The Effect of Fine Arts Instruction on Cognitive Development
Does participating in the fine arts really improve a students’ intelligence? Many researchers have conducted tests to see if music instruction has an effect. “The arts traditionally have been valued as enriching a person’s life, but new research has found that music and art also stimulate brain development and enhance cognitive development” (Ferguson, 2000, para. 1-2). Cognitive is defined as relating to, being, or involving intellectual activity (Merriam-Webster, 2003). Studies on cognitive development are about student intelligence developing and improving. Numerous research studies and tests have been conducted which have shown a positive correlation between fine arts instruction and education and cognitive development in children.
Positive test results have shown that this is true. Different findings have suggested that “different types of music instruction affect different aspects of cognition” (Rauscher, 2003, pp. 3-4). Rauscher found effects from a number of research studies, connecting keyboard instruction and aspects of cognition. In one of these tests, the preschoolers that were tested showed a 46 percent boost in their spatial IQ after taking eight months of keyboard lessons (Rauscher, 2003). Another test showed students scoring 51 points higher on verbal and 39 points higher on math from their SATs after participating in fine arts (Mitofsky, 2002). Scientific studies have shown how active music making, as opposed to passive listening improves brainpower. This increases spatial-temporal reasoning, and increases test scores (AMC, 2004).
Rauscher’s examples from research studies on keyboard instruction show how results are more effective...
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The OMA is a program designed to help keep fine arts alive and improve students’ intelligences through fine arts. It talks about how we can not afford to not have the fine arts.
Waggoner, T. (1999). The center for educator development in fine arts. Retrieved October 12, 2004 from http://finearts.esc20.net/default.html.
The Center for Educator Development in Fine Arts is designed to help fine art educators develop new and better ways of teaching. It describes useful technology, curriculums and ideas.
Vandewarker, A. S. Music in technology. Retrieved October 20, 2004 from http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/bstpract/bstpractNew/FineArtsEL.html
This is a music lesson plan designed to incorporate technology into music. The idea is to let students learn about their favorite music while learning about today’s technology.
Holcomb, Sabrina. "Arts Education." Rss. National Education Association, 17 Jan. 2007. Web. 10 May 2016.
One thing that many people do not appreciate is how beneficial fine arts can be to academic success. All fine arts ...
Efland, A. (1990). A history of art education: Intellectual and social currents in teaching the
According to the National Art Education Association’s goals for schools, “all elementary schools shall require students to complete a sequential program of art instruction that integrates the study of art production, aesthetics, art criticism, and art history,” (Clark, 1987). Elementary schools are having difficulty because they are cutting back on the fine arts programming and many non-specialist classroom teachers are expected to integrate the fine arts into their daily curriculum. Most of these teachers feel inadequate and uncomfortable when teaching these subjects. The children are receiving inadequate lessons in art education. All elementary schools should expand their curriculum to include the fine arts as subjects, and licensed specialists should teach these subjects.
Each year, 10 billion animals, not including fish, are raised and killed each year for food, but did you know that an overwhelming 99% of them are raised and killed on factory farms? A factory farm is a place where animals are packed into spaces so tight that they can hardly move. They are forced into cages so small that the animals can’t even turn around. Many of these animals have no access to the outdoors and they spend most of their lives in cages or pens. This type of treatment can cause severe and mental distress. Many would agree that this type of treatment is animal cruelty, but why are there so few laws to protect these animals? Every year, animals raised for meat, dairy and egg industries are among the most abused in the United States. Many of the abusive tactics used on farm animals would be illegal to do to dogs or cats. These farm animals are inhumanly slaughtered, tortured and killed. In some cases before these animals get to the slaughter house they suffer brutally cruel treatment that has been legal for the most part. One of these practices is of shoving a pipe down the throat of a duck or goose to force feed the animal several times a day. One example of the abuse that goes on inside these factory farms is a practice called 'debeaking'. It is a process that involves cutting or burning through bone, cartilage and soft tissue to remove the upper beak of chickens, turkeys, and ducks. These animals are not even given anesthetics. These farm animals are also deprived of exercise so that all their bodies’ energy goes toward producing flesh, eggs, or milk for human consumption, fed drugs to fatten them and keep them alive in conditions that w...
...hrisen adds that those inborn capacities need to be reinforced, practiced, celebrated, which can be done at home or in a more formal music education setting. Research has found that learning music facilitates learning other subjects and enhances skills that children inevitably use in other areas. The students in the study who received music instruction had improved sound discrimination and fine motor tasks, and brain imaging showed changes to the networks in the brain associated with those abilities, according to the Dana Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports brain research.
Fine arts classes benefit students and schools alike. Fine arts are needed courses, not just as electives but as core classes that promote learning and creativity in the lives of students. There are three different styles of learning: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Fine art provides an avenue for all of these learning styles to be utilized during one class period; therefore, all students are able to understand and benefit from the curriculum. In a normal academic setting all types of learning may not be used, so a percentage of the classroom will not understand the lessons as well as it could have if it had arts incorporated into the class. It may seem impossible to include arts into an academic setting, but it is possible, effective, and fun. According to Barry Oreck, it has been proven that students learning molecular bonding through a dance had a more proficient understanding of the concept. He states, “We have found that if you learn something through a theater game, you can still answer a test question” (new horizons Dickerson 3). This statement proves that arts are extremely important and beneficial. With fine arts, students have a safe environment to express themselves, a motivation to stay in school, and higher test scores. The fact that fine arts are needed is evident, but will schools respond or live in denial?
“Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.” This is the opening statement of “The Value and Quality of Arts Education: A Statement of Principles,” a document from the nation’s ten most important educational organizations. The basic message is that music and art programs in the schools help our kids and communities in real and substantial ways. There is an abundant amount of facts and information that supports this statement. The benefits of arts education can be narrowed down into 4 basic categories: success in developing intelligence, success in ...
The EU consists of 28 countries which collaborate in economic, political, cultural and environmental field. Despite the fact that the top news about the EU actions is connected mostly about economic and politics, environment and climate changes are also important topics to the EU. Because of the size of the EU, the EU leaders have broad acres to look after and to control climate changes there. The EU policy on climate changes is very structured, because of its targets, collaborations with other world’s countries and with researchers who are specialists in field of climate changes.
Art and its education are crucial in the development of young children. Therefore, it is of the upmost importance to ensure that our young children are being taught about art and its education in order for them to be successful contributing members of society. June Vail, a professor of dance at Bowdoin College explains, “The arts bring energy and creativity, a kind of learning that can only enhance every other kind of learning. (Vail).” She continues by saying that, “The enterprise of a liberal arts education is integrative, to educate students to be creative and flexible, to harness their energy in a different way (Vail).” Art begins to lay the foundation of success early for young children by developing their motor skills through paining with a paintbrush and drawing with crayons. Furthermore, it also helps promote language development by learning new shapes, colors, and allows them to describe their artistic creation. Lastly, it also helps children improve academically. A report that was done by the Americans for the Arts demonstrates that young people who participated regularly in the arts are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, participate in a math or science fair, or win an award for writing an essay as opposed to students who do not participate in the arts (PBS). As a result of this, it is imperative to ensure that adolescent children of today begin
"Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best." Edutopia. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2014.
The European Union’s environmental policy is vast and complicated. It applies to every country under the Union’s domain and its criteria must be met for any state wishing to seek membership. The European Union was not the original forerunner in environmental politics; in fact, the United States “took on a leadership role in preparations for the 1972 United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment” (Kelemen 2009). However, in the 1970s (1973 to be specific) as the US pulled away from being the environmental leader the EU emerged with it’s seven ‘Environmental Action Plans’ (EAP) (Pearce 1998). The original aim of environmental policy was very traditional, focusing on protecting species and improving the quality of life but today the underlying aim of the policy “is to enhance natural capital, provide a resource-efficient economy and safeguard people’s health” (European Commission 2013). I will first open with a brief history of the environmental policy, followed by its success and failures using concrete examples and conclude with alterations or alternatives to the policy in order to make it more successful across the European Union.
This paper is divided into three parts and underlines the key information provided in the respective chapter related to the development of environmental regimes. First, it introduces and summarizes the processes involved in the development of GERs. Second, it briefly illustrates these processes to two case studies provided by the authors; ozone depletion and climate change. Finally, the paper ends with a brief personal reaction, also based on readings from Conca and Debelko’s Institutions of Global Environmental Governance, to add perspective to the final analysis.
Staff Writers. "10 Salient Studies on the Arts in Education." Online Colleges. 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. .
This chapter argues that “the study of environmental policy lends its self to contribute to several larger debates on the dynamics in EU policy making and the nature of the EU polity.” And also this Chapter is structured into three parts, “the literature review of ‘the emergence of the policy and highlight the turn from integration of domestic theories’, ‘environmental policy performance’, identifying three different perspectives that have been adopted in the literature ‘investigating the level of regulation’, ‘implementation, and effectiveness’”. Finally, “it establishes the link between environmental policy making and the more general process of a European polity making”. First, the emergence and expansion of the policy, moving from ‘”niches to center stage’”, these are directives which were adopted to deal with “dangerous substances, noise and exhaust emission of motor vehicle”. The EU environmental policy spread the idea of covering all environmental media (air, water, soil) and major problem areas (waste, dangerous substances/ chemicals, nature protection). Organized interests, environmental interest groups are shaping the policy agenda in “Brussels perspective” and influence the decision-making process, by using a mix of strategies ranging from ‘political pressure and campaigns for the provision of policy advice and information’. The im...