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Fine Arts In Public Schools

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Introduction Curricula has been a hot topic of debate since education became institutionalized. Many legislative sessions and parent meetings have been held to discern the best possible information necessary for children. In recent years, it is not only what information is being delivered but how the information is presented. Arts integration is not about simply having students attend "extra curricular" or “enrichment classes” about art, but rather it is the complete fusion of all art forms within the standard math, literacy, science, and history core classes. For example, a classroom of 4th graders learning about basic geometry might also be learning about the art of dance from the same teacher in the same classroom. The students might first …show more content…

The ability to do well by comparison is a difficult knowledge to convey to an elementary age child; however, in recent years many educators have taken the “do your best approach” by insisting that children should not compare themselves to others by intellect. That wonderfully inclusive mindset aside — grades are still grades and firmly in place within the American school system, and so one of the many tasks at hand for educators is to figure out how to engage every student and encourage effort and good performance in assessments. The results of a multidimensional study by The University of Toronto’s Kathleen Gallagher show "the greater the level of student engagement [in the fine arts], the more likely students are to participate in classroom environments" (Gallagher, 2014). As such, educators are utilizing Arts Integration to achieve more student engagement which leads to higher student …show more content…

It has not been until the late twentieth century that science began to look at creativity from a neurological standpoint, and evaluate its importance to human intelligence. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the use of MRIs to follow stimuli responses began to cultivate and hone research to target specific thought patterns. Dr. Arne Dietrich of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the American University of Beirut published results from his experiments that show, “The new theoretical framework systematizes the interaction between knowledge and creative thinking …” by defining four different types of creativity and how each type connects to cognitive reasoning and the reasoning required to solve mathematical problems (Dietrich, 2004). In his doing so, Dr. Dietrich opened the doors for proven scientific connections between the fine arts, arts integration, education, knowledge, and career successes. Those without a strong “creativity streak” may be extremely knowledgable, but may also lack that “creative genius” that sets sensational and successful adults apart from the masses. Conversely, those adults that are seemingly bursting with ideas and innovations may lack the plethora of knowledge an expert would bring to the table. Just as there are both “experts” and “creative types," there exists a class of brain function wherein the three sections of the frontal

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