accompanying activity-related behavioral, normative, and control beliefs be diagnosed? How may beliefs and competencies be fostered by interventions featuring education in music? And how do the participants experience these interventions? Two sub-projects investigated these questions. In the sub-project at FAU, we focused on the development and implementation of a musical education intervention with the aim of fostering musical leisure activities. In field experiments, we implemented different versions to assess the impact of various design features on behavioral outcomes...

Today, a large number of children and adolescents show deficits in terms of motor-coordination competences. A possible reason is the lower extent of physical activities compared to former generations. Although elementary school age is probably pivotal for establishing habits related to physical activities, this has rarely been studied previously. Starting from the theory of planned behavior, suitable scales were developed and piloted. These scales have been applied in a large-scale longitudinal study on determinants and effects of physical activities in primary school children...