OECD Conference Educating for Innovative Societies on 26 April 2012 - Session 4: Arts Education in Innovation-Driven Societies - The Impact of Arts Education: What Do We Know? by Ellen Winner, Boston College

2. Obama‟s 2008 platform on the arts
•To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to
reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country
great. To do so, we must nourish our children‟s creative skills. In addition to
giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the
the ability to
new global context, we should also encourage
think creatively that comes from a
meaningful arts education. Unfortunately, many school
districts are cutting instructional time for art and music education.

3. May 2011
“Due to budget constraints and emphasis on the subjects of
high stakes testing, arts instruction in schools is on a
downward trend.”

5. Minor role, strong TRANSFER claims...

6. Studies have shown that involvement in the arts
helps kids increase test scores and promotes
academic achievement. Kids who are involved in
the arts are--
4 times more likely to be recognized for
academic achievement
3 times more likely to be elected to class office
within their schools
4 times more likely to participate in a math and
science fair
3 times more likely to win an award for school

7. “Saving” kids through the arts
“We‟re going to try to move forward all
the kids who were left behind by „No
Child Left Behind‟ – the kids who have
talent or a passion or an idiosyncratic
perspective. Those kids are important
too and they should have a place in
society. It’s very often the arts that
catches them.” Rocco Landesman Chairman of NEH 2009
“Landesman doesn’t defend arts education
as a rigorous discipline…Instead, the
purpose is salvation. Some students don’t fit
the NCLB [No Child Left Behind] regime and
other subjects don’t inspire them. Talented
but offbeat, they sulk through algebra, act
up in the cafeteria, and drop out of school.
The arts “catch” them and pull them back,
turning a sinking ego on the margins into a
creative citizen with a “place in society.”
Bauerlein 2010 Education Next

8. Why expect transfer?

9. Difficulty of
demonstrating transfer
...even with plausible
hypothesis
Design of study
Quality of arts instruction

10. Our forthcoming
OECD book reports
•Creativity Outcomes
on:
•Cognitive Outcomes
•Motivational Outcomes
•Social Skills Outcomes
•Brain Outcomes

11. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We
Know Thus Far

12. Null/
Multi-Arts Significant
Inconsistent
REAP Correlational (10) Significant ES
REAP Experimental (6) Non-significant ES
Music (0)
Visual Arts (0)
Correlational (2) Significant, but 1 study self-reported originality
Quasi-experimental (1) Non-significant
Theatre (0)
Correlational (1) Significant
Experimental (2) Significant
Dance (0)
Correlational (1) 0 Non-significant
Quasi-experimental (2) Significant
Experimental (2) Significant

13. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We
Know Thus Far

14. Motivational Outcomes: Multi-Arts
Students taking
All correlational arts score
Reap and post-REAP No difference
higher
Academic self-concept 2 0
Attendance 6 1
Aspirations 3 0
Attitude 1 3
Drop out 1 1
Engagement 13 2
Persistence 1 0

15. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We
Know Thus Far
A claim that does not hold up

16. Example of Correlational Finding: SAT Data from College Board
Verbal SAT Score as a Function of High School Arts Courses
455
455
460 452
452
450
432
440 427 432
427
430 422
422
420 413
413
410
400
390
None 1 yr. 2 yrs. 3 yrs. 4 yrs. Over 4
yrs.

17. Example #2 of Correlational Data: James Catterall

18. Arts and math/verbal/composite achievement (REAP)

19. International Studies
Fail to Replicate
•UK: Arts track: lower performance GCSE
•Netherlands: no difference

20. Non-Causal Explanations
Families
Schools
Drive
Strategy

21. Hypothesis: arts improve academic
learning via the indirect route of
changing school culture
--more constructivist, inquiry based,
project based learning?

22. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We
Know Thus Far

24. 2009

25. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We
Know Thus Far

26. •4-6 yr olds randomly assigned to music
listening/painting group computerized
lessons led by teacher 2 hr/wk, 5 days/wk,
4 wks.
•
•
•

27. • musically trained children do well in school above and
beyond what would be predicted by their IQ
(Schellenberg, 2006).
• Higher IQ children study instruments
(Schellenberg)
• Personality trait of conscientiousness, which is
known to be related to academic performance,
predicts persistence with an instrument.
(Schellenberg)
• If lessons in other art forms involved the same
combination of school-like activities...

28. Multi-Arts and Cognitive Outcomes: What We
Know Thus Far

30. • Training in looking closely at paintings
and describe them in detail improves
doctors‟ ability to diagnose disorders from
photos of people (but this need not
involve art)--Dolev et al. 2001
• Training in looking at and describing
works of art improves 9-10 year olds
ability to interpret a scientific image (a
fossil record of two intersecting
footprints)--Tishman et al 1999

34. BRAIN OUTCOMES

35. Our Approach

36. 3 steps
Step 1: Analyze learning in parent domain
Step 2: Assess learning in parent domain
Step 3: Test plausible hypotheses about learning
transfer

37. Potentially Transferable
Cognitive Habits of Mind

38. Stretch and Explore
Just play around and maybe you‟ll learn a new techn

39. Observation
Learning to See
potential
transfer
domains?
biology...
writing...

40. Envisioning
What You Can‟t
See
Generating and
Manipulating Mental
Images
potential transfer domains
geometry...
geography

41. potential transfer domains?
Reflection everywhere!
Meta-cognition
Evaluating
Explaining

42. Expression
“Art is beyond technique”
potential transfer
domains?
writing with a personal
voice...

43. Don‟t look for transfer unless you could
explain it if you found it....unless you
believe in magic

44. Conclusions
More experimental (not correlational) studies
Studies should be based on hypotheses related to learning
in the relevant art form
Greater transfer should be predicted by greater learning in
the art form
Examine effects of teaching a non-arts domain by
integrating the arts; compare to traditional method of
teaching same domain
Consider the hypothesis of arts as entry points but only for
certain kinds of students

45. No transfer = lack of
/
justification
•Intrinsic merits
•Double edged sword: direct always better