Cognitive Benefits of Applied Arts Education

ELLIOT EISNER TO STEAM CURRICULUM COGNITIVE BENEFITS OF APPLIED ARTS EDUCATION Madison S Dotson | 30 November 2018

Educational Psychology | PSYC 5430 Dr. Ariane Narain | Tennessee State University

Cognitive Benefits of Applied Arts Education - M. Dotson

PART I This research paper will examine different perspectives on the role of arts education in American schools, looking closely at the present state of research as well as the historic relationship between arts education and cognitive psychology in an attempt to identify what arts education does and does not teach. Part I will focus on the current climate of arts education and research. Part II will review the history of cognitive science as applied to arts education. Part III will describe how arts education can move into a more solid future through collaborative curriculum in STEAM education.

We live at time that puts a premium on the measurement of outcomes, the ability to predict them, and the need to be absolutely clear about what it is we plan to accomplish. As educators, to aspire for less is practically professional neglect. We insist upon hard data and rigorous methods. From a wider perspective, it is understandable that accountability in the form of high stakes testing and curriculum standards would appear attractive. (Rich, 1997) When the public is concerned about the educational efficacy of its schools, the tendency is to tighten up, to mandate, to measure, and to micro-manage.

For arts education the stakes are high. In popular American educational thinking, “basic” academic skills (the 3Rs) are valued while the arts are considered a “frill.”

(Winner & Cooper, 2000) Arts are treated as the ornamental rather than the critical parts of education. The critics say “art is nice but is it really necessary?” ​Many equate arts education with learning craft (Hetland, Winner & et al, 2013). For example, the common assumption is that arts students are learning to draw, and ideally, with conventions such

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as perspective, shading, color mixing, and “rules” of composition. But rarely do onlookers give much consideration to the habits of mind that arts students are using as they work - for example: meticulous observation, envisioning three-dimensional forms on two-dimensional surfaces, or conveying the expressive feeling of a form.

Sadly, this superficial perspective on arts seems to bear out in the data as well..

A study from The National Endowment for the Arts titled the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) found that the rate of participation in childhood arts education has dropped since the mid 1980s (Bowen, Greene & Kisda, 2014). Evidence shows that the decline has been been particularly pronounced in schools with concentrations of disadvantaged students (Bowen, Greene & Kisda, 2014). ​In 2008, African American children were 49% less likely to receive arts education than they were in 1982, and Hispanic children were 40% less likely to receive arts education. And children whose parents did not graduate high school themselves were nearly 77% less likely to have received arts education in 2008 than had been in 1982 (​Bowen, Greene, & Kisda, 2014​). Most Americans say they want their children to be exposed to the arts in school, yet merely one in four students in american schools sings, plays an instrument, or performs drama each week (​Winner & Cooper, 2000​).

Many major urban school districts have cut back on arts education in response to a pressure to strengthen traditional academic subjects. In response to this marginalization, arts educators and arts advocates have sought evidence that the arts contribute to basic academic skills (​Winner & Cooper, 2000​). Sometimes arts educators are even asked to justify the necessity of the arts in our schools purely on the basis of

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whether arts education contributes to non-art outcomes. Common questions are raised like, “Does learning to play music increase a child's mathematical achievement scores?”

Some suggest that these questions about the contributions of the arts to academic achievement are raised by those for whom the arts are personally marginal (​Eisner, 1999​). Understandably, when the arts are not a part of your own life it is very difficult to recognize what they can contribute. Increasingly though a belief exists among arts advocates that the arts do play a powerful role in education because they believe the skills and attitudes learned through the arts can help children in other academic areas of learning (​Winner & Cooper, 2000​).

Arts advocates and researchers have attempted to strengthen the role of the arts in education through claims that arts exposure can lead to a variety of positive outcomes for students, including potential transfer effects to other academic subjects, specifically how the arts are shown to improve measures academic achievement. Yet the notable problem with this work has been a lack of research that can clearly isolate the causal influence of arts exposure (​Bowen, Greene, & Kisda, 2014​). True, there are correlations between arts education and academic achievement; however, correlation is not causation. So, despite plentiful publications claiming the that arts cause academic achievement scores to increase or that the arts courses “strengthen” academic performance, it is generally difficult to understand the basis for which such claims are made (​Eisner, 1999​).

For example, one such publication claiming the arts increase academic performance, titled ​Eloquent Evidence: Arts at the Core of Learning,​ provided vague

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statistical data without any causal evidence. The cited study claimed that “students of the arts continue to outperform their non-art-peers on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).” The brief went on to explain that in 1995, SAT scores for students who studied the arts for more than four year were 59 points higher on the verbal and 44 points higher on the math portion than were students with experience or coursework in that arts. (​Eisner, 1999​). While this is a hopeful suggestion, one cannot help but wonder if students with the opportunity to study the arts for 4 or more years really have the same academic background as those who have never taken an arts course (​Eisner, 1999​).

Further information would be required to discern all the factors that differentiate these two groups.

Similarly, study after study fails to find definitive evidence of how arts education measurably increases the performance of students in their non-arts subjects. This should not be shocking. If for no other reason, the basic design conditions of studies capable of producing credible evidence are not available in typical settings. ​Research demonstrating a causal role for the arts (whether this role is direct or indirect) must be experimental in design (Winner & Cooper, 2000). True experimental research, with random assignment of students and teachers vs control classrooms, is a very difficult to carry out in the real world. Regardless, the first problem with these efforts is that arguments meant to endorse arts as a means to enhancing performance in other curricular areas are ​instrumental arguments and the danger is that instrumental arguments will backfire when research fails to confirm their validity (Hetlend, Winner, & et al, 2013).

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This is an established issue. After a broad examination, a research report by public policy researchers at the RAND Corporation concluded that many of the existing studies on the benefits of arts exposure “do no more than establish correlations between arts involvement and the presence of certain effects in the study subjects.

They do not demonstrate that arts experiences caused the effects” (​Bowen, Greene, & Kisda, 2014​). Others have explored whether there are indirect effects of the arts on education that pertain to the perception and comprehension of forms. Some studies have looked at art in the relation to student expressiveness, creativity, and critical thinking skills (​Bowen, Greene, & Kisda, 2014​). The common theme between all these studies is a search to establish precisely what arts education does or does not do in terms of thought, cognition, and abilities.

PART II An exploration of how the arts could cognitively benefits students should consider the roots of the cognitive revolution in American educational theories. This will help define cognitive function and increase understanding of cognition in the context of arts education. These topics will be explored the coming paragraphs. Specifically, this paper will examine the conclusions drawn by Elliot Eisner and his ideas for the application of those conclusions. Finally, in Part III, we’ll conclude with how recent movements in education might leverage the cognitive impacts of arts education.

A short survey of the history of cognitive science begins with Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development that was patterned on the biological processes of growth and adaptation. His explanation was in some respects unwelcoming to the

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possibility that the creation and interpretation of art might be considered cognitive abilities. Piaget saw cognitive development as a journey away from purely sensory and the emotional experience toward cold, abstract conceptualization. (​Efland, 2004​).

Implied in this conflict is a popular misconception of arts education as capricious and incompatible with objective learning.

For most of the early 20th century, American psychology was dominated by behaviorism. Behaviorists believe the environment determines an organism's ability to behave in certain ways and to learn. Thus, behaviorism focused on observable behavior. Its advocates rejected internal causes for behavior and only examined gross behavior. By the 1950s, however, cognitive psychology researchers had begun to argue that the behaviorist approach was limiting. Cognitive psychology was a new wave investigating internal functions such as problem solving and logical reasoning (​Rich, 1997​).

The cognitive revolution in American educational psychology began in near tandem with those changes in popular psychology. In 1959, cognitive perspectives on educational theory were formally introduced at the Woods Hole Conference where cognitive scientists, educators, and scholars gathered to discuss how cognitive psychology could be employed to improve education. As educators, these cognitive researchers were generally concerned with issues relating to processes of thought and the acquisition of knowledge (​Rich, 1997​).

At the Woods Hole Conference, Jerome Bruner, a cognitive psychologist, defined the structure of cognitive psychology in education as knowledge which enabled learners

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to achieve mastery of a subject matter. All academic disciplines have structures that students can acquire and utilize across disciplines (​Rich, 1997​). Initially, the term cognition was used to designate propositional thinking with verbal and numerical symbols. However, in the decades since, the definition of cognition has expanded to embrace all forms of thought including mental images obtained through perception. This broadening perspective has had a major impact upon curriculum reform initiatives in general, but especially upon arts education (​Efland, 2004​).

In decades following the cognitive revolution, art educators and scholars worked to understand and describe a structured discipline for arts education. Bruner had forged the gap between cognitive theory and educational practice, and art educators worked to redefine arts education as the education of a process of thought (​Rich, 1997​). The cognitive science approach introduced new questions and new ways of thinking about art education. Elliot Eisner was at the forefront of this scholarly movement, defining the arts as “cognitive activities, guided by human intelligence, that make unique forms of meaning possible.” (​Rich, 1997​) Artistic thinking was a process of thought and a way of making meaning through symbols, thus, it was like other cognitive processes. Eisner's undergraduate background was in art. He was a commercial artist and art teacher prior to his graduate work in education at the University of Chicago (​Rich, 1997​). He acknowledges Benjamin Bloom as an important early mentor. Bloom was a well-known leader in the application of behavioral psychology to curriculum and instruction (​Rich, 1997​). Perhaps this explains why Eisner’s ideas of cognition were rooted in the senses. (​Efland, 2004​).

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Eisner stated "I believe that no form of experience is possible without cognitive activity and such activity is itself what we mean by thinking" (​Rich, 1997​). Eisner characterized the concepts derived from purely sensory experience as “personal aspects of human experience” that cannot be shared without form. Forms of representation are thus posited as devices through which these personal concepts are made communicable. Eisner viewed forms of representation as social functions, meaning human beings create representations to both further their own understanding as well as to communicate these understandings to others. So, learning processes in Eisner’s model move from perception to cognition and then to representation in forms that can be communicated. The skills we possess in using forms of representation affect the extent to which our personal conceptions can be shared (​Efland, 2004​). For Eisner, thinking and experience could not be separated.

Thus, Eisner believed that making art, the perception of art, and the comprehension of arts forms are all cognitive in character. Artistic creation requires sophisticated modes of thinking. Eisener even suggested that art represents, in many ways, the apex of cognitive activity. Eisner explains that art education has been neglected by educational psychology due to a perception that the arts are not rooted in the same types of thinking as other subjects. According to Eisner, "a view of cognition, that restricts thinking and knowing to forms of mentation that are exclusively discursive or mathematical leaves out far more than it includes" (​Rich, 1997​).

Thinking is not limited to mental operations confined to a single form. For Eisner, the senses were a function of cognition, and concepts could not be formed without

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sensory information. The senses function as resources through which our experience can be turned into forms of representation (​Rich, 1997​). This is the primary way Eisner illuminated how cognitive psychology relates to arts education. Eisner deciphered that the process of sensory experience → cognitive thought → representative form was not intuitive but something that had to be learned or developed. So, it follows that the ability to use the "senses as mechanisms for articulation of thought" is a form of literacy (​Rich, 1997​). This is a critical form of literacy that is only developed through arts education.

PART III It is important to acknowledge that not all arts education is of equal quality. ​How well the arts improve cognitive abilities, expression, or critical thinking is influenced by how they are taught (Eisner, 2002). The arts, like other fields, can be taught in different ways for different ends. In his book, ​Arts and the Creation of Mind​, Eisner outlines some outcomes of well-structured arts curriculum. These lessons include the ability to make judgements about qualitative relationships. Arts students learn a willingness to take on multiple perspectives and work with complex forms of problem solving where purposes are often undefined. Arts develop our aptitude in conditions with unanticipated possibilities (Eisner, 2002).

Visual arts educator’s aims are the outcomes Eisner described in ​Arts and the Creation of Mind​, known as the artists’ habits of mind or “art thinking” (Winner & Cooper, 2000). Similarly, design industry leaders describe the work of designers as design thinking.

These two ways of thinking have much in common and teaching

design in art classrooms should be more than compositional. When art education

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includes functional design as part of the curriculum, both the critical and aesthetic sensibilities of the design process are revealed (Bequette & Bequette, 2012). The creative processes in both art and design are inextricably linked together, functioning almost in tandem. So, ideally, both should be included in art curricula. Communicating relationship to educators in other fields can open up enormous possibilities for cross-curricular collaboration, and student engagement in art (Bequette & Bequette, 2012).

Arts Education can also be viewed as an entry point into other academic areas (Winner & Cooper, 2000). This is usually what is meant by the phrases “teaching through the arts” or “integrating the arts into curriculum.” This type of integration is most effective when connected in an authentic or natural way, such as examining how mathematical ratios are applied to music theory, language arts experienced through drama, or the chemical processes involved in photography and ceramics. Though researchers studying arts education are quick to point out that in order for these transfers to happen, objectives must be communicated. (Winner & Cooper, 2000).

Artists and designers are risk takers and have the ability to solve vague, complex problems – the type of thinking inherent in quality arts education. To thrive in today’s world, it is imperative for students to become innovators able to think both critically and creatively. Since the 1990s educational policies have shifted to provide students with more access to science, technology, engineering, and math. This movement is now well-known as STEM. An urgent focus on STEM came from a growing concern about whether education was providing the building blocks necessary for students to thrive in

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an increasingly technical world (Allan, 2016). The goal of focusing on STEM is to provide young people with the technical, critical thinking, communication and problem-solving skills needed to compete and succeed in a modern job market. The theory and research behind STEM education has continued to mature, and today there are a growing group of advocates who believe that STEM is missing a key subject relating to creative process and communication (Allan, 2016).

Thinking of the arts in relation to technology has been on the rise. Students clearly need more in-depth knowledge of math and science, but also they need the ability to integrate and apply that knowledge to solve present and future challenges (Harmon, 2017). Hence, the evolution of STEM into STEAM which stands for science, technology, engineering, the arts and math. The term STEAM was coined at the Rhode Island School of Design by designer and technologist John Maeda. The goal of STEAM is to integrate the arts with other disciplines (Harmon, 2017). Some of the strongest arguments for STEAM are derived from belief that creativity is among a critical ability of the 21st century (Liao, 2016). Eisner made the connection between arts and the cognitive processes that happen when students are engaged creatively, namely the abilities to envision and think around corners. This is what makes arts education an excellent tool in STEM curriculum. Fun fact, scientists who win the nobel prize are 17 times more likely that the typical scientist to be a painter, 12 times as likely to be a poet and four times as likely to be a musician (Allan, 2016). Creative expression, part and parcel of arts education, teaches play and innovation – critical traits required for breakthroughs. Further, the addition of arts could serve as on on-ramp for

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underrepresented student. Teaching through the arts to engage students increases motivation and the probability of success in STEM subjects (Harmon, 2017). STEAM education aims to encourage students to see and use connections between all of these disciplines and develop the thinking habits of innovative problem solvers by learning the creative process.

To conclude, with access with arts education in a decline, it is a critical moment to honestly assess how and why one might advocate for arts education in schools. It is not the case that taking an art class will improve a student’s scores on standardized testing, but the benefits of arts education are clear and numerous. Arts education employs cognitive processes and teaches forms of literacy no other subject can. There are additional types of thinking and habits of mind developed through arts education that may transfer to other subjects when taught with intention.

The role of arts

educators is not to vehemently defend arts education against marginalization and push it further into mainstream collaboration with STEM fields for the sake of saving their careers or justifying their work, but to recognize and continually champion sincere benefits of arts education for the holistic betterment of student’s educational outcomes.

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REFERENCES Allan, A. (2016). ​How Art Motivates Stem Learning. National AfterSchool Association Professional Development. R ​ etrieved from https://naaweb.org/professional-development/item/568-full-steam-ahead.

Bequette J.W. & Bequette M.B. (2012) ​A Place for Art and Design Education in the STEM Conversation.​ Art Education, 65(2), 40-47.

Bowen, D., Greene, J., & Kisida, B. (2014).​ Learning to Think Critically: A Visual Art Experiment.​ Educational Researcher. 43(1). 37-44. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24571246.

Efland, A. (2004). ​The Arts and the Creation of Mind: Eisner's Contributions to the Arts in Education.​ Journal of Aesthetic Education. 38(4). 71-80.

Eisner, E. (1999). ​Does Experience in the Arts Boost Academic Achievement? T ​ he Clearing House​,​ ​72(​ 3), 143-149. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30189431.

Eisner, E. (2002). ​The Arts and the Creation of Mind​. Yale University Press.

Harmon, W. (2017). ​An Art Teacher’s Guide to Understanding STEAM Education. T ​ he Art of Education. Retrieved from https://www.theartofed.com/2017/09/06/art-teachers-guide-understanding-steam-educat ion/ Hetland, L., Winner, E., Veenema, S. A., & Sheridan, K. (2013). ​Studio thinking 2: The real benefits of visual arts education.​ New York: Teachers College Press.

Liao. C. (2016). ​From Interdisciplinary to Transdisciplinary: An Arts-Integrated Approach to STEAM Education​. Art Education. 69(6), 44-49.

Rich, M., (1997). ​The influence of cognitive psychology on art education as seen in the work of Howard Gardner and Elliot Eisner.​ Retrospective Theses and Dissertations.

Iowa State University. Retrieved from https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/12236.

Winner, E., & Cooper, M. (2000). ​Mute Those Claims: No Evidence (Yet) for a Causal Link between Arts Study and Academic Achievement.​ Journal of Aesthetic Education​.

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