Advocate: If we don't do it, no one will.
I have long advocated and promoted the fact that an education that does not include art is incomplete. Not just because art is "fun," or creative, or helps children express themselves, but that it is necessary for student success.
A recent 2014 STUDY shows that exploring art and making art both help the brain makes more neural connections, but making art showed greater cognitive gains.
Evidence supports the fact that art students are more successful than their non-art involved peers by a significant margin. Students who take art succeed at higher rates than their peers on tests like the SAT, on average, by 100 points. My own students in 2013 scored 155 points higher than their peers, and were 50% more likely to pass the HSPA! (FYI: I use a STEAM approach in my program.)
Art teachers know, when we grid, measure, and draw—we use geometry. When we make sculptures—we use engineering. When we mix colors—we reveal information about physics. When we create illustrations for stories—we learn about literature. When we review the styles of art from da Vinci to Banksy—we teach history. When we write about art—we strengthen these skills. When we create works of art, we solve complex visual problems in creative ways. (See Free Poster Below)
A big portion of the fight is not just educating our students (Which really should be everything) but to also educate our colleagues, administration, and community in terms that THEY understand, terms used outside our subject. Concrete verifiable information they can hang their hat on and become our advocates. As a community of creative persons it can be hard for us to break out and be proactive when we are so overwhelmed already.
When we talk to "outsiders" about how creative, fun, and full of self expression our subject is, those same outsiders hear "frivolous." But if instead we tell them that art is about problem solving, divergent thinking processes, making connections within core subjects like math, science, literature, and that our students score significantly higher on important assessments like the SAT, they "get it."
Another study by Harvard point to students not necessarily understanding the importance of project based learning. This article from Edutopia breaks down Harvard's study and shows that though students believe lecture-based classes "teach more," peers performed 10% better when learning through project-based education.
We must learn to speak the language of "outsiders," who believe what is important can be measured, tested, and rewarded. We continue to do what we have always done, teaching joy.
See this blog post to help advocate for you HERE.
Feel free to maximize and print the posters below. If you want one for your classroom, CLICK here.
More Helpful Links Below Posters.
A recent 2014 STUDY shows that exploring art and making art both help the brain makes more neural connections, but making art showed greater cognitive gains.
Evidence supports the fact that art students are more successful than their non-art involved peers by a significant margin. Students who take art succeed at higher rates than their peers on tests like the SAT, on average, by 100 points. My own students in 2013 scored 155 points higher than their peers, and were 50% more likely to pass the HSPA! (FYI: I use a STEAM approach in my program.)
Art teachers know, when we grid, measure, and draw—we use geometry. When we make sculptures—we use engineering. When we mix colors—we reveal information about physics. When we create illustrations for stories—we learn about literature. When we review the styles of art from da Vinci to Banksy—we teach history. When we write about art—we strengthen these skills. When we create works of art, we solve complex visual problems in creative ways. (See Free Poster Below)
A big portion of the fight is not just educating our students (Which really should be everything) but to also educate our colleagues, administration, and community in terms that THEY understand, terms used outside our subject. Concrete verifiable information they can hang their hat on and become our advocates. As a community of creative persons it can be hard for us to break out and be proactive when we are so overwhelmed already.
When we talk to "outsiders" about how creative, fun, and full of self expression our subject is, those same outsiders hear "frivolous." But if instead we tell them that art is about problem solving, divergent thinking processes, making connections within core subjects like math, science, literature, and that our students score significantly higher on important assessments like the SAT, they "get it."
Another study by Harvard point to students not necessarily understanding the importance of project based learning. This article from Edutopia breaks down Harvard's study and shows that though students believe lecture-based classes "teach more," peers performed 10% better when learning through project-based education.
We must learn to speak the language of "outsiders," who believe what is important can be measured, tested, and rewarded. We continue to do what we have always done, teaching joy.
See this blog post to help advocate for you HERE.
Feel free to maximize and print the posters below. If you want one for your classroom, CLICK here.
More Helpful Links Below Posters.
The Visual Arts- Stronger than Ever by Meagan Hahn on 9 March 2015, Original Prezi HERE.
The Ideal Art Class: The primaries should be self explanatory, though "Core Content" is not about common core. Blue is about math, science, history, literature, writing, cultures, etc., which every project generally has some connection to. (Color mixing = physics, story illustrations = literature, tessellations = geometry)
Orange and purple are where I see many art classes falling into. Purple is more like formula projects, "make and take," with little, if any personal expression. Orange is the artful program with lots of expression but fewer connections to core content. "Art for art's sake," like an open studio. It is how most professional artists work. Both have their advantages.
Green is the one that gave me the most difficulty, but I see it as a good core content class where students need to understand content by personalizing it. like "What % of your body is made up of water, and what weight would that represent?" Or "If you were Alice of Wonderland, how would you respond to __________?" or "Compose a poem about your last vacation." It's internalization of class content for deeper understanding.
The middle section is what I strive for, and when I do, I see some amazing things happen. Students make connections between content areas, explore them with more depth and understanding, and create more meaningful, insightful works of art.
Orange and purple are where I see many art classes falling into. Purple is more like formula projects, "make and take," with little, if any personal expression. Orange is the artful program with lots of expression but fewer connections to core content. "Art for art's sake," like an open studio. It is how most professional artists work. Both have their advantages.
Green is the one that gave me the most difficulty, but I see it as a good core content class where students need to understand content by personalizing it. like "What % of your body is made up of water, and what weight would that represent?" Or "If you were Alice of Wonderland, how would you respond to __________?" or "Compose a poem about your last vacation." It's internalization of class content for deeper understanding.
The middle section is what I strive for, and when I do, I see some amazing things happen. Students make connections between content areas, explore them with more depth and understanding, and create more meaningful, insightful works of art.
Detailed Facts and Figures:
Click sides to page through, click document to see full page version.
SPANISH HERE
Click sides to page through, click document to see full page version.
SPANISH HERE
Free Print Outs - Hand Outs:
Links to studies and PROOF of the necessity of Art Education
Brain Study on the effects of making art
Study that shows art reduces stress and stress hormones
Art Advocacy Website
Why Government Should support the Arts
The Importance of Art Handout
STEAM Education
STEAM Studies - Proof of concept
NAEA Resources and a link here on RESEARCH
Why art education is crucial.
The VALUE of Museum Trips
Why STEAM is better than STEM (Washington post)
More STEAM Resources & Links
STEAM Portal via EducationCloset.com plus the blog's Pinterest Page
Arts Integration Videos: One, Two, and Three.
Poverty's effect on student success
7 Leadership Skills Fostered in Arts Education from Edutopia.org by Stacey Goodman
Arts Ed Resource
Kennedy Center Research
10 Important studies on the importance of arts education
STEAM in ACTION Videos (Youtube playlist. Many videos)
Doctors Improve Practice with an art background
The Arts In Early Childhood
The Kennedy Center: Changing Education Through the Arts
Drawing (Doodling) helps improve recall by 29% according to the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology
Art helps make significant connections in the brain via PLOS One
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology suggested that drawn words were better recalled than written.
Psychology Today: Kinesthetic-sensory qualities of art can potentially enhance self-regulation among individuals of all age groups.
Research conducted by National Center of Biotechnology Information revealed that learning of science can be enhanced when taught in relation with visual arts.
Brain Study on the effects of making art
Study that shows art reduces stress and stress hormones
Art Advocacy Website
Why Government Should support the Arts
The Importance of Art Handout
STEAM Education
STEAM Studies - Proof of concept
NAEA Resources and a link here on RESEARCH
Why art education is crucial.
The VALUE of Museum Trips
Why STEAM is better than STEM (Washington post)
More STEAM Resources & Links
STEAM Portal via EducationCloset.com plus the blog's Pinterest Page
Arts Integration Videos: One, Two, and Three.
Poverty's effect on student success
7 Leadership Skills Fostered in Arts Education from Edutopia.org by Stacey Goodman
Arts Ed Resource
Kennedy Center Research
10 Important studies on the importance of arts education
STEAM in ACTION Videos (Youtube playlist. Many videos)
Doctors Improve Practice with an art background
The Arts In Early Childhood
The Kennedy Center: Changing Education Through the Arts
Drawing (Doodling) helps improve recall by 29% according to the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology
Art helps make significant connections in the brain via PLOS One
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology suggested that drawn words were better recalled than written.
Psychology Today: Kinesthetic-sensory qualities of art can potentially enhance self-regulation among individuals of all age groups.
Research conducted by National Center of Biotechnology Information revealed that learning of science can be enhanced when taught in relation with visual arts.
Feel free to print, laminate, post, and share, but please keep the attribution.
Clicking image will take you to Nitin Kaku's article on the topic.
Like my lessons and resources? Generate your own complete, standards-aligned lesson plan in minutes with the ArtEdGuru Lesson Generator — built on 40 years of real classroom experience. Free to try.
Try the ArtEdGuru Lesson Generator app.artedguru.com
Try the ArtEdGuru Lesson Generator app.artedguru.com