| Art
and Education: the Links are Critical
By
Tom Kertes
According
to Critical Links, a compendium of 62 research studies
and interpretive essays published by the Art Education Partnership
(AEP), arts in education enhance a student’s ability to learn
and think.
The study, which carefully reviews various forms of art including
dance, music, multi-arts, drama, and visual arts “reveals a very
strong interrelationship between learning and the arts,” said
Richard J. Deasey, the Director of AEP. “And this interrelation
turned out to be two-fold: art education helped students in their
thinking skills, in learning other material – mathematics, languages,
etc,—that is totally independent from the arts. And it also helped
students forge more positive social and interactive skills. It
became clear through the studies that students participating in
the arts became better motivated both toward learning and toward
acquiring more positive social interactions and attitude.”
“Students
studying and performing drama, for instance, became far more socially
tolerant,” added Deasey. “There was the teamwork aspect to this,
of course. But the drama also became a bridge to whatever gaps
existed socially; it served to teach the kids to tolerate and
enjoy their differences.”
According to Deasay, “Economically disadvantaged students appeared
to have a particular enjoyment of the arts and used the art-forms
as a form of expression not previously available to them.” “Special
ed students, who had trouble with social engagement in the classroom
previously, found another avenue to express themselves. In both
instances, the arts somehow served to lower the social barriers.”
Perhaps the most dramatic results concern younger students, especially
those in pre-K and grade school. Art instruction appeared to enhance
a young child’s ability to “break the phonetic code” that unlocks
written language by associating letters, words, and phrases with
sounds, sentences, and meanings. Young children who engaged in
dramatic enactments of stories also improved their reading comprehension
and ability to read materials that they have not seen before.
Critical Links also makes several recommendations regarding
the future of arts education research, which includes studies
that track students over a period of time and examine the impact
of the arts on a child’s ability to learn; studies that clarify
the nature of learning in the arts forms and the appropriate methods
for assessing that learning; and studies that determine the optimum
contexts and conditions for learning in the arts and the enabling
school policies, practices, and resources.#
For
a copy of the report visit http://aep-arts.org.
Education
Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001.
Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919.Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express
consent of the publisher. © 2002.
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