Arts make students smart
When children are physically active and creative, they tend to focus better and work more enthusiastically with the rest of the curriculum.
Arts, sport, music and drama are often viewed as fun extra-curricular activities for children but are given less importance compared with core subjects such as English, science, or mathematics.
Nevertheless, numerous studies prove that practising arts, music and sport from an early age improves brain activity, self-confidence, and gives students an overall sense of well-being.
Students who consistently practise sport, arts, music, drama, and dance, are usually more creative and innovative and also perform better academically.
Physical education programmes can influence the way children view physical fitness when they grow older, how they relate to their body and overall health. Both individual and collective sports require training and strong mental and physical preparation.
Through a wide range of games and activities, children learn teamwork, strategy-building, cooperation and gain much needed confidence.
Many team sports require children to work together to achieve a common goal. They also learn that there is much more to sport than simply winning.
The arts should be taken seriously as a source of inspiration, as a way of life.
Art programmes offer much more than just a fun outlet for children; they are an essential element of learning, cultivating self-expression, problem-solving, imagination and creativity.
According to research by Americans for the Arts, students who undertake three hours of arts, three days a week for at least one year are four times more likely to be recognised for academic achievement.
Furthermore, when children are physically active and creative, they tend to focus better and work more enthusiastically with the rest of the curriculum.
We all agree that music is a powerful force; it creates deep emotions, and it has been used since man’s first beginnings for communication, relaxation and enjoyment.
There is a common misconception that music is only for the chosen few, for talented students to practise and perform.
However, more and more countries include music as an essential part of their countries’ curriculums.
Many studies have been conducted on the effects of music on the brain. An exposure to a music programme is likely to benefit a child’s ability to concentrate, and it stimulates the development of certain parts of the brain.
Various governments have undertaken educational curriculum reforms aimed at expanding children’s art, music and sports experience.
An international study of arts education in over 60 countries found that Finland – a leader of education reform worldwide – has far more arts education than any other country. Finnish music schools have more than five times the funding from central government compared to music services in England. The importance of art in Finland is fully recognised and it is woven into their entire education system.
To move away from the attitudes that do not respect and cultivate arts as core subjects within schools, we should:
• Promote actively the importance of creativity as a tangible asset that must be nurtured to benefit the society of the future;
• Actively encourage music, sport and arts as subjects that improve creativity and general education of all children;
• Raise the status of music, sport and arts by developing a ‘tradition’ within the schools, with the teachers, with the parents, leading to continuous work with performances, concerts, sports events, festivals, and so forth;
• Prepare children for life beyond the school classroom, and have the courage to focus and invest in these areas. Tests stifle creativity because questions usually focus on finding one correct answer instead of seeking various ways to solve problems. This inhibits independent thinking and innovation.
A classroom teacher who includes music, sport and arts as an integral part of his teaching methods takes on the role of a conductor, a trainer, an artist, and a researcher, guiding students’ exploration towards a deeper understanding of any subject.
Sir Ken Robinson, in his inspirational presentation ‘Bring on the learning revolution’ on Ted.com, says “we have built our educational system on the model of ‘fast food’... where everything is standardised... and this greatly impoverishes our spirit”.
Waldorf schools, also called Steiner Schools, are based on the educational philosophy of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner.
The methods used are those that stimulate imagination, inspiration, and intuition. Education is practised holistically; handicrafts, the arts, and music are integral parts of the curriculum.
In a holistic educational model the teacher does not ‘lecture’ but provides space for children to play, experiment, learn, and create, always keeping a deep connection to life.
For example, children may be asked to write and illustrate their own textbooks, a history teacher teaching Renaissance may ask students to make copies of 16th-century scientific instruments, or sing Renaissance operas, or stage a play about 17th-century physicists.
They may study Shakespeare by staging his plays, rotating the cast so that every child memorises a couple of hundred lines.
Even some of the most exclusive private schools in the world today use these ‘old fashioned methods’ to develop children’s capabilities.
They require every student to learn an instrument, they teach their students how to play chess, they essentially work on teaching to expand their concentration span.
In such schools, children are encouraged to question at all stages, and they seek to replace competition with collaboration at every level, developing deep and lasting relationships among their peers and with their teachers.
If these ideas resonate with you or if you are also interested in this type of education for your children e-mail [email protected].
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Pule' Carmel
May 13th 2012, 13:01
It was written that," Arts, Sport, Music and Drama are often viewed as fun extra-curricular activities for children but are given less importance compared with core subjects such as English, Science, or Mathematics."
Now let me enter this debate very carefully for I am sure to be misunderstood. Here goes my first BOMB SHELL. There is absolutely no difference between the contents of Arts, Sport, Music Dramma ,English, Science and Malthematics. It may come as a surprise to many but ,let me explain.
Most of the behaviour/creations we see around us are useful or less useful, but all of them contain elements of attraction by their own nature. The built up nature of the entity and behaviour and characteristics of what we view hear and touch can be depicted as being , monotonous, gentle , exciting and agressive. There are more adjectives we can use to describe all the subjects mentioned above but we may stick to just these four contents with any subject. Now all the contents of monotony, gentleness, excitations, and agressiveness may be reduced to a mathematical operator which may detect the intensity of the contents within Art, Sport, Dramma, Music, English, Science and Mathematics. It all has to do with analysing the rate of change of the function before us.
Let us take Music for example, if the rate of change of Music( one dimention) does not obey a certain mathematical relations then the Music is just a noise and everyone will reject it. If Art in picture form( two dimentions) does not include the appropriate rate of change in the horizontal and vertical dimensions, then it is not pleasant to the observer. Now Pictures painted on the wall can have a spacial rate of change if it is monocolour and so the rate od change of the sketch with respect to the horisontal and the other with respect to the vertical they must contain curves which include a pleasant rate of change . Sharp points tend to be aggressive which curls tend to be exciting while circles gente and straight lines monotonous. But in picturte formation there other rate of changes appertaining to the colour sequence depicted in the pixels beside each other. So one can stand in front of a picture and sweep it horizontally, then vertically then diagonally and the mind becomes conscious of the difference between adjacent curves and adjecent colours , and if the relations of these difference are not harmonious like the notes of a musical piece then the effecton the mind is not artistic but that of a NOISE instead of MUSIC to the ear.
So the curves in monocolour pictures or sketches are connected through a musical harmonious relations which can be termed mathematically and also this applies to the colours. It adjacent colours do not obey a particular set of rate of changes then the colours are not pleasant to the inner mind and the overall effect is what a child produces when he plays about with paint below the age of two. This rate of changes of sound and curves and colours are all mathematically related for us to appreciate as art, and it hey are not , then they are just NOISE or just rubbish and an unpleasant relation hence the " artistic drug will not work on us!"
Dramman and English come under the same umbrella but with uttered noise following a given rule with a particular enphasy on rate of changes of sound in intensity and speed or utterance.
With sport , not here is a combination of NOISE and PICTURES and what is more , they are all dynamic and umpredicatable, but a good goal in football is appreciated more that one which is not full of the contents of pleasures due to uncertaintainy, dynamics, umpredicatability , speed and other factors too numerous to mention.
Science and mathematics are mearly tools to describe the contents of Art, Sport, Languages,Dramma and so forth.
Now here comes another surprise. All movements, including music, dramma, sport, languages etc may contain more than the first rate of change of adjacent phenomenam but the whole picture of the rate of change of the original function may have its own second rate of change and the third and the forth and so it goes, all due calculating the differences. The difference operator between adjacent phenomena is what makes, Music, Dramma, Sport, Language so exciting.
A straight line and a single frequency sound, found anywhere may introduce monotony to the mind effect. A curve and a multiple frequency sound may introduce a degree of pleasantness and gentleness and elegance while if the curve reverses its direction and the spash of sound or colour contain the third or fourth differences and even higher rate of changes then the mind is subjectied to excitment even going to such high values that intoxication does creep in .
The world is ruled by the mathematical relations that exist in what is before us. All that is presented before us has relations within its nature sometimes natural sometimes artificail , but if the relations are not harmonious then the effect is disasterous. The use of higher rate of changes in sounds and pictures and actions is what drugs us into being in some particular mood. It is so unfortuant that primitive people are only conscious of simple rate of changes and in the past artist did not know of perspectives and they drew very flat pictures. NOw that Artistst have learnt the perspective drawing which Engineers have used for a long time, now they are able to go and draw three dimensional drawings on the pavements which artists never even thought about 500 years ago and so it was due to learinging that there is a higher rate of changes contained int he picture which makes then three dimensional. Poor Artists, they have to learn so much more about higher rate of changes in sounds and pictures of which there are so many even as going to the positive and negative infinity , and this is the reason why Art and Dramma and Language are termed to be creative for our children for creation is only someone finding a new relations between the depicted rate of changes. Artists have an infinite pool to chose from and in Malta unfortunately the Bands go for the ZIN ZIN ZIN ZIN in their marches when Waltzes contain a more pleasant relations. I cannot fully understand why Maltese composers of MARCHES do not do so well as American ( Suda) and English and German and Russian composers for ther marches ( Radettzky) do better all because they have the right components around them basicaly WATER which in malta our waters do not write and emmit MUSIC as they do in European Waterfalls and flowing rivers. Joseph/Johan Straus wrote the Pizzicato Polca, The Jockey Polka, Trish Trash Polka the Spanisher Marsch or the beer Barrel Polka only because they read these comonents in their environment which in Malta we nave not as our rock terrain is so aggressive.
Same with football, it appears that only recently the Maltese football contains the right components and I am not sure that the Maltese physique is the right physique for some sport due to the fact that we were born and eat the mediterranean food . I know of a situation when the Italians offered us for some " Regatta Rowers" to go to Italy and train for competitive rowing. When the Italian instructors looked at t he rate of change of the shape of the Maltese rowers he decided to put them on a diet and you know what, " They all woke up during the night and while htey dieted during the day they fed well during the night!!!! You cannot fool a good instructor and all he did was to send them back to Malta for them to enjoy the rate of change of food they liked but without a hope of ever being competitive international rowers.
I hope I made this clear, Science and Mathematics, are the most important subjects because they contain all the ingredients one should look for to obtain a goood Art, Dramma Sport and other creations like good engineering including electronics. Without the use of science and mathemiatics no sportmand will ever win if he competes internationally and if such subjects as rate of changes and their nature are learnt by artists, they they wolud know how to write better music and would be aware not to make fools of themselves when they fail completely to notice the effect of the rate of changes they introduce onthier products which are so easily detected by a mathematician as to the area an artistic product falls as to whethet it si monotonous , gentele and elegant , exciting and sexy, and agressive and hurtful
I have devised mathematical operators to detect these relations irrispective of what I look at.
The Japanese sell more cars than any one else because they have mastered how to inbuild these rate of changes in their car shapes and their engineering and they know what it takes to make an exciting car.
The British designers through, religion and other reserve working class morality they failed to see what it takes to make an exciting car and their cars all failed as the morris 1000 or the mini car and the auatin seven never contained those rate of changes od shapesand colouras as the Lamborgini, Ferrari, ( not even the E tyupe Jaguar) and the new lines of the exciting Japanese cars.
As far as Malta is concerned it would be beneficial for all educators to see the reason why we should give more importance to science and mathematics because then, those who understand the power of knowing the human effect of the rate of changes will procuce a better product, because of the subtle contents they would introduce as they would be aware of what makes art artisctic and drama drammatic and sport exciting.
The answer to all good sensations is knowing how to introduce the higher rate of changes in products in the form of sounf relatins and colour and curve realtions with occurances that are placed colse together in time and space.
I hope I made myseld clear enough, and if I did not , it is either because either the reader or myself did not educate ourselves to the comprehending all the relations in what surrounds us.
May be I should publish the research I conduicted in this field over the past 50 years. It is so exciting and I call it, " How to know the Intension, behind a shape , a sound and a curve"
I conclude by saying that any Male and Female do try to create the effectthey feel inside them and since I have been going to court for the last 40 years I could not help depicitng the intension of Male and female Majistrates and Judges. Yes they do it too , project their intension and character through their " artistic actions". Male Majistrated do it their way , but it really surprises me to see that Female majistrates are not really conscious of what they project.. One Magistrate projects a "Sexy Look" another " A Gestapo Look" while other Female Magistrates project a very "Elegant Look depicting authority in a gentle fashion"
To the latter I send my congratulations but to the others including " artists" I advise them to study deeply their work and clothings for the rate of what we wear and say , does project our innerselves, and we must never project what we need not especially " the Gestapo artisitc Look , depiciting " I am greater than you are""
That is what Science and Mathematics are all about, learn them and you learn to live and recognise all around you.
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