Tulip digital collage

3 Tulips digital collage

Ganesh digital collage

Concrete Wall with Hands

Girl with Orchids

photograph of girl by Laura McMillion whose work can be found on www.flickr.com/lauramcmillion
photograph of orchids and background by Kristen McMillion

Photoshopped Church in Frame

Portrait of Girl

This is text on top of a photograph on top of a painting.  It includes the first line of my favorite Emily Dickinson poem:  "Tell all the truth but tell it slant"

Self Portrait

iBrains

How has technology impacted our brains?  What are the implications of this for an educational setting?

Technology has impacted our brains in both positive and negative ways.  It seems that video games, television, and trolling the internet in excess have some negative effects on children.  In Small's writing, there is a suggested correlation between multitasking and decreased reading for pleasure.  What if our students entirely lose the ability to concentrate on one task?  Would it be impossible to teach any subjects traditionally?  In these new educational settings, would we have to dramatically change our teaching style? Is this a possible reason for the increase in children with ADHD?

In what ways does learning in and through the arts impact our cognition(and vice versa)?

Jensen's article "Visual Art" suggests and statistically shows the impact of art on our ability to learn.  I am astounded by the conclusions to some of the studies written about in this chapter.  Jensen quotes:  "When art is integrated in to the curriculum, the competency scores in other subjects have increased".  A study in the chapter about how the Arts Affect Achievement, a group of children in an art enrichment program have increased math concepts and problem solving skills when compared to a control group.  

How can we as educators use the brain-based information presented in both texts to impact instruction and/or promote arts advocacy?

With the information in the texts, art instruction definitely needs to be promoted.  The arts are subjective, giving no right or wrong answer.  This makes people believe that it is not necessary.  But the studies in Jensen's writings show that the arts are crucial in creating a well-rounded student.  He also mentions that there is no down side to teaching the arts.  So why not?