Obama ’ s 2008 platform on the arts

2. Obama’s 2008 platform on the arts • To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children’s creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education. Unfortunately, many school districts are cutting instructional time for art and music education.

3. “Due to budget constraints and emphasis on the subjects of high stakes testing, arts instruction in schools is on a downward trend.”President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, 2011 May 2011

5. Minor role, strong TRANSFER claims...

6. Studies have shown that involvement in the arts helps kids increase test scores and promotes academic achievement. Kids who are involved in the arts are-- 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement 3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance

7. “We’re going to try to move forward all the kids who were left behind by ‘No Child Left Behind’ – the kids who have talent or a passion or an idiosyncratic perspective. Those kids are important too and they should have a place in society. It’s very often the arts that catches them.”Rocco Landesman Chairman of NEH 2009 “Landesmandoesn’t defend arts education as a rigorous discipline…Instead, the purpose is salvation.Some students don’t fit the NCLB [No Child Left Behind] regime and other subjects don’t inspire them. Talented but offbeat, they sulk through algebra, act up in the cafeteria, and drop out of school. The arts “catch” them and pull them back, turning a sinking ego on the margins into a creative citizen with a “place in society.” Bauerlein 2010 Education Next “Saving” kids through the arts

8. Why expect transfer?

9. Difficulty of demonstrating transfer...even with plausible hypothesis Design of study Quality of arts instruction

10. Our forthcoming OECD book reports on: • Creativity Outcomes • Cognitive Outcomes • Motivational Outcomes • Social Skills Outcomes • Brain Outcomes { Multi-Arts Music Visual Arts Theatre (Drama) Dance

11. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We Know Thus Far

13. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We Know Thus Far

15. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We Know Thus Far A claim that does not hold up

16. 452 432 427 422 413 455 Example of Correlational Finding: SAT Data from College Board Verbal SAT Score as a Function of High School Arts Courses 455 452 460 450 432 440 427 422 430 413 420 410 400 390 None 1 yr. 2 yrs. 3 yrs. 4 yrs. Over 4 yrs.

17. Example #2 of Correlational Data: James Catterall

18. Arts and math/verbal/composite achievement (REAP)

19. International Studies Fail to Replicate • UK: Arts track: lower performance GCSE • Netherlands: no difference

20. Families Schools Drive Strategy Non-Causal Explanations

21. Hypothesis: arts improve academic learning via the indirect route of changing school culture --more constructivist, inquiry based, project based learning?

22. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We Know Thus Far

24. 2009

25. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We Know Thus Far

26. 4-6 yr olds randomly assigned to music listening/painting group computerized lessons led by teacher 2 hr/wk, 5 days/wk, 4 wks.

27. musically trained children do well in school above and beyond what would be predicted by their IQ (Schellenberg, 2006). • Higher IQ children study instruments (Schellenberg) • Personality trait of conscientiousness, which is known to be related to academic performance, predicts persistence with an instrument. (Schellenberg) • If lessons in other art forms involved the same combination of school-like activities...

28. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We Know Thus Far

30. Training in looking closely at paintings and describe them in detail improves doctors’ ability to diagnose disorders from photos of people (but this need not involve art)--Dolev et al. 2001 • Training in looking at and describing works of art improves 9-10 year olds ability to interpret a scientific image (a fossil record of two intersecting footprints)--Tishman et al 1999

34. BRAIN OUTCOMES

35. Our Approach

36. 3 steps Step 1: Analyze learning in parent domain Step 2: Assess learning in parent domain Step 3: Test plausible hypotheses about learning transfer

37. Potentially Transferable Cognitive Habits of Mind

38. Stretch and Explore Just play around and maybe you’ll learn a new technique

39. Observation Learning to See potential transfer domains? biology... writing...

40. Envisioning What You Can’t See Generating and Manipulating Mental Images potential transfer domains? geometry... geography

41. Explaining potential transfer domains? everywhere! Evaluating Reflection Meta-cognition

42. Expression “Art is beyond technique” potential transfer domains? writing with a personal voice...

43. Don’t look for transfer unless you could explain it if you found it....unless you believe in magic

44. Conclusions More experimental (not correlational) studies Studies should be based on hypotheses related to learning in the relevant art form Greater transfer should be predicted by greater learning in the art form Examine effects of teaching a non-arts domain by integrating the arts; compare to traditional method of teaching same domain Consider the hypothesis of arts as entry points but only for certain kinds of students

45. Intrinsic merits Double edged sword: direct always better No transfer = lack of justification /