The Importance of Art in Child Development

By Grace Hwang Lynch

In recent years, school curricula in the United States have shifted heavily toward common
core subjects of reading and math, but what about the arts? Although some may regard art
education as a luxury, simple creative activities are some of the building blocks of child
development. Learning to create and appreciate visual aesthetics may be more important
than ever to the development of the next generation of children as they grow up.
Developmental Benefits of Art

Motor Skills:
Many of the motions involved in making art, such as holding a paintbrush or scribbling with
a crayon, are essential to the growth of fine motor skills in young children. According to the
National Institutes of Health, developmental milestones around age three should include
drawing a circle and beginning to use safety scissors. Around age four, children may be able
to draw a square and begin cutting straight lines with scissors. Many preschool programs
emphasize the use of scissors because it develops the dexterity children will need for
writing.

Language Development
For very young children, making artor just talking about itprovides opportunities to
learn words for colors, shapes and actions. When toddlers are as young as a year old,
parents can do simple activities such as crumpling up paper and calling it a ball. By
elementary school, students can use descriptive words to discuss their own creations or to
talk about what feelings are elicited when they see different styles of artwork.

Decision Making
According to a report by Americans for the Arts, art education strengthens problem-solving
and critical-thinking skills. The experience of making decisions and choices in the course of
creating art carries over into other parts of life. If they are exploring and thinking and
experimenting and trying new ideas, then creativity has a chance to blossom, says
MaryAnn Kohl, an arts educator and author of numerous books about childrens art
education.

Visual Learning
Drawing, sculpting with clay and threading beads on a string all develop visual-spatial skills,
which are more important than ever. Even toddlers know how to operate a smart phone or
tablet, which means that even before they can read, kids are taking in visual information.
This information consists of cues that we get from pictures or three-dimensional objects
from digital media, books and television.
Parents need to be aware that children learn a lot more from graphic sources now than in
the past, says Dr. Kerry Freedman, Head of Art and Design Education at Northern Illinois
University. Children need to know more about the world than just what they can learn
through text and numbers. Art education teaches students how to interpret, criticize, and
use visual information, and how to make choices based on it. Knowledge about the visual
arts, such as graphic symbolism, is especially important in helping kids become smart
consumers and navigate a world filled with marketing logos.
Inventiveness
When kids are encouraged to express themselves and take risks in creating art, they develop
a sense of innovation that will be important in their adult lives. The kind of people society
needs to make it move forward are thinking, inventive people who seek new ways and
improvements, not people who can only follow directions, says Kohl. Art is a way to
encourage the process and the experience of thinking and making things better!

Cultural Awareness
As we live in an increasingly diverse society, the images of different groups in the media may
also present mixed messages. If a child is playing with a toy that suggests a racist or sexist
meaning, part of that meaning develops because of the aesthetics of the toythe color,
shape, texture of the hair, says Freedman. Teaching children to recognize the choices an
artist or designer makes in portraying a subject helps kids understand the concept that what
they see may be someones interpretation of reality.

Improved Academic Performance
Studies show that there is a correlation between art and other achievement. A report by
Americans for the Arts states that young people who participate regularly in the arts (three
hours a day on three days each week through one full year) are four times more likely to be
recognized for academic achievement, to participate in a math and science fair or to win an
award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not participate.
Dalam talian : http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-importance-of-art-in-
child-development/ diakses pada 2 September 2013






The Importance of Fine Arts Education
By Bob Bryant
Education in the arts is an integral part of the development of each human being. Those
who have studied learning processes throughout the ages, beginning with Plato, have
emphasized the importance of the arts in the education process. Arts education refers to
education in the disciplines of music, dance, theatre, and visual arts. Study in the arts is
integral to our society. They are a part of the cultural heritage of every American. The arts
are what make us most human, most complete as people. The arts cannot be learned
through occasional or random exposure any more than math or science can. Education and
engagement in the fine arts are an essential part of the school curriculum and an important
component in the educational program of every student in Katy ISD.
Sufficient data exists to overwhelmingly support the belief that study and participation in
the fine arts is a key component in improving learning throughout all academic areas.
Evidence of its effectiveness in reducing student dropout, raising student attendance,
developing better team players, fostering a love for learning, improving greater student
dignity, enhancing student creativity, and producing a more prepared citizen for the
workplace for tomorrow can be found documented in studies held in many varied settings,
from school campuses, to corporate America.
Evidence from brain research is only one of many reasons education and engagement in fine
arts is beneficial to the educational process. The arts develop neural systems that produce a
broad spectrum of benefits ranging from fine motor skills to creativity and improved
emotional balance. One must realize that these systems often take months and even years
to fine-tune. In a study conducted by Judith Burton, Columbia University, research
evidenced that subjects such as mathematics, science, and language require complex
cognitive and creative capacities typical of arts learning (Burton, Horowitz, & Abeles,
1999). The arts enhance the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include
our integrated sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities, are, in fact,
the driving forces behind all other learning (Jensen, 2001).
The fine arts also provide learners with non-academic benefits such as promoting self-
esteem, motivation, aesthetic awareness, cultural exposure, creativity, improved emotional
expression, as well as social harmony and appreciation of diversity. These are the very fibers
of the fabric known as our American culture.
The following are findings reported in Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on
Learning (Fiske, 1999) that should be noted by every parent, teacher, and administrator:
The arts reach students not normally reached, in ways and methods not normally
used. (This leads to better student attendance and lower dropout rates.)
It changes the learning environment to one of discovery. (This often re-ignites the love
of learning in students tired of just being fed facts.)
Students connect with each other better. (This often results in fewer fights, greater
understanding of diversity, and greater peer support.)
The arts provide challenges to students of all levels. (Each student can find his/her
own level from basic to gifted.)
Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners. (The student does not just
become an outlet for stored facts from direct instruction, but seeks to extend
instruction to higher levels of proficiency.)
The study of the fine arts positively impacts the learning of students of lower
socioeconomic status as much or more than those of a higher socioeconomic status.
(Twenty-one percent of students of low socioeconomic status who had studied music
scored higher in math versus just eleven percent of those who had not. By the senior
year, these figures grew to 33 percent and 16 percent, respectively, suggesting a
cumulative value to music education.)
Is the study of fine arts important? They engage many areas of the brain and also have far-
reaching effects on the learners mind (Jensen, 2001). The arts promote the understanding
and sharing of culture. They promote social skills that enhance the awareness and respect
of others. The fine arts enhance perceptual and cognitive skills. The Burton study of more
than 2000 children found that those in the arts curriculum were far superior in creative
thinking, self-concept, problem-solving, self-expression, risk-taking, and cooperation than
those who were not (Burton et al., 1999). The arts have the capacity to engage everyone. All
levels of American society can and do participate in the fine arts. There are no barriers of
race, religion, culture, geography, or socioeconomic levels.
Todays world is witness to the Information Age. The primary sources of content information
are no longer teacher lectures or textbooks. Learning is not limited to what you know, but is
dependent upon how to find information and how to use that information quickly,
creatively, and cooperatively. We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As
information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place a new
value on the one human ability that cant be automated: emotion (Jensen, 1999, p. 84).
Todays students are inundated with data but are starving for meaningful learning.
Workplace demands are for students to understand how to solve problems, what makes
arguments plausible, how to build teams and coalitions, and how to incorporate the concept
of fairness into the everyday decisions. Students need to be thinkers, possess people skills,
be problem-solvers, demonstrate creativity, and work as a member of a team. We need to
offer more in-depth learning about the things that matter the most: order, integrity,
thinking skills, a sense of wonder, truth, flexibility, fairness, dignity, contribution, justice,
creativity and cooperation. The arts provide all of these.
Perhaps the most fundamental element to education one should consider is the manner in
which we perceive and make sense of the world in which we live. An effective education in
the fine arts helps students to see what they look at, hear what they listen to, and feel what
they touch. Engagement in the fine arts helps students to stretch their minds beyond the
boundaries of the printed text or the rules of what is provable. The arts free the mind from
rigid certainty. Imagine the benefits of seeking, finding, and developing multiple solutions to
the myriad of problems facing our society today! These processes, taught through the study
of the arts, help to develop the tolerance for coping with the ambiguities and uncertainties
present in the everyday affairs of human existence. There is a universal need for words,
music, dance, and visual art to give expression to the innate urgings of the human spirit.
(Eisner, 1987) The premier organizations in the corporate world today recognize that the
human intellect draws from many wells. Arts education gives access to the deepest of
those wells.
Sources:
Jensen, E. (2001). Arts with the brain in mind. Alexandria, Va., Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.
Eisner, E. (1987). Why the arts are basic. Instructors 3Rs Special Issue.34-35.
Chapman, R. (1998). Improving student performance through the arts. Principal. 20-26.
Kaagan, S. (1998). Arts education: Schooling with imagination. Principal. 16-19
Faison, H. (2000). Is anyone out there listening?. Foundation for Academic Excellence
Symposium, Haskell, Ok.
Buka, S. (2000). Long term outcomes of music education: results of a thirty-five year
longitudinal study. Foundation for Academic Excellence Symposium, Haskell, Ok.
Lehman, P. (2001). What students should learn in the arts. Content of the curriculum.
Alexandria, Va. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (1-22)
Dalam talian : http://www.katyisd.org/finearts/Pages/importance.aspx diakses pada 2
September 2013







Safe The Arts : Art Education Is Vital for Cognitif Development
By Noman Ahmed
Published: August 8, 2013

KARACHI:
In the last decades, the exposure of an average Pakistani student to art education has
been limited to replication of objects being drawn by their teachers on blackboards. The
situation remained pretty much the same after blackboards were replaced by
whiteboards and art series books printed by private publishers.
This method of teaching art shares similarity with extensive focus on rote learning in other
subjects, said Afshan A Razzaq, founding director of the AR Media and Education Group.
Almost all art series books encourage students to replicate objects, thereby restricting their
ability to imagine and draw by themselves.
She believed that many students may feel a sense of accomplishment after doing such work,
but these activities do not contribute to the cognitive or creative development of students.

A childs mind is capable of creating innovative and powerful work, she said. To understand
art, teachers should let children enjoy the process of learning and encourage them to use
their imagination. With experimenting comes confidence and self-reliance. But this,
unfortunately, is not practiced at public and most of private schools.

Lack of official textbooks
In the absence of any official textbook for art education, private publishers and freelance
authors have tapped the opportunity and prepared a number of art series books which,
believes Razzaq, fail to accomplish the purpose. Used in both the public and private
schools, these books usually contain craft work rather than covering all aspects of art, she
said. Most of the art series are not updated or reviewed for decades as some were even
used by our parents back in their school days.
For instance, explained Razzaq, craft activity using matchbox has been used for at least 40
years now and most of the drawing activity encourages replication work. Instead of urging
students to step outside and observe the nature before taking up a task, instructions are
given to copy and draw.

Art curriculum
The provincial education department has been struggling since the creation of Pakistan to
come up with an approved art curriculum for all classes.
In a scenario where there are no proper guidelines, pedagogical approaches, assessment
system or officially published textbooks, Razzaq reckons that teachers mostly replicate ideas
that inspire them in the craft books.
In 2006, when the ministry of education and education experts reviewed the national
curriculum, the subject of art was made an integral part of the curriculum from early
education to class two, but the decision has yet to be implemented. Still, not much has been
prepared for grade three till middle-level, while only a few guidelines were set in 1973 for
arts education for secondary and higher classes, explained Razzaq.
She did not, however, agree with the approach of amalgamation of art as a discipline with
the primary subjects, such as science and maths, without a proper assessment system for
the former.
Unfortunately, we have developed a mindset that considers art secondary to the rest of
the subjects. It is seen as an extra-curricular activity, she said. While it is essential to
understand arts for the better comprehension of other subjects that are part of the
curriculum, the understanding of arts, however, is not dependent on any other subject. It
should be taught as a separate subject.
The provincial governments bureau of curriculum director, Abdul Majeed Bhurt, while
talking to The Express Tribune said that on paper the government has a curriculum to help
develop the basic skills of grade one to five students in the subject of arts and crafts, but it
was not formally included in the public school textbooks because of the lack of availability of
teachers.
Limited options
Earlier, students would acquire basic arts knowledge after getting enrolled in a fine arts
department at public colleges, but now even this option has been taken away from them. At
present, there is hardly any public college with a functioning fine arts department.
A number of colleges used to have fine arts department, including Government College for
Women on Shahrah-e-Liaquat, where I took admission to attend art classes, but later it was
closed down in the midst of my education in the late 1980s, recalled Razzaq.
With such deteriorating conditions, the provincial government had over a period,
intentionally or unintentionally, left the domain of art education to around eight private and
professional institutes, which in affiliation with Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE)
offer either a diploma or a certificate programme in fine arts.
Unqualified teachers
After meeting more than 50 art teachers at various schools, I came to the conclusion that
most of them were not qualified and some did not even have any art background, said
Razzaq.
The education departments additional chief secretary, Dr Fazlullah Pechuho, told The
Express Tribune that no teacher among the newly recruited art instructors had any prior
qualifications in the discipline. Another disturbing reality is the presence of around 21,000
single-teacher public schools, which makes around 50 per cent of the total public schools
functioning across the province.
Sometimes, school administrations assign the subject to any teacher they think is not
capable of dealing with other serious and core subjects.
Though there are hardly three to four respectable institutions for art education in Karachi,
graduates from these institutions can serve as qualified art teachers at public and middle-
class private schools, said the president of Arts Council of Pakistan, Ahmed Shah. Society as
a whole has not understood the importance of arts and fine arts as yet. Had this not been
the case, unqualified and redundant teachers on a meagre pay would not have been
allowed to teach drawing to the children, he lamented.

Expensive specilisation
Negligence on the part of the government has restricted the access of art education to only
a few people resourceful enough to pay high fees, while a common citizen is left to assume
that fine arts is an elitist venture that cannot provide them Roti, let alone to equip them
with tools to live a better life, lamented Razzaq. Due to the lack of awareness, parents and
teachers are not familiar with the available career options for students who intend to study
liberal arts. But even if they do, they wont be able to bear the expenses.
For instance, Karachi School of Arts, which is recognised as the oldest private centre of art
education, charges around Rs288,000 for its four-year fine art diploma programme and the
cost is apart from the registration and examination fees payable to the SBTE. In comparison,
the fee of Arts Council Institute of Arts and Crafts is relatively low, but still reaches up to
Rs175,000 for the same programme.
Since there remains a dire disconnect between students and formal art education,
foundation courses are offered in the first year of studies at these institutes followed by
three-year fulltime studies, which culminate in specialisation in either painting, miniature,
sculpture or print-making.
Even at these private institutes, fine arts programme fails to receive as much attention as
the myriad of programmes in commercial art, textile, fashion and graphic design.

Cultural perspective
For leading art education to the status of social pariah, Razzaq holds both the conservatives
and liberals responsible for their skewed approaches in dealing with the discipline.
She asserted that religion, per say, did not have any conflict with the subject that endorses
morality, decency, and permissible joy. Many people misunderstand Islams moderate and
realistic position on art, said Razzaq. It would be interesting to know that after embracing
Islam, people associated with the handicrafts enhanced their art according to the Islamic
way of life and rejected the old fashioned non-Islamic methods. This helped introduce new
forms of art, including naqashi work.
Through art and history, she added, we can peek into the photo album of time. Art has
always played a very important role in the shaping and recording of cultural history and
lifestyle. Studying it from this perspective can make both teaching and learning interesting
and worthwhile.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 9
th
, 2013.
Dalam Talian:
http://tribune.com.pk/story/588408/save-the-arts-art-education-is-vital-for-cognitive-
development/ diakses pada 2 September 2013

[The We are the Creative Industries series: The Creative Industries - video game companies, design, marketing and architecture
firms, and talented people who write books, design houses, shoot movies, make art and record music, just to name a few examples -
are an important part of Massachusetts' economy, with $1 billion statewide impact and over 100,000 workers. Click here to learn
more.]
By Matt Wilson
As we enter another school year, many school systems arts programs are feeling the negative impacts
of education reform efforts of the past 20 years. Program like No Child Left Behind (NCLB), have
forced schools to shift focus primarily to the tested subjects of reading, math and science.This
narrowed emphasis often pushes the arts and humanities to the sidelines. In a nationwide survey of
visual art educators in 2010, 32% reported that enrollments in their art programs had decreased
students were denied access to art classes because they were required to take extra math or language
arts courses or because they had failed to pass language arts or math tests required for the
measurement of Adequate Yearly Progress.
The Need to Foster Innovation, Creativity, and 21st Century Skills
Arts educationdance, media arts, music, theatre/drama, visual artsis a necessary component for
the development of the whole child, enabling each individual to become a productive, creative, and
innovative member of society. Equal access to high quality, sequential arts education is essential to
developing important 21st-century skills and will allow our Commonwealth to regain and maintain a
competitive economic edge globally by exporting creative ideas and products.
In addition a number of schools in Boston, Worcester and other Gateway cities have turned to arts as
a tool to turn around badly performing schools. The Boston Arts Academy, a public high school in the
city whose students spend half of their time in school in arts classes, will send 94% of its graduates to
college next year.
Currently arts education is not equally accessible to all children. While some districts have rich,
sequential and regular arts learning in every grade, others have limited or no arts learning.
The ARTS for All Initiative
The ARTS for All Initiative calls for the development and implementation of a comprehensive arts
strategic plan establishing arts education as integral to every school districts curriculum.
As a first step, the ARTS For All Initiative will work with higher education to establish one year of arts
education in high school as an admission requirement to the Massachusetts state university and
UMass systems. Current admission criteria include specific courses in English, Math, Science, Social
Studies and Foreign Languages. Experience has shown in Massachusetts that adoption of these
subject requirements ensure they are taught in every high school across the Commonwealth, resulting
in a de facto mandated sequence of learning. Inclusion of the arts will help make certain all students
in the Commonwealth have access to the arts regardless of geographic location, ethnicity, economic
level, or any other demographic status or condition.
The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education should follow the lead of ten other states and
require incoming university students to take at least one year of visual or performing arts, music or
dance in high school as an admission requirement to the state university system.