Arts with the Brain in Mind
Eric Jensen
Preface vii
“The thesis of this book is that arts are not only fundamental to success in our demanding, highly technical, fast-moving world, but they are what makes us most human, most complete as people. [In a conversation with the author on November 30, 2001, I suggested that the arts make us “most complete” because better than anything else, the arts have always been good at answering the question, “Why?” with regard to human existence and endeavor.]
Chapter One
Page 1
“If we place value only on higher test scores – and if the tests measure only math, problem-solving, and verbal skills – the arts are at a clear disadvantage. If we demand quick results, the arts will not supply them.
The arts develop neural systems that often take months and years to fine-tune. The benefits, when they appear, will be sprinkled across the spectrum, from fine motor skills to creativity and improved emotional balance.”
Page 2
“The central theme of this book is that the arts promote the development of valuable human neurobiological systems. Theories of the brain exist that help us understand what is going on when we do art.
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. That doesn’t mean that one cannot learn without the arts; many have. The arts, however, provide learners with opportunities to simultaneously develop and mature multiple brain systems, none of which are easy to access because they support processes that yield cumulative results.”
Page 3
In Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, the contributors highlight some of the “take-home” messages about arts (Fiske, 1999):
- The arts reach students not ordinarily reached, in ways not normally used. This keeps tardies and truancies and, eventually, dropouts down.
- Students connect to each other better – greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism, and reduced use of harmful sarcasm.
- It changes the environment to one of discovery. This can re-ignite the love of learning in students tired of being filled up with facts.
- Arts provide challenges for students at all levels, from delayed to gifted. It’s a class where all students can find their own level, automatically.
- Arts connect learners to the real world of work where theater, music, and products have to appeal to a growing consumer public.
- Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners, not a repository of facts from direct instruction for the next high-stakes test.
- Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status. This suggests the gifted programs need to expand their target audiences.
Page 5
“At Columbia University, Judith Burton’s study of more than 2,000 children found that those in the arts curriculum were far superior in creative thinking, self-concept, problem-solving, self-expression, risk-taking, and cooperation that those who were not (Burton et al., 1999)”
“In the landmark document Champions of Change, Catterall, Chapleau, and Iwanaga (1999) report that 21 percent of students of low socioeconomic status who had been exposed to music scored high in math versus just 11 percent of those who had not. By 12th grade, the figures grew to 33 percent and 16 percent, respectively, suggesting a cumulative value to music education.”
Page 6
The work of two cultural anthropologists (Coe, 1990; Dissayanake, 1988) demonstrates that art-making has been present for thousands of years, and may guide survival. Art-making facilitates the creation of large, strong communities that embody important values. These community values are established and shared through the metaphors of the visual, musical, and kinesthetic arts.”
Page 9
” . . the Information Age is different from what you thought it was. Knowledge is no longer key now that everyone has access to it. Rolf Jensen, director of the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, gives us a glimpse into this new 21st century.
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 can’t be automated: emotion (Jensen, 1999, p.84).”
“At the start of this new century, for those with emotional balance and cognitive flexibility, the world will be their oyster. They will have the social skills, self-discipline, and thinking skills to thrive in a fast-changing world.”
Page 10
” . . to incorporate the elements that lead to better thinkers and better people, I believe elementary and secondary policymakers ought to cut the volume of content in half.”
“We need less trivia and more in-depth learning about the things that matter the most in our world: order, integrity, thinking skills, a sense of wonder, truth, flexibility, fairness, dignity, contribution, justice, creativity, and cooperation. Does that sound like a tall order? The arts can do all that.”
Chapter Two
Page 13
“Neurobiologist Mark Jude Tramo of Harvard Medical School says, ‘Music is biologically part of human life, just as music is aesthetically part of human life’ . . “
Page 14
” Frank Wilson (1999), assistant clinical professor of neurology at the University of California School of Medicine, says that learning to play an instrument connects, develops, and refines the entire neurological and motor brain systems.”
An Interview with Eric Jensen
Eric… education. Brain-Based Learning: An Interview with
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Eric Jensen Resources
… Resources for. Eric Jensen Brain Compatible Learning. … B’s and A’s in 30 Days: Strategies
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Brain-Based Learning
Brain-Based Learning. Successful Applications of Brain
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… In this issue, the CASCD Spotlight focuses on EricJensen, teacher of teachers,
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Excel-ability Learning Eric Jensen San Diego, California, USA. Jensen is an active