ABSTRACT
The present contribution addresses the topic of school learning enhanced and extended by means of artistic methods and approaches. In the context of broader school reform in Denmark, new opportunities emerged for schools to partner with cultural institutions that are external to schools but informally involved in learning processes. Among a variety of external partners–such as sports clubs, entrepreneurs, cultural clubs-artists and cultural institutions were chosen as the focus of the research project Culture Laboratory. The qualitative study that documented and assessed the nine artist-school partnerships within Culture Laboratory showed a large number of learning outcomes, as reported by the main participants (students, teachers, artists, cultural institutions). This chapter will first of all describe the general context and purpose of the overall research project. Secondly, it will elaborate on a specific set of findings, which demonstrate a particular emotional response in the students’ experience: emotional arousal. This response is described as surprising, exciting, novel and different, and brings with it a number of learning outputs.
