About Lincoln Integrated Academy of Arts
Lincoln Academy was established in 2005, as one of 10 charter schools in the state of Iowa. Lincoln Academy is a choice school, which means that students throughout the Davenport Community School District, as well as students outside the district may attend. There is a registration process, and more information may be obtained by calling the school office at 563.324.0497.
Lincoln Academy offers a wide range of curricular subjects, enhanced through the use of the arts to teach concepts.
Object based learning is an integral part of Lincoln's teaching methodology. Briefly, the idea behind Object-based learning is an instructional strategy based on the concept that people can learn from an object by exploring the object itself and its context (when was it used, who might have used it, for what purpose, etc.). In this way, children can begin to develop ideas about the world around them, as well as what life may have been like in the past.
In order to transform Lincoln, we are fortunate to have some wonderful partners in this process. They include:
| The Figge Museum of Art |
| The Family Museum |
| The River Music Experience |
| The Putnam Museum |
| Quad City Arts |
We have been led in this process with the help of Dr. Sharon Shaffer, Executive Director of the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, Washington D.C.. As noted in her biography at the Smithsonian Institute:
Dr. Sharon Shaffer is the Executive Director for the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC), a model program in museum-based education for preschoolers and kindergartners. As the founding Director for SEEC in 1988, she was given the challenge of developing a program for young children that utilized the rich resources of the Smithsonian Institution and the surrounding museums. The Smithsonian’s model is built on the most current research in early childhood education and museum practice, leading the field in arts-based education for young children.
Dr. Shaffer oversees the SEEC program, which includes a child development center, preschool, and kindergarten, and provides leadership for educational outreach. She is responsible for designing seminars for training early childhood educators and museum professionals in object-based learning and arts-centered curriculum, consulting with schools and museums, and presenting at conferences and seminars nationally and internationally. She has been a guest lecturer for the graduate program in Museum Leadership at Bank Street College, George Washington University, Gallaudet University, and the University of Virginia.
Dr. Shaffer’s formal studies include Elementary Education, Early Childhood Education, and Social Foundations of Education. Her doctoral research focused on the newly emerging field of preschool programming in traditional art museums. In addition to her work at SEEC, Dr. Shaffer is teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia.