Art Unlocks Learning
by Sharon Jeffus

As parents and educators, we have the wonderful opportunity of teaching our children in the best ways possible! We innately know that each of our children are marvelously different. When most of us were young, analysis of the best way each individual child learns was uncharted territory. Most of us experienced classes where subjects were taught in a workbook approach. “Hands on” learning was unheard of.

Art was considered an enhancement to the curriculum, but not a necessity. There is a saying, “Tell me and I forget, show me, and I remember, involve me and I understand.” When you consider what this means, you can truly understand the importance of using art as a learning tool. A very simple example is to think about how you were learning how to bake a cake using a certain recipe, or build a certain dog house. How much do you remember when you simply read a recipe? How much do you remember if you watch the cake being made? Now consider the amount you remember when you actually bake the cake yourself. The same is true of building a birdhouse or anything else. The well known Dale Carnegie’s Cone of Learning says that we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear and 70% of what we hear, see and say and 90% of what we do. One of the most delightful lessons that my sons and I did was a perfect example of the truth of this research.

We did a study on the solar system. First, we read about the solar system, studied the planets and outer space. Next, we made a model of the solar system out of paper mache. My older son made a space ship. We created a solar system calendar using a blank calendar template and entered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Art Competition. The best thing that we did was have several families over and my sons taught a lesson on the solar system. They answered questions and showed examples. By the time they were finished, I had two enthusiastic outer space experts, excited with the opportunity to learn!

I believe our goal and opportunity as teachers is to make learning exciting and fun! In my opinion, to simplify things, there are basically three important learning styles. Auditory learners tend to enjoy more traditional teaching techniques. Using a lecture-style forum, and regulating voice tone, inflection, and body language can help children maintain interest and pay attention. Watching a character on Sesame Street or VeggieTales, and seeing the interesting vocal tones, body language and inflection and auditory learning taking place is a good example. Information needs to be presented and communicated in a verbally interesting way.

Visual learners rely upon a visual learning style: "Show me and I'll understand." Visual learners benefit from diagrams, charts, pictures, films, and written directions. These students will benefit from to do lists, assignment logs, and written notes. Research has shown that allowing them to draw the answer, and doodle while they are taking notes helps them to retain information.

The majority of children are best served by the kinesthetic means of learning: touching, feeling, and experiencing the material at hand. I appreciate the following quote as it supports the importance of hands on learning throughout life. "Children enter kindergarten as kinesthetic and tactual learners, moving and touching everything as they learn. Bysecond or third grade, some students have become visual learners. During the late elementary years some students, primarily females, become auditory learners. Yet, many adults, especially males, maintain kinesthetic and tactual strengths throughout their lives."(Teaching Secondary Students Through Their Individual Learning Styles, Rita Stafford and Kenneth J. Dunn; Allyn and Bacon, 1993).

One of the exciting things about art education and learning, is that it meets the needs of all learning styles. It allows all of the core subjects to be taken a thread futher. It allows children the freedom to think and problem solve after the core information has been introduced. An example of this is to study a famous bridge in history. What was its historical signifigance? You can look at the bridge from an aesthetic point of view. You can appreciate its beauty. Why is it visually pleasing? You can look at it from an engineering point of view. How did they do that? Just as the first engineer and inventor of systematic perspective, Bruneleschi, invented ways to get his designed dome in two pieces to the top of the building in Florence, children can draw and calculate how the master engineer of the bridge put it together.

Finally, he can invent and design his very own bridge! He can even write verses about he beauty of the bridge or write an expository paragraph on how he did it. Making choices and individual creativity and problem solving is the most important part of the learning experience. Einstein said “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” An early American inventor named Kettering lamented over the educational process. To paraphrase, he said that it taught that failure was bad, but when looked at from the perspective of an inventor, many failures were needed to succeed. Edison failed over one thousand times before inventing the light bulb.

Art allows children the freedom to try and fail and know that it is ok. There are many different ways in art to achieve success; just as there are many different buildings that an architect could design that would fit on a particular piece of land. The great part of being a teacher is the encouragement you can give at the finish of each design the student creates. Success builds on success and soon your student is achieving beyond what you could ever imagine. Even if you can only sincerely compliment the way the student uses the color green, just that one encouraging word builds for future success.

In Art For The Fun of It by Peggy Davison Jenkins, this idea is further supported. “The teacher or parent needs to assume leadership in bringing out the creativity within the child, not imposing one’s own ideas. The most important thing a child learns in school (or anywhere) are ideas about him/herself. So often these ideas form into an “I can’t”...Art for such children could be the one bright light in the curriculum, the time of day or week when they can ...” I believe this reinforcing of their self concept can help them succeed in all aspects of their learning experience.

In every subject area you can have projects that allow creativity and problem solving and reinforce the core subject that you are teaching. Science, math, English, history, and geography all have co-related hands on art activities that delight children and meet the needs of the kinesthetic and visual learner. Beginning a science lesson with a picture from the master artist Bierdstadt studying rainbows and waterfalls, “Niagra” (http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/bierstadt/p-bierstadt22.htm) in science, followed by writing a haiku poem about the picture in English, then calculating the size of the waterfall in math, and techniques in atmospheric perspective in art, and land formations in geography make memorable lessons for children.

Tessalations and fractals, drawing with geometric shapes, and art by Mondrian or Escher reinforce math core learning. Writing concrete poetry, drawing a cariacature and writing a character sketch, and creating comic strip art are just three of many ways to reinforce English learning. Bringing a story to life is an important aspect of communicating ideas. In Breakpoint Worldview, 2002, Collen Carroll in an article Tolkein, Transformer of Culture says, “Through his use of fantasy, invented languages, and mythical realms and creatures, Tolkein forces readers to check their own beliefs at the door and adopt, for a
time, his worldview. Suddenly, the same readers who would snooze through a didactic presentation of Christian morality are willing to embracethat morality in the context of Tolkein’s engrossing narrative. Their imaginations are captivated, and their minds are open. They will not
convert overnight...but their attitudes can be transformed by a captivating story.” I remember reading the quote from a national publication saying that C.S.Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia hold many a trap for the unwary atheist.

Reinforcing stories visually further
impacts their signifigance on learning thereby touching visual, kinesthetic and auditory learners. Cynthia Tobias, in her excellent book The Way They Learn says, “Parents rarely intentionally frustrate their children, but intentional or not, it happens...The challenge for parents is to find positive ways of building on their children’s natural strengths without sacrificing desired bottom-line outcomes.” This book is a definite must read if you want to learn how to teach your children in their own learning style. I remember doing a presentation for a group of parents and children at an art competition. One child in a particular family was so proud of a cardinal she had drawn a picture of for her science study of birds. Her brother had created a battle scene from a Civil War battle of great importance. The pictures were delightful.

My own sons have achieved success in education and more importantly are lifelong learners. They are excited about learning new things. There are many aspects of learning that must be mastered with techniques and memorization. However, if problem solving, creativity and invention are not encouraged as part of this learning, there is a chance that many potentially great minds will be hopelessly lost to society. Art is truly the key to unlock the potential hidden within so many children. You can go to our website at visualmanna.com for more information.

About the author:

Sharon Jeffus has a B.S.S.E. in art education from John Brown University and ten years experience teaching in the public schools. She is the co-founder/writer of Visual Manna, a complete art curriculum that reinforces the core curriculum subjects including Teaching English Through Art. Sharon studied sculpting at Southern Illinois University and painting at Metropolitan in Denver. She has homeschooled her two sons Jonathan and Joshua for 10 years. Their newest art book is Art Adventures in Narnia. Visit the web site:
http://www.visualmanna.com