Do Arts Training Matter in School?
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Yes, says jensenlearning.com. Arts training changes the brain physically in ways that enhance academic and social performance of students, according to the writer. This might surprise people who believe that arts affect only one’s emotions.
Arts should be considered a stand-alone discipline on its own that can contribute to the goals we seek through teaching, viz. brain functioning in ways that are academically and socially useful. Arts training changes the brain in ways that other disciplines do not do.
As things stand now, teachers are likely to be overwhelmed with the variety of suggested teaching strategies. Choosing among the strategies becomes a hit or miss affair with no certainty of successful results. This situation, together with the pressure to produce better results, can lead to teacher burnout.
The author of the post advocates focusing on fewer things, on things that have demonstrated their effectiveness. Arts have proven their effectiveness in improving attentional and cognitive skills. Dana Foundation had funded a study to discover the effect of arts on the brain and the resultant findings showed that music enhances cognition, for example.
The brain is plastic, a constantly changing thing. And arts training changes in desirable ways. The article titled Musical training shapes structural brain development in The Journal of Neuroscience provides peer-reviewed evidence.
Read the post at jensenlearning.com
Tags: arts training, cognitive functioning, cognitive science, education, learning, social skills
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Play Helps Children’s Cognitive Development
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Uninterrupted and unstructured playtime helps children in many ways. During play, children learn about their surroundings, focus on specific tasks and develop their motor skills, visual tracking and hand-eye coordination.
Cooperative play helps children listen, work with others and learn to negotiate. They learn to think creatively, solve problems and make decisions. Indeed, the social skills they learn at this stage can help them throughout life.
Children does not need expensive playthings. Just provide them safe play spaces where they can interact freely with materials. Childern can find creative ways to work with common things like spoons, blankets, boxes and bowls.
Children who are allowed adequate playtime tend to develop into adults who are more knowledgeable about the world and are flexible in their thinking. Children who are not allowed to play tend to become uncooperative and mistrustful, which can cause problems in social dealings. Play is far from “childish”; it is an essential element of growing up into a healthy adult.
The overall result is that adquate playtime helps children to build stronger brains that will help them throughout their lives. See the Center for Urban Child Policy blog post.
Tags: children, cognitive development, motor skills, play, social skills
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