How Does Arts Education Weigh In on the Academic Scale?

MORE REASON TO SUPPORT THE ARTS!  The facts for this info graphic were provided by an article that appeared in the Educational Researcher, the official journal of the American Educational Research Association.  The study, “A Nonverbal Language for Imagining and Learning: Dance Education in K–12 Curriculum,” was conducted by JUDITH LYNNE HANNA, a senior research scholar in the Department of Dance and an affiliate in the Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland.  While most people think of recreation, performance, play, and physical exercise, Hanna begins her study by establishing dance as an academic discipline.

She compares the communication of verbal and written language with the non-verbal communication of dance, movement, and body language.  She studies the impact of dance on the brain drawing conclusions such as, “Physical activity sparks biological changes that encourage brain cells to bind to one another, which reflects the brain’s fundamental ability to adapt to challenges,” therefore, “Extended and/or deep learning in dance thus affects how well the brain processes other tasks.”

She relates the memory and knowledge required to learn dance choreography and patterns with the knowledge required to learn a set pattern that involves analogical and spatial abilities like that required in some mathematical equations.  Her most explicit findings in the study support the idea that participation in dance can increase academic achievement and improve brain function.

Hanna’s study is available for free on certain college campuses and locations in the online version of the Educational Researcher here.

Enriching Lives with Music Education

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MORE REASON TO SUPPORT THE ARTS.  A Research study sponsored by Americans for the Arts surveyed 260 twelfth grade students who participated in the some form of music education and instruction and 500 students who did not participate in the arts at all. The study compared these student’s test levels in mathematics proficiency.  The research results support the consistent argument that a correlative relationship exists between learning music and learning mathematics.

Hope Academy: Where Pittsburgh youth can explore their interest in the arts

Hope Academy Website Logo. Click to visit the Website!

The children at Hope Academy of Music and the Arts seemed so exuberant and energetic as entered the room and told their parents about all the things they did in class that day.  The East Liberty Presbyterian Church founded the after school and weekend program in 1999 to offer a safe and affordable place for young people of diverse ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds to further their personal and artistic growth through the study and performance of music and the arts.  Visiting on a Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to talk to and observe parents and children who participate in the program and get their opinions on arts education.

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Chris Gardner’s son Sam has attended Hope Academy for the past 5 years, starting off as a private music student, but soon discovered his talent and interest in theater.  “Through theater, Sam has learned so much more about writing and reading, than he has without the arts.  The number of kids here [at Hope Academy] that love Shakespeare, who understand it, who get it–I mean I was an adult before I had any real appreciation for Shakespeare,” said Chris.  Sam loves theater and now attends the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School. Chris credits Sam’s experiences and training in the arts at Hope Academy.  She supports her son in any career path that he decides to take.

Whether he wants to become, an actor, musician, lawyer, or doctor–whatever her son wants to be, Chris believes that with his strong background in the arts, he will succeed.  “My son loves being on stage, but he may never be on stage as an adult.  But, he’ll be comfortable speaking in front of a group of doctors, or lawyers, or whoever he decides.”

Hope Academy continues to serve the arts to children with the help of tuition and private funding.  Students can participate in music, dance, theater, and visual art.  Students get opportunities to perform display the skills they gain from their classes at Hope to the public. They perform songs, plays, and music on stage in front of public audiences.  Below is an example of work created by Hope Academy students.

“It definitely helped me grow because before Hope Academy, I didn’t really have friends, I didn’t really want to go outside, but the people here kind of broke be out of it even if I didn’t want to, but now I’m glad that that happened,” said Meme Thomas, a student at Hope Academy.  Pittsburgh youth benefit from arts education, growing both socially and artistically, with their participation with Hope Academy of Music and Arts.

View my Audio Essay post on the Importance of Arts education to hear more from Chris and other parents, Meme and other students, as well as teachers from Hope Academy!

Vans see the Importance of Arts Education in American Culture in National Contest for $50,000 to Support Arts Education

Click here to read the article on PRNewswire

Arts Ed Quote of the Day

Creative Commons Background Image from flickr

Encourage your child’s imagination by advocating for Arts Education! Invite creativity into the classroom…

Students of Starting Artists, Inc. inform us that “Art Is… EVERYWHERE!!!”

Art is… everything and everywhere! So… Why not invite it into the classroom? Support Funding for arts education

While perusing through the American’s for the Arts website, I stumbled upon this very impressive video.  It not only contributes to the argument supporting arts education with it’s strong statement that “Arts is… EVERYWHERE”, but the video itself is a product of a successful arts education system.  With some assistance from teachers and program interns, students from Starting Artists, Inc., created this “Why Art Matters” video.

Banner for Starting Artists website

Starting Artists (SA) is an arts program located in Brooklyn, NY.  The program targets under-served middle and high school youth through hands-on training in the arts and entrepreneurship.  The program’s efforts include, “after-school classes in media arts and business prepare and inspire teenagers to create arts-based enterprises.” At starting artists, students can exercise their interests in the arts or learn of an interest they never knew they had.

With the prompt, “Arts is…,” students answered with the words you see in the video like, LOUD, SCIENCE, INSPIRATION, and WONDER.  They chose snap shots taken in New York City to compliment their words.  The great music for the video was made by a Starting Artists intern.  A young group of inner city students could see why art is such an intrinsic part of our culture–It is literally EVERYWHERE.

Why can’t our government officials see this same thing? The video exemplifies how a little guidance through arts education can lead students to explore their talents, increase their understanding of the world around them, and create beautiful works of arts.  A child can gain this understanding through, visual, musical, and performing arts. Learn more about Starting Artists, Inc., here.

Click Here, to see more videos posted by American’s for the Arts.

Go to our Get Involved page to see how you can contribute to Starting Artists!

The Mathematician and the Musician Share a Common Knowledge

Background Image from creative commons Flickr.com user Photosteve101

“The things that move you mentally and emotionally aren’t just simple algorithms on a page,” said Ashley Burt, a teaching assistant at the Hope Academy Music and the Arts Program in Pittsburgh, on the importance of arts education.  Music has the power to move you mentally and emotionally and by definition, falls under the category of arts education.

History and research have both long shown relationships and correlations between math and music. The ancient Greek Pythagoreans considered music one of the four branches of mathematics. The knowledge necessary to understand the patterns and rhythms in music seem to mirror the knowledge necessary to practice mathematics.  Some research suggests a correlation between participation in music and academic language, specifically in mathematics.  Therefore, every time states cut the budget for arts education in public schools, they cut a students access to music education, a subject that could contribute to their understanding of mathematics.

A research study sponsored by American’s for the Arts and performed by Dr. James S. Catterall surveyed approximately 1,500 students of low socioeconomic status from the NELS sample, 21.1% of eighth grade students scored at the highest scale of the mathematics proficiency scale as compared to the 10% out of 1,216 of there peers who had no music training. The study based its hypothesis on the idea that “Learning to read music and to associate musical notation with abstract concepts of time, rhythm, and pitch,” are skills necessary to play an instrument and also involve forms of math and reasoning.

Through music education, students gain an understanding of pitch and rhythm, which both call for an understanding of the fractional breakdown of musical notes and beats.  Including music education in the school curriculum would not only provide students the opportunity to experience and express their creativity, but it also has a clear relationship to the understanding of mathematics. (Learn more about the positive effects of Arts Education in my white paper on “The Role of Arts Education in the Youth Development: The Contribution of the Arts to Academic and Social Achievement.”