Benefits of art and music education

Childhood Education, Fall 1999 by Cesarone, Bernard

This column summarizes recent ERIC documents and journal articles that discuss the benefits of art and music education to children's development and academic achievement. For details about ERIC and ordering ERIC documents, please see the information following these abstracts.

ERIC Documents

ED423173

BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH VISUAL ART: A Curriculum for Middle School Girls. Ann Emerson. 1994. 58 pp. (available from EDRS, and from the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Center for Independent School Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, Box 125, New York, NY, 10027). This document describes a project to help students develop self-esteem and resilience through the medium of visual art. The art studio's relaxed and open atmosphere lends itself to experimentation with ideas and selfdiscovery. The paper describes the course's themes and learning activities. An evaluation proposal, bibliography, and suggested integrated reading list conclude the paper.

ED419761

ELOQUENT EVIDENCE: Arts at the Core of Learning. President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities; National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC. 1996. 18 pp. This booklet examines research related to cognitive learning and the arts, while making the case that the arts can help student learning in all aspects of life. Student engagement and persistence improve with an arts-based curriculum;high-risk students particularly benefit. The arts foster an understanding of people and other cultures, and can prepare students for finding jobs. The booklet concludes with a listing of resources for educators and parents.

ED413436

EDUCATING FOR THE WORKPLACE THROUGH THE ARTS.

Getty Education Institute for the Arts, Los Angeles, CA. 1996. 37 pp. More and more business leaders are realizing that arts education helps to prepare young people for the workplace, acknowledging that arts education develops collaborative skills, technological competencies, flexible thinking, and an appreciation for diversity. Aside from its specific content, arts education contributes to the quality of education overall and fosters critical thinking skills, develops valuable work force skills, builds values that connect children to themselves and to their cultures, and produces citizens and workers who are comfortable using many different symbol systems (verbal, mathematical, visual, auditory).

ED404221

ART AND THINKING SKILLS. Sharon McCoubrey. BCATA Journal for Art Teachers, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Spring 1994). 46 pp. (available from EDRS and from BCATA, Provincial Specialist Association of the BCTF, 105-2235 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6J3H9, Canada). This theme issue reviews and confirms the connection between thinking skills and art education. Articles offer possible teaching approaches and specific lesson plans that deal with thinking skills.

ED398170

THE LINK BETWEEN ART AND MATHEMATICS. Andi Stix. 1995. 16 pp. This paper argues that a relationship exists between visualization and mathematical problemsolving ability. Research suggests that visual imagery leads to increased understanding of mathematical concepts at both the primary and secondary levels. By accepting art's place in the realm of mathematics, teachers can boost students' mathematical potential.

ERIC Journal Articles

EJ562557

THE UNTAPPED POWER OF MUSIC: Its Role in the Curriculum and Its Effect on Academic Achievement. Joyce M. Kestrom. NASSP Bulletin, Vol. 82, No. 597 (April 1998): 34-43. Current research reveals the value of music study and its relationship to academic achievement. Educators can use music instruction to promote academic achievement and mental discipline.

EJ560917

KIDS AND ART: Learning Through the Senses. Diann Berry. Principal, Vol. 77, No. 4 (March 1998): 28, 30, 32, 34. Research from the Kaleidoscope Preschool Arts Enrichment Program, developed by Philadelphia's Settlement Music School, shows that the arts prepare children for further learning. The program provides young inner-city children with full-day instruction three or four times weekly in visual arts, music, dance, and drama. Students showed more significant skills improvement than did those in a matched control group.

EJ558894

TRANSFERRING INDIVIDUAL SELF-REGULATION PROCESS FROM ARTS TO ACADEMICS. Susan Baum, Steven Owen, & Barry Oreck. Arts Education Policy Review, Vol. 98, No. 4 (March-April 1997): 3239. This article maintains that the mechanisms and learning strategies through which students learn the arts can be adapted into models of instruction for other subjects. The article also notes the many instances where students, particularly highrisk students, do well in arts education classes yet suffer when confined to learning through a more traditional curriculum.

EJ554625

WHY TEACH MUSIC AT SCHOOL? Constantijn Koopman. Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 22, No. 4 (December 1996): 483-494. This article examines three arguments supporting music education in the schools: 1) music education is vital to individual development, 2) musical experience involves a special kind of knowledge, and 3) the richness of musical experience justifies itself. The third argument, says the author, is the strongest one in support of building a consensus for music educators.