Everyday Opportunities for Learning Through Art
There are many ways that the arts can be incorporated into the lives of children. But perhaps it is the everyday moments that offer ideal opportunities for families to use the arts to enhance topics and issues, support homework, gain valuable insight, develop perseverance, reduce stress, and more. A parent quietly points out the range of colors in the sky as golden leaves float to the ground. The lesson: Art is everywhere and it is through observation we see new things. A teenager raps a song about life and a lost girlfriend at a coffee house. The lesson: Communications, creativity, emotional development happen through self-expression. Kids and parents play music together on a pots-and-pan band. The lesson: Collaboration and creativity are fun and we learn through pleasure. But, parents on the whole know little about arts, learning, and the brain. Parents do not naturally make these connections—and science is just beginning to explore them. ‘‘Providing parents with accurate and reliable information is essential if we are going to help kids meet their potential using the arts,’’ says Ellen Galinsky (2010), President and Co-Founder, Families and Work Institute and author of Mind in the Making. ‘‘Schools, home, the workplace, and community must work together to use what we know about the importance of the arts everyday.’’
Many parents do not realize the potential impact of the arts on cognition, social emotional development, attention, executive function, or memory development (Hardiman et al., 2009). Like all parents, they abundantly share what they know and many times what was taught to them as children. Many parents resort to the because I said so school of parenting because they do not have the answer to why the arts matter. It might seem like the right thing to do, but parents need to know why. Whether it is encouraging a child to practice a musical instrument, paint a picture, write a story or poem, understanding the benefits behind creativity, practice, perseverance, and mastery in the arts will influence how parents support and guide their children’s artistic decisions.
Building Research: Sharing Evidence with Parents
Research findings in many disciplines, from psychology and genetics to neuroscience and engineering, are converging to inform the science of learning through the arts across the country and around the world. Brain scientists know more about perceptual sensory systems and are making cognitive connections to practical applications (Society for Neuroscience, 2009). Studies by Posner (2010) reveal that attention-focusing art forms improve listening skills and concentration, whereas other research suggests the role of the arts as a conduits for problem solving, motivation, collaboration, and innovative thinking (Fiske, 1999).
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Project Zero, founded at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has an active research program that builds on and contributes to understanding of human cognitive development and the processes of learning in the arts. For example, Tina Grotzer’s work focuses on topics such as learnability of intelligence and how children develop causal models for complex science concepts (Perkins & Grotzer, 2000).
In 2008, The Dana Foundation published the results of a 3-year study by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States addressing a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter? Learning, Arts, and the Brain provide new understanding of the impact of dance, music, and drama on other forms of learning (Gazzaniga, 2008). This work was later advanced during a conference jointly held by Johns Hopkins University Neuro-Education Initiative and the Dana Foundation at a summit in 2009 (Hardiman et al., 2009).
Another major research effort in the arts was undertaken by the National Science Foundation through a workshop entitled ‘‘Art, Creativity, and Learning’’ in 2008. Specific research strategies were discussed for the emerging field learning enhancement through the arts as well as methodological recommendations.
In October 2010, The Brain Science Institute (BSI) at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine held an innovative speakers series entitled The Science of the Arts: Perceptual Neuroscience and Aesthetics (www.brainscienceinstitute.org). The Science of the Arts brought together researchers and artists in a series of informal conversations about aesthetics and beauty in music, architecture, art, and dance. The BSi created an opportunity to discuss current research, ideas, and perspectives in hopes of helping to shape and inform this work in the coming years. Among the issues discussed included the scope of research already being conducted; new research questions; artist perspectives; and relevance and application of this work in health, architecture, education, and design.
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Policy makers, educators, and researchers agree that bringing parents into this conversation has the potential to change access to activities that enhance children’s skills, attitudes, behavior, and outcomes. Some of this dialogue is already happening through back-to-school arts nights, portfolio assessments, after-school enrichment programs, free museum admission, and access to other cultural arts programs.
Educators have been incorporating the arts as an important part of learning for years. This was evidenced in the 2009 Learning, Arts, and the Brain summit hosted by Johns Hopkins University and the Dana Foundation. In many ways, the conversation about arts and learning between educators and researchers shows exciting promise. Educators are eager to incorporate the arts into learning but are perplexed about research findings and worried that information is overstated or overinterpreted. Creating a strong research and practice framework through continual interdisciplinary collaboration and dialogue is essential to share the best science in ways that are true to the science and useful to educators.
This confusion and uncertainty is even more the case for families and parents. Lack of clarity, sometimes conflicting evidence, and intimidation about research create an impediment to encouraging parents in the practice of engaging their children in the arts. Without easy and affordable access to usable practical applications and lack of parent knowledge and understanding about the reasons why creativity enhances cognitive development, there will be little progress made toward a more arts-enriched environment at home.
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