Playing with the arts: One route to 21st Century Skills Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D. Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology Temple University.

““Playing” with the arts:Playing” with the arts:One route to 21st Century SkillsOne route to 21st Century Skills

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D.

Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology

Temple University

What do you see?

Just scribbles?

24 mo old 36 mo old 6 year old

Using a new lens:

24 mo old 36 mo old 6 year old

Fine motor control

intent symbolism narrative

Use of Space

What do you hear?Repeat after me

Using a new lens:

Time

Relations: high lowMath and division

1/2

What’s going on?

Just play?

Using a new lens

Narrativ

e

Language

Perspective taking

Planning and executive function

Potential social skills

The point?

• The arts and other playful engagement are…

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Pregnant with learning opportunities!

Scientific studies

• Demonstrate the relationship between the arts and…– Math (Deasy, 2002; Spelke, 2008))

– Social skills (Thomas, 2007)

– Symbolic representation– Increased attention (Posner,2008)

– Executive function (Jonidas, 2008)

– Divergent thinking (Ashbury & Rich, 2008)

For example, recent and ongoing neurological studies find

that…

– 21 year olds trained in music and acting have increased long term verbal memory. Learn better memorizing

strategies (Jonidas, 2008)

– musical training in underprivileged 3-5 year olds supports attentional skills and better spatial and math

outcomes (Neville et al., 2008)

– Musical training is related to second language learning (Petitto, 2008; also see Wong et al., 2007)

And playful learning is related to outcomes in…

• Literacy• Math• Spatial skills• Social skills• Executive function

Despite these facts..

• April 2009, A report from the Alliance for Childhood finds that in schools surveyed in NY and LA, 48% and 64% of classrooms respectively, reported there is not enough time to do any art.

• April 2009, NYTimes Headline: Julliard Curtails Program that serves poor children

• Elkind (2008) reports that children today have 8 hours less free play than they did a decade ago and 30,000 schools have dropped recess

The arts and playful learning also reinforce 21st Century skills

that go well beyond academic content and process

We are told that….

• We are leaving the information age, where getting the factoids was enough….

• We are entering a new era, a knowledge age in which information is doubling every 2.5 years.

• Integrating information and innovation is key.

And Daniel Pink (2005), author of A whole new mind wrote:

The past few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind-- computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people -- artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers -- will now reap society’s richest rewards….

Finally, the Partnership for the 21st Century Skills echoed, (September 10, 2008)

In an economy driven by innovation and knowledge … in diverse workplaces and communities that hinge on collaborative relationships and social networking … the ingenuity, agility and skills of the American people are crucial to U.S. competitiveness.

21st Century Skills: Education and Competitiveness

Distilling from the business community, education and child psychology, we noted 6 key skills that children will need to be successful in the 21st

century……Hirsh-Pasek,Golinkoff, Berk & Singer, 2008

The 6Cs act in concert as a kind of dynamic system for renewable learning

In drama when you do a skit or a play, all of the 6Cs are developed!

In short:

Playing with the arts is a gateway to academic learning and is so much more. By putting content learning in its proper place within a systematic theory of the 6Cs we see how music, art, dance, and theater…. Prepare children to …

•Better understand the human condition

•Learn the academic and social content in an engaging and meaningful way

•Develop the skill set that is critical in the global world of tomorrow

•

Thus, It is time to see arts education with a new lens