Why Keep Art in P-5 Schools?

By: Stephanie Flynn

Who are these children?Do you know recognize these faces?These are your sons……your daughters……your nephews……and your nieces.These are the children that will define our future,and we need to invest in their brillianceby providing them with opportunitiesand skills to succeed in life - Opportunities and skills that come from The Creative Process of Art

Intelligence and thinking ability are far more complex than what we choose to measure on standardized tests.

Intelligence and thinking ability are directly affected by environmental factors.

Art provides a creative and stimulating environment for the development of crucial life skills.

Humans have an innate urge to want to create.

What We Already Know

Enriching EnvironmentsMarian Diamond discovered that placing rats in

enriched environments caused them to have bigger brains that allowed them to process information better and faster. They solved puzzles and ran mazes more efficiently and quickly than those in non-enriched environments.

David Snowdon discovered the same thing, but in humans. In studying the Mankato Nuns, he found that those who led active, creative, and mentally stimulating lives had more cortex, more neural branching, more synapses, and more acetylcholine in their brains.

Therefore, people raised in enriched and creative environments have more brain development and higher intelligence levels.

What does this research have to do with art?The World English Dictionary defines art as,

“the exercise of human skill through creative means.”

Art encourages cognitive development through problem posing and creative problem solving.

Children gain visual-spatial abilities, reflection, self-criticism, and the willingness to experiment and learn from mistakes

By exercising these skills, Art becomes a way to enrich a child’s environment causing them to extend their brains into higher orders of thinking while gaining important life skills.

How does art encourage life skills?Zurmuehlen defined the art-making process in three

steps: Praxis, Symbol, and Presence. During this process the acts of “doing” and “making”

occur. “Doing” refers to repetitive action while “making” refers to a realized intention.

Another process of converting unreflective thought to reflective occurs.

Through art, children continually “do” processes over and over just discovering until they consciously shift to intending or “making.” Realizations occur, then more “doing,” and re-intention takes place.

Children continually go through the cycle learning to experiment and self-reflect which are two key skills.

Doing vs. Making/Unreflective to Reflective

The drawing on the left is an example of doing. Allison experimented with line by scribbling lines on her paper over and over.

The drawing on the right shows how she reflected on this action and began intentionally to make a form out of line.

Experimentation helped her to build off of prior knowledge enabling her to expand her actions into higher ordered thought.

Kellogg and Lowenfeld also conducted research on child development through art

Both theories advance through a cycle of scribbling, preschematics, schematics, and realism.

Lowenfeld says, “It is not the adult’s answer but the child’s striving to her own answer that is crucial.”

Throughout the cycle fine motor skills are refined in scribbling. Problem-solving skills develop as compositional problems are solved. A relationship to the outside world develops in the preschematic and schematic stages. Communication skills develop in the realistic stage.

How does art encourage life skills?

Problem-Solving and Communication In the drawing on the left, Devon solved the problem of balancing

out the large cat, by adding several baby cats into the composition.

In the drawing on the right, Devon solved the issue of conveying receding space by utilizing several baselines in his drawing.

Devon has demonstrated deep problem-posing and problem-solving capabilities in both of his drawings.

In both drawings, he draws an object or idea from his environment, showing his developing communication and visual-spatial skills.

Other DisciplinesThe skills acquired from art, translate into other areas of

study like math and English.Advanced problem-solving techniques and communication

skills garnered in art disciplines easily transfer.The SAT scores listed below show the correlation between

more art classes and higher achievement in other disciplines.

Where do I fit into this? I am both an Art Major and a Mathematics Major .My own SAT scores went above and beyond the graphs listed.

550 in Verbal/Critical Reading660 in Mathematics560 in Writing

Math made sense when I approached it with my problem-solving skills from art.

My speech skills improved in English when I used my communication skills from art.

So what are we teaching our children?Reporters Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland for

the Boston Globe noted, “As schools increasingly shape their classes to produce high test scores, many life skills not measured by tests just don't get taught…Art classes might help fill the gap by encouraging different kinds of thinking”

Art needs to stay in K-5 SchoolsArt provides a creative and stimulating

environment for the development of crucial life skillsArt encourages cognitive development through

problem posing and creative problem solving.Children gain visual-spatial abilities, reflection,

self-criticism, and the willingness to experiment and learn from mistakes.

Art gives confidence and provides children with communication tools.

The skills acquired from art, translate into other areas of study and increase achievement in these areas.

BibliographyKellogg, R. (1967). Child Art collection. Washington D.C.,

NCR Microcard Editions.  Lowenfeld, V.. (1987). Creative and Mental Growth.

Summary pp. 470 -479 New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Ruppert, S.. (2006, Month. Day ). In Critical Evidence:

How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement. Retrieved Mar. 19, 2011, from http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Research/Key-Topics/Arts-Education/critical-evidence.pdf

 Winner, E, and L. Hetland. (2007, Sep 2 ). Art for Our Sake. The Boston Globe

 Zurmuehlen, M. (1990). Studio Art: Praxis, Symbol, Presence. Reston, VA: The National Education Association.