Art-making behavior: why and how arts education is central to learning.

Art making is a behavior that is peculiar to the human species. No one seriously believes that apes and elephants that have been conditioned to daub paint on paper or canvas do so for any reason other than to be rewarded with food or (depending on the animal!) petting. Only humans, Homo sapiens, make things just for their own sake and for the pleasure that comes with the making.

Moreover, archaeological evidence appears to support the thesis that Homo erectus, our forebear who emerged sometime between 1.5 and 1.9 million years ago, exercised modern operational modes of ...

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