TY - CHAP AB - Abstract This study compares parallel philosophies of the work of American educator John Dewey in Art as Experience and the arts infused educational approach of the Reggio Emilia Schools of Italy.This historical and contemporary comparative, cross-cultural analysis explores educational approaches that incorporate the arts in the process of learning and the use of democratic processes in collaborative learning approaches. Data sources include primary source historical documents, field observations, interviews, and primary source educational materials.Similarities are identified across cultures and time in the examples analyzed for commonalities including arts creation as central to the processes of learning, democratic processes in collaborative project learning experiences, community involvement as an integral part of the learning processes, and imagination and communication as consistent elements in the experiences of the school. This study provides a historical and contemporary context for the cross-cultural analysis of the use of art in the learning processes as described by American educator John Dewey and the educators in the Reggio Emilia schools of Italy. VL - 17 SN - 978-1-78190-700-9/0270-4021 DO - 10.1108/S0270-4021(2013)0000017010 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0270-4021(2013)0000017010 AU - Saab Joy Faini AU - Stack Sam F. PY - 2014 Y1 - 2014/01/01 TI - John Dewey and Reggio Emilia: Using the Arts to Build a Learning Community T2 - Learning Across the Early Childhood Curriculum T3 - Advances in Early Education and Day Care PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 115 EP - 133 Y2 - 2024/04/16 ER -