Communicating the Message Through Innovative Methods and Platforms
Some media outlets provide quick and sometimes shallow interpretations of research with little practical application for at-home and community use. Parents feel left out of the conversation. They have not been included in the discussions among researchers and educators to better understand what is known; they have not been participants in shaping new research and practices. Andrew Ackerman, Executive Director of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, shared some thoughts about this confusion:
We have parents coming to the museum all the time that want to provide environments and opportunities for their children in the arts, but are not sure what to do, what is age appropriate, or what is important for their child’s development. We need to be educating parents to be good consumers of arts and learning. Without this, they are at the mercy of the latest educational fads. We have seen this with the Mozart Effect, and with changes in policies and priorities in schools that limit or eliminate the arts to make more time for testing.
Over the past 10 years, researchers have been reaching out to families to share information about the science of the arts and learning. This has been a challenging task. Communication channels to parents are diverse and scattered. There is not a common language between parents and researchers. Misunderstandings and misinterpretation of findings have often caused researchers to pull back from the discussion. It is hard to find a way to have an ongoing, sustainable conversation with parents, educators, and researchers about the role the arts can play in learning because, so often, what will work best for children depends on age, access to a particular art form or medium, and the vast number of interests that children and their families can choose from.
Some Examples of Education and Outreach Success
The good news is that there are many initiatives that have shown promise in addressing these complex communications issues.
The Ultimate Block Party: The Arts and Science of Play is an innovative example of bringing the science of arts and learning to communities, families, parents, and educators (www. ultimateblockparty.org). The inaugural event, held in Central Park in New York City in October 2010, married arts, play, and learning. Organizers expected 5,000 families but were thrilled to welcome more than 50,000 participants. Through a range of media platforms, The Ultimate Block Party also reached more than 4.5 million American families with strong messages about the value and science of the arts and play. Through this experience, organizers learned that there are resources committed to making opportunities available to children across the spectrum to engage in arts learning. Funding support came from a host of partners including the National Science Foundation, corporations, schools, individuals, and public and private foundations.
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There is growing interest in making lessons and tools more widely available in practical and practice-eable ways. The goal of Mind in the Making is to share the best knowledge about how children learn best. Mind in the Making, developed by Families and Work Institute, is another collaborative effort that communicates the science of early learning and practical hands-on ideas to enhance learning to the general public, families, and professionals who work with children and families.
KaBOOM! is yet another example of an exceptional program developed to provide families with support that enhances imagination, creativity, and much more. KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit dedicated to saving play for America’s children (http://kaboom.org). Its mission is to create great play spaces through the participation and leadership of communities. Ultimately, the organization envisions a place to play within walking distance of every child in America.
Consider the results when the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) collaborated recently with the Grammy Foundation and Musi-Cares to sponsor a video music contest for kids to talk about why they should stay ‘‘clean’’ and away from drugs and alcohol. Winners would have the chance to see their original compositions posted on the Grammys website and win a backstage tour during the Grammys Music Awards. Check out the three prize winners posted on NIDA’s teen-oriented Sara Bellum blog. Engaging in artistic outlets has proven to be a means of self-expression and an outlet for emotions children and their still-developing brains might have difficulty controlling. Anger, frustration, and fear, as well as happiness and wonder find voice in painting, song, poetry, and other arts engagement, particularly during adolescence, when teens are likely to lack the maturity to apply emotional brakes on widely swinging emotions.
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The young people who submitted the winning entries have their own amazing stories to tell—and their ability to tell those stories by composing and performing their own music is a great example of how arts engagement can provide a healthy focal point, especially for teens. In addition, such public artistic expression can also inspire others in an immediate way that cannot be approximated in a classroom or through a textbook. And with social media, young people can share their expression with each other and a wider audience directly—and obtain immediate feedback. Bloggers, particularly mommy bloggers, are filling Internet pages with ideas and best practices about ways to enhance children’s experiences through the arts. The Motherhood, developed by Emily McKhann, is an excellent example of a blog that hosts weekly chats with authors, educators, and researchers to share what works with thousands of users.
The City of Baltimore Public Schools has developed an innovative initiative called The Family Institute. Led by Michael Sarbanes, executive director of The Office of Partnerships, Communications, and Community Engagement, Baltimore City Public Schools, is rolling out an extensive family engagement program that includes an arts integration program combined with a developmental skills model for 21st-century skills developed by researchers Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Golinkoff.
And finally, one project taking shape to address communications between families, educators, and researchers is a proposed online communication portal called L_RN (Learning Resource Network). ‘‘L_RN will provide information about the science of learning for topics such as arts, play, stress, homework, and more, plus practical applications and a place for ongoing communication,’’ says Robin Stevens Payes, managing editor of L_RN. Being created through a consortium of institutions including Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Harvard University Mind, Brain, and Education, Temple University’s CiRCLE program, University of Delaware, Families and Work Institute, and Maryland Institute of Art, L_RN will launch in the spring of 2011.
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Families and communities are vital to a child’s achievement. Social science, behavioral, and brain science research are beginning to demonstrate that the ways parents approach the role of the arts at home, after-school and, in summer learning have the potential for a profound influence on their children’s lives. Whether parents and child care providers have 5 min or 5 h to spend engaged with children making things, daydreaming, and imagining, the result demonstrates the benefits. The positive implications of having families and parents more informed about arts and learning are enormous.
These reflections are based on North American culture. The examples shared are mostly from the United States, and of course there are many other cultures with quite different relations to the arts in family life and in schools. Mind, brain and education studies is an international movement and it is important for us to show the richness of the variety of cultures in the arts as well as in the sciences that can inform a global conversation. I hope to continue to identify, collect, and share examples of arts and learning from around the world to better inform practice. I am reminded that I once heard an anthropologist lecture that in some indigenous cultures there is no word for art because art is such an inherent and integral part of everyday life.
No matter where we live, life draws on art in unexpected ways. As no less a rational thinker than Albert Einstein said, ‘‘I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
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