In Diapers

The New York Times' Alison Gopnick delivers an editorial in support of experiential learning approaches. The writer points to new research on the behavior of young children and babies:

"Three recent experiments show that even the youngest children have sophisticated and powerful learning abilities. Last year, Fei Xu and Vashti Garcia at the University of British Columbia proved that babies could understand probabilities. Eight-month-old babies were shown a box full of mixed-up Ping-Pong balls: mostly white but with some red ones mixed in. The babies were more surprised, and looked longer and more intently at the experimenter when four red balls and one white ball out of the box — a possible, yet improbable outcome — than when four white balls and a red one were produced."

Also: Everything But the Girl - Apron Strings

And the Brain

How does your brain work?

I’m still figuring mine out.

Ooh, look:

“Musical Minds,” the season premiere of “Nova” on PBS, is based on the neurologist Oliver Sacks’s most recent book, “Musicophilia,” a collection of case studies of people whose brains have unusual relationships to music, cases in which, as Dr. Sacks puts it, “music gets them going to an extraordinary degree.” A one-hour program can’t approach the depth and texture of Dr. Sacks’s book, but it does get at one question that nags the reader: What do these musical savants sound like? Or put another way: Are they really as amazing as they’re cracked up to be?

On most PBS stations on Tuesday night (check local listings).

Thinking of You

The website of the Dana Foundation might seem like an odd choice for a giddy tour-guide to take a group of fellow teaching artists, but there are at least 196 reasons to take a whirl:

"In 2001, The Dana Foundation created the Arts Education program with a sole focus of providing grants to support professional development for teaching artists and in-school arts specialists. The first several years of grants were to programs in New York City, Washington,DC, Los Angeles and to organizations with a 50 mile radius of the three.

Through 2008, Dana has awarded 196 grants for a total of $8,008,900."

Money, as you may have noticed, changes everything, but Dana's not just for fundraisers. The foundation's Arts Education publications provide inspiration, data and information that is relevant to the work lives of professional TAs.

Highlights: Reports on brain research that comes close to proving, once and for all, that the arts really can positively impact learning. A collection of essays on effective planning, and a working model of an effective school partnership.

Alarmingly, the foundation is reevaluating its approach to funding arts education. But they say not to worry.

Also: Thelonius Monk - Straight, No Chaser

For Joy

It's not just in your head, there is a growing body of evidence that singing makes you feel better.

 

CNN reports:

 

“Researchers in Finland have demonstrated that listening to music for several hours a day can enhance the rehabilitation of stroke patients. In another study, stroke patients who were taught to play the piano or drums made speedier progress in their general recovery than patients who received only traditional therapy…Melodic Intonation Therapy, in which musical exercises are used to improve speech, has proved an effective treatment for patients with aphasia, a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain responsible for language.”

 

Sing for Joy is a community choir for people with Parkinsons Disease and similar conditions, their friends and care givers.

I just noticed that, yesterday, Dale Davis,  ATA Executive Director, posted an article about a study revealing the positive effects of singing in a chorus.

Also: Zeitgeist is still a fun tasting word, after all this time. Lemony.

 

The Wireless

I understand that a new interdisciplinary field is springing up in the space between education and neuroscience. 

From the LA Times:

For years, school systems across the nation dropped classes in the fine arts to concentrate on getting students to pass tests in reading and mathematics. Now, a growing body of brain research suggests that teaching the arts may be good for students across all disciplines.

I got this link from Dale Davis, ATA Executive Director, who has posted it on the listserv. I think she learned about it from Eric Booth.

Transmission.