A study performed by the Task Force on Children’s Learning and the Arts in cooperation with the Arts Education Partnership
Special Thanks for funding to:
The Coca Cola Foundation
The American Foundation of Teachers
Introduction:
Today, unprecedented national attention is being focused on early childhood development. Policy makers, educators, and concerned citizens across the country are working to ensure that all children have the early experiences necessary for health, well being, and optimal learning. In 1997, two White House conferences focused on early childhood one on recent research on brain development, and a second on early childhood care and education. Both helped to fuel increased public conversation and action, from the halls of government to grass roots community organizations. Lawmakers in at least 20 states have voted to expand funding for programs that serve preschool children. Officials in some states are supplementing federally funded Head Start programs with state dollars because only 40 percent of the children eligible for the program are actually receiving services. Other states have appropriated funds for pre-kindergarten pro-grams for all children, regardless of family income.
The current focus on early childhood is by no means limited to the three- to five-year-olds who are typically thought of as "preschoolers," or to school-age children between the ages of five and eight. Early childhood education begins the moment a child is born. Recent neuro-scientific research on infant brain development has provided reinforcement for what psychologists and educators have long believed: that experience in the first three years of life has a powerful influence on life-long development and learning.
As a result of new technologies that permit us to see into the brain, we now know that early experience not only has a psychological impact on development. It also has a physical impact on the neural pathways that allow a child to understand and process information effectively and to manage emotion. With that in mind, ongoing public engagement campaigns are being developed to teach parents and other caregivers about the experiences that are most essential to infant development. And, in all parts of the country, health, education, and human service organizations are reaching out in new ways to support parents and other caregivers in applying what they know.
A close look at what constitutes the best kind of experience for infants and young children leads quickly to the arts. From a baby’s first lullaby, to a three-year-old's experimentation with finger paint, to a seven-year-old's dramatization of a favorite story, developmentally appropriate arts experience is critical. For all children, at all ability levels, the arts play a central role in cognitive, motor, language, and social-emotional development. The arts motivate and engage children in learning, stimulate memory and facilitate under-standing, enhance symbolic communication, promote relationships, and provide an avenue for building competence. The arts are natural for young children. Child development specialists note that play is the business of young children; play is the way children promote and enhance their development. The arts are a most natural vehicle for play.
The extraordinary level of attention focused on early childhood programs today and the importance of the arts to that endeavor provided us with a unique opportunity to bring together educators and artists to ensure the full and appropriate integration of the arts into early childhood learning. To that end, the Goals 2000 Arts Education Partnership established the Task Force on Children's Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight. The work of the Task Force began with the development of a position paper that makes a case for the role of the arts in early childhood learning.
Purpose:
The Purpose of the Task Force on Children’s Learning and the Arts is to help guide organizations that specialize in the arts and are concerned about early childhood education in the developing arts-based early childhood programs and resources and in linking the arts to the literacy of young children.
The purpose of this document is to begin to identify examples of activities, programs, research, and resources that exemplify each of the guiding principles presented. Additionally, the goal is to build a common language between the early childhood and arts education sectors in order to share current knowledge about the needs of children, the nature of their development, and the role of the arts in their lives.
Researchers found that there should be three guiding principals that must be thoroughly integrated in all resources for young people and art based programs. The study then gives recommendations for the focus of each guiding principal:
Focus: The Child
Principle: Children should be encouraged to learn in, through, and about the arts by actively engaging in the process of creating, participating in/performing, and responding to quality arts experiences, adapted to their developmental levels and reflecting their own culture.
Focus: The Arts Experience
Principal: Arts activates and experiences, while maintaining the integrity of the artistic disciplines, should be meaningful to children, follow a scope and sequence, and connect to early childhood curriculum and appropriate practices. They also may contribute to literacy development.
Focus: Learning Environment and Adult Interactions
Principal: The development of early childhood arts programs (including resources and materials) should be shared among arts education specialists, practicing artists, early childhood educators, parents, and care givers: and the process should connect with community resources.
The study includes lists for the child: Meaningful arts activities for infants and toddlers, then for preschoolers, and then for children in early grades
The study includes for the arts experience: Well conceived arts activities.
The study includes for the Learning Environment and Adult Interactions: Recommendations for Arts and cultural organizations working with young children and ways all adults can enhance or extend the effectiveness of arts activities with young children
This Study demonstrates how involvement with the arts provides unparalleled opportunities for learning, enabling young people to reach for and attain higher levels of achievement. The research provides both explanations of how to implement the arts with children in order to the improve that child’s growing process.
The proceeding contains excerpts including quotes and summaries from the study Young children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections conducted by The Task Force on Children’s Learning and the Arts. It was conducted in cooperation with The Arts Education Partnership. If you would like more information on this study or like to read this study in full, it is available @ http://aep-arts.org/tfadvoc/taskforces/ecreport.html