Curriculum

Arts Education Report: Opinions on ‘Inspired Learning’

By Liana Loewus — December 15, 2014 1 min read
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In case you missed it, our stellar Commentary team recently released a package of stories on the many facets of K-12 arts education. The stories cover arts integration, poetry, and research, and the artwork woven throughout is quite stunning.

In “STEM + Art: A Brilliant Combination,” an arts education officer in Maryland describes how teaching art across the disciplines can help a school come alive—as well as improve student achievement.

A piece by arts researcher Jay P. Greene, whose study on the impact of live theater I covered here, and his colleagues discusses the importance of rigorously measuring the effects of art and cultural experiences on students. Attempts to link the arts to improved math and reading scores are futile, they say, and should not be the focus of arts education research.

In another piece, a veteran educator writes that “art for art’s sake” and “arts integration” both get it wrong. What’s needed is “art for children’s sake.”

Also, make sure to check out this video about a school in St. Paul using dance, puppetry, and art to help students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing find new ways to communicate.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.