Charge Your Brain With ART! Lynette Fast, Art Specialist Lincoln Public Schools Lincoln, NE
Dec 14, 2015
Charge Your Brain
With ART!Lynette Fast, Art Specialist
Lincoln Public SchoolsLincoln, NE
Charge Your Brain
With ART!Lynette Fast, Art Specialist
Lincoln Public SchoolsLincoln, NE
Arts With The Brain In Mind
Arts With The Brain In Mind
1. Teacher’s lectures and textbooks are no longer the primary sources of content in our world.
2. High School graduation rates are rising in 25-29 yr. olds. So called hard-to-reach students used to drop out. Now we are committed to helping them stay in school.
3. Knowledge is no longer the key now that everyone has access to it.
1. Teacher’s lectures and textbooks are no longer the primary sources of content in our world.
2. High School graduation rates are rising in 25-29 yr. olds. So called hard-to-reach students used to drop out. Now we are committed to helping them stay in school.
3. Knowledge is no longer the key now that everyone has access to it.
(Jensen 2001)
Into the 21st CenturyInto the 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.
-Rolf Jensen, directorCopenhagen Institute for
Future Studies
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.
-Rolf Jensen, directorCopenhagen Institute for
Future Studies
(Jensen 2001)
Into the 21st CenturyInto the 21st Century
“…the Conceptual Age is dawning and those who hope to survive in it must master the high-concept, high touch abilities.… Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning - are fundamentally human attributes.”
-Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind, 2006
“…the Conceptual Age is dawning and those who hope to survive in it must master the high-concept, high touch abilities.… Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning - are fundamentally human attributes.”
-Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind, 2006
Into the 21st CenturyInto the 21st Century• Workplace demands:
– Emotional balance– Cognitive flexibility– Social skills– Self-discipline– Thinking skills
• Art gives your emotions a form - and therefore creates an opportunity to manipulate that form. With the arts, we practice and interpret the demands that the workplace will place upon us, preparing our balance, flexibility, and skills.
• Workplace demands:– Emotional balance– Cognitive flexibility– Social skills– Self-discipline– Thinking skills
• Art gives your emotions a form - and therefore creates an opportunity to manipulate that form. With the arts, we practice and interpret the demands that the workplace will place upon us, preparing our balance, flexibility, and skills.
The Enemies of Creativity
The Enemies of Creativity
• Cultural and Personal Forces– Prejudice and repression
• Poor Models of Leadership– Fear, anger, lack of self-respect, negative
speech and thought
• Schools– Building fences, discouraging, no risk-taking– Habitual processes, repetitive lessons– Teach us safety in the known, do not teach us
to choose– Red tape, parental pressures, meager budgets
• Cultural and Personal Forces– Prejudice and repression
• Poor Models of Leadership– Fear, anger, lack of self-respect, negative
speech and thought
• Schools– Building fences, discouraging, no risk-taking– Habitual processes, repetitive lessons– Teach us safety in the known, do not teach us
to choose– Red tape, parental pressures, meager budgets
(McCabe 1990)
The Enemies of Creativity
The Enemies of Creativity
• Patterns of Parenting– Indecisiveness, demonstrate the burden of
choice, showing great stress around making choices
– Waste energy, become passive• Avoidance of Self-Expression
– Lessons of fear, self-distrust, lowered self-esteem
– Accept adults belief systems, loose interest– Made to feel incompetent, wrong in their
approach, withdraw• Repression of Thoughts and Feelings
– Learn to distrust, ignore, repress– Learn so well we do not always know how we
feel or if we feel
• Patterns of Parenting– Indecisiveness, demonstrate the burden of
choice, showing great stress around making choices
– Waste energy, become passive• Avoidance of Self-Expression
– Lessons of fear, self-distrust, lowered self-esteem
– Accept adults belief systems, loose interest– Made to feel incompetent, wrong in their
approach, withdraw• Repression of Thoughts and Feelings
– Learn to distrust, ignore, repress– Learn so well we do not always know how we
feel or if we feel (McCabe 1990)
The Enemies of Creativity
The Enemies of Creativity
• Negative Emotions– Distorted by social codes, morals, ignorance,
or fear
• Lack of Self-Esteem– “I don’t count”– Idealized glamour, faking, hiding– Falseness causes problems in communication,
contributes to disruptions, interrupts, confuses relationships with other people
– Repressed feelings– Fear of making the wrong step, fear of:
failure, success, what other people think or do, being wrong, different, risking being wrong
• Negative Emotions– Distorted by social codes, morals, ignorance,
or fear
• Lack of Self-Esteem– “I don’t count”– Idealized glamour, faking, hiding– Falseness causes problems in communication,
contributes to disruptions, interrupts, confuses relationships with other people
– Repressed feelings– Fear of making the wrong step, fear of:
failure, success, what other people think or do, being wrong, different, risking being wrong
(McCabe 1990)
Can students analyze, critique, and place
information in context?
Can students analyze, critique, and place
information in context?
• Less trivia= more in-depth learning
• More in-depth learning = Organization, Flexibility, Cooperation= Integrity, Truth, Fairness, Justice,
Dignity= Thinking skills, Contribution= A sense of wonder, Creativity
• Less trivia= more in-depth learning
• More in-depth learning = Organization, Flexibility, Cooperation= Integrity, Truth, Fairness, Justice,
Dignity= Thinking skills, Contribution= A sense of wonder, Creativity
ART: Building a quiet confidence
ART: Building a quiet confidence
• A universal language, with a symbolic way of representing the world, allowing us to understand other cultures
• Provide healthy emotional expression• Develops patience, self-criticism• Improve focused attention states (Sautter, 1994)
• Enhance concentration, happy to work alone and focus on the task at hand, fostering commitment to task
• Work ethic develops - social skill, teamwork, self discipline, self motivation, helplessness is decreased (Sautter, 1994)
• A universal language, with a symbolic way of representing the world, allowing us to understand other cultures
• Provide healthy emotional expression• Develops patience, self-criticism• Improve focused attention states (Sautter, 1994)
• Enhance concentration, happy to work alone and focus on the task at hand, fostering commitment to task
• Work ethic develops - social skill, teamwork, self discipline, self motivation, helplessness is decreased (Sautter, 1994)
(Jensen 2001)
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
Painting is just another way of keeping a visual diary.
- Pablo Picasso
Painting is just another way of keeping a visual diary.
- Pablo Picasso
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
Doing art is a way of thinking and demonstrating the product of thinking.
- Howard Gardner
Doing art is a way of thinking and demonstrating the product of thinking.
- Howard Gardner
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
Art exercises our creative, intuitive faculties in a way that other curricular areas might never do.
- Eric Jensen
Art exercises our creative, intuitive faculties in a way that other curricular areas might never do.
- Eric Jensen
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
Art: A visual sketchpad for thinking
An active mind can be self-stimulating and thus always create its own environment. A stimulating environment can induce activity in a brain that might otherwise remain sluggish.”
-Ashley Montagu
An active mind can be self-stimulating and thus always create its own environment. A stimulating environment can induce activity in a brain that might otherwise remain sluggish.”
-Ashley Montagu
Good Arguments to Make
Good Arguments to Make
• Brain Function Development• The Act of Seeing• Thinking and Memory• Preparation for Tomorrow
• Brain Function Development• The Act of Seeing• Thinking and Memory• Preparation for Tomorrow
The Action of Learning
Inside the Brain
The Action of Learning
Inside the Brain
The brain has approx. 100 billion neurons.The brain has approx. 100 billion neurons.
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
(Chudler, 2006)
The Action of LearningInside the Brain
The Action of LearningInside the Brain
• Each neuron has about 1,000 - 10,000 synapse connections. We grow synapses.
• Dendrite - receives information
• Axon - sends information
• Each neuron has about 1,000 - 10,000 synapse connections. We grow synapses.
• Dendrite - receives information
• Axon - sends information
(Chudler, 2006)
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
(Chudler, 2006)
The Act of SeeingThe Act of Seeing
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Brain Processing of Visual Thought - Seeing is a Whole
Brain Experience
Brain Processing of Visual Thought - Seeing is a Whole
Brain Experience• Your visual system
has more than 35 areas for processing.– Retina transmits
along millions of axons (electrical wires) to the thalamus
– Midbrain organizes the information and packages it, determining where it will be sent next
• Your visual system has more than 35 areas for processing.– Retina transmits
along millions of axons (electrical wires) to the thalamus
– Midbrain organizes the information and packages it, determining where it will be sent next
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Occipital Lobe
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Occipital Lobe• Processes
color, movement, contrast, form, and critical elements of vision
• Processes color, movement, contrast, form, and critical elements of vision
Brain Processing of Visual Thought Memory
Brain Processing of Visual Thought Memory
• Temporal Lobe names and memorizes
• Parietal Lobe processes the spiral layout
• Temporal Lobe names and memorizes
• Parietal Lobe processes the spiral layout
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Frontal Lobe
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Frontal Lobe
• Determines attention and how long to look at something
• Determines attention and how long to look at something
Brain Processing of Visual ThoughtRoutine
Brain Processing of Visual ThoughtRoutine
– Active input– Construction– Feedback– Reconstruction
– Active input– Construction– Feedback– Reconstruction
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
• To create a visual image, our brain has to do a lot and not do certain things. It’s a complex and creative process.
• Seeing also involves a backward flow, using our cognition and memory to double-check, mediate, and fill in what we see.
• There is no passivity to seeing or creating.
• To create a visual image, our brain has to do a lot and not do certain things. It’s a complex and creative process.
• Seeing also involves a backward flow, using our cognition and memory to double-check, mediate, and fill in what we see.
• There is no passivity to seeing or creating.
(Jensen, 2001)
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Developing Seeing
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Developing Seeing
• Experience space in the real world• Non-dominant hand plays a critical
complementary (and covert) role. Non-dominant hand is getting directions ahead of the task.
• Bilateral brain activity is present during art
• Experience space in the real world• Non-dominant hand plays a critical
complementary (and covert) role. Non-dominant hand is getting directions ahead of the task.
• Bilateral brain activity is present during art
(Jensen, 2001)
Strong emotion-visual brain link
Expression
Strong emotion-visual brain link
Expression• Thalamus• Amygdala• Top of brain stem to
frontal lobes• Familiar activates
hippocampus• Bizarre activates
thalamus / parietal lobe
• Thalamus• Amygdala• Top of brain stem to
frontal lobes• Familiar activates
hippocampus• Bizarre activates
thalamus / parietal lobe
(Jensen, 2001)
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Motivation and Self Discipline
Brain Processing of Visual Thought
Motivation and Self Discipline
• Frontal Lobes / Emotional system: Choosing what students CAN do, OR what they actually CHOOSE to do.
• Frontal Lobes / Emotional system: Choosing what students CAN do, OR what they actually CHOOSE to do.
Information Processing Model
Information Processing Model
How the Brain LearnsDavid A. Sousa
2001
How the Brain LearnsDavid A. Sousa
2001
( Sousa, 2001)
Information Processing Model
Information Processing Model
How the Brain Learns, David A. Sousa, 2001( Sousa, 2001)
( Sousa, 2001)
( Sousa, 2001)
( Sousa, 2001)
Teaching Visual ArtsTeaching Visual Arts
Preparing for Today and Tomorrow
- Elliot W. Eisner
Preparing for Today and Tomorrow
- Elliot W. Eisner
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach
Good judgments about qualitative relationships– Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct
answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.
Problems can have more than one solution– Questions have more than one answer.
Celebrate multiple perspectives– Many ways to see and interpret the world.
Complex forms of problem solving– Learning that ideas can change with circumstance
and opportunity.– Willingness to surrender to the unanticipated
possibilities.
Good judgments about qualitative relationships– Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct
answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.
Problems can have more than one solution– Questions have more than one answer.
Celebrate multiple perspectives– Many ways to see and interpret the world.
Complex forms of problem solving– Learning that ideas can change with circumstance
and opportunity.– Willingness to surrender to the unanticipated
possibilities.
(Eisner, 2004)
Elliott Eisner, in Beyond Creating: The Place for Art in America's Schools. Getty Center for Education in the Arts. 1985 p. 69.
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach
Reveals cognition– The limits of our language do not define the
limits of our cognition.
Subtleties– Small differences can have large effects.
Conceptual knowledge becomes real– Learn to think through and within a material.
Meaningful literacy– Ability to encode or decode meaning in and of
the symbolic forms used in culture.– Learn to say what can not be said.
Reveals cognition– The limits of our language do not define the
limits of our cognition.
Subtleties– Small differences can have large effects.
Conceptual knowledge becomes real– Learn to think through and within a material.
Meaningful literacy– Ability to encode or decode meaning in and of
the symbolic forms used in culture.– Learn to say what can not be said.
(Eisner, 2004)
Elliott Eisner, in Beyond Creating: The Place for Art in America's Schools. Getty Center for Education in the Arts. 1985 p. 69.
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach
Discover emotion– Experiences not possible from any
other source.– Discover the range and variety of
what we are capable of feeling.
The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.
Discover emotion– Experiences not possible from any
other source.– Discover the range and variety of
what we are capable of feeling.
The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.
(Eisner, 2004)
Elliott Eisner, in Beyond Creating: The Place for Art in America's Schools. Getty Center for Education in the Arts. 1985 p. 69.
Teaching Visual ArtsAesthetic Value
Teaching Visual ArtsAesthetic Value
• How visual arts is taught is just as important as what is taught.– Joy, pleasure, surprise, novelty– Exploration, discovering,
motivation
• How visual arts is taught is just as important as what is taught.– Joy, pleasure, surprise, novelty– Exploration, discovering,
motivation
(Jensen 2001) (McCabe, 1990)
Teaching Visual Arts Functional Value
Teaching Visual Arts Functional Value
– Exercises in shifting perspectives, attitude change, too much ego, testing out possibilities, keeping an open mind
– Brainstorming, “what if”, consider what might be possible, the more the better
– Finding ways to express and develop ideas
– Exercises in shifting perspectives, attitude change, too much ego, testing out possibilities, keeping an open mind
– Brainstorming, “what if”, consider what might be possible, the more the better
– Finding ways to express and develop ideas
(Jensen 2001) (McCabe, 1990)
Teaching Visual Arts An Inclusive SubjectTeaching Visual Arts An Inclusive Subject
• History, styles, time periods• Society, collaboration• Communication, criticism• Production• Literacy• Investigate big questions in
shaping our interactions with the world around us.
• History, styles, time periods• Society, collaboration• Communication, criticism• Production• Literacy• Investigate big questions in
shaping our interactions with the world around us.
(Jensen 2001) (Eisner 2004)
(Olivia Gude, 2007)
Teaching Visual ArtsInfluences on Thinking and
Memory
Teaching Visual ArtsInfluences on Thinking and
Memory• All forms of color are superior to black
and white for recall• Realistic color is better than unrealistic
color in memory tasks• Unrealistic color is processed the the
right hemisphere, realistic ones (color or black and white) are processed in the left hemisphere
• Context does play a role in color processing
• All forms of color are superior to black and white for recall
• Realistic color is better than unrealistic color in memory tasks
• Unrealistic color is processed the the right hemisphere, realistic ones (color or black and white) are processed in the left hemisphere
• Context does play a role in color processing
(Berry, 1991) (Jensen, 2001)
Teaching Visual Arts The Questions We AskTeaching Visual Arts The Questions We Ask
How does the brain respond to art?
How can we cause the brain to do the work (processing) of learning?
In what ways can learning opportunities be aligned with the natural learning systems of the brain?
How do the arts ignite whole minded learners?
How does the brain respond to art?
How can we cause the brain to do the work (processing) of learning?
In what ways can learning opportunities be aligned with the natural learning systems of the brain?
How do the arts ignite whole minded learners?
Let’s join neuroscientists in the advocacy for children and
learning!
Let’s join neuroscientists in the advocacy for children and
learning!
Lynette FastLincoln North Star High School
Lincoln, NE
Lynette FastLincoln North Star High School
Lincoln, NE
Lincoln Public Schools5901 “O” Street, Lincoln, NE 68510
http://artweb.lps.org/art/
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