How children think, feel and understand things through the Arts.

Karen Gallas believes that the separation of art from life begins early in the school career. I tend to agree. Society places artists on a pedestal, makes the creation of art as an abstract, magical essence that only few are capable of tapping into. I see art as Gallas does, something that is an integral part of our social identity, and instead of it being delegated to an afternoon cut and paste or painting session, we should be enriching our curriculums with it, enhancing all learning areas. Writing a poem about the role of worms in the garden, creating a mosiac of sea creatures that inhabit a certain coral reef or making a song about how we went to the shop and we brought vegetables to make a soup.

Goldberg is concerned with how learning and the arts is what makes us human, about what makes us shine as a race, what makes us different from the others in the animal world. But fundamentally, learning should be about a sense of wholeness, learning a personal repotoire about what the world means and how it shapes us and how we can shape it. Arts should be recognised for the enormous contribution it gives any and every area of society. One would not make new inventions nor realise new endeavours in science or business without the creative spark. This is the methodology she means, the story of us as human beings, how we make sense of the world around us and express it in individual terms.

Children should have control not only about what they learn, but how they learn. Goldberg believes that childen should be empowered to control their own learning in the school system. I believe this is a form of utopia, at the current level of thinking concerning education it isn't obtainable, but I see it as necessary and important. The only available method available right now is homeshooling. One would need to revolutionise the whole education system in order for it to work, and creating an arts based education system would be one step in doing so. Children should be able to carve their own paths in education, not be shaped too closely by it. Positive arts experiences would give children a sense of self-worth, freedom to experiment so they would know what best suited their individual needs and help them to feel the success of achievement that is not available in the current climate, which is fairly much mapped out for them. Forging an individualised path is enabling a greater sense of freedom, fostering a policy for children to be free thinking and allow for children of different types of learning styles to fully use thier strengths.

In relation to Susan Wright's exploration of the 3 kinds of arts-based intelligence (according to Howard Gardner multi-intelligence theory which has seven), which are musical intelligence, spatial intelligence and bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence.

Musical Intelligence relates to one's musical ability or talent, it "has been defined as the controlled movement of sound in time" (Wright, S. (2003), 'Ways of Knowing in the Arts" page 4). To imbue that sound with emotion is a step above the clinical approach to music, making it far richer. An example of children using their musical intelligence would be to create sounds and rythmns of a chorus of animals ie stamp like an elephant, click like a cricket or to sing like a bird.

Spatial Intelligence is about percieving the world around and making a physcial expression of it, whether by a 2D image or a 3D object. An example of Spatial Intelligence would be observation of a fish tank and either making a drawing representation of it, or creating a physical representation out of a collection of materials.

Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence is how one uses ones body to create solutions to problems and making an orginal work with one's body. An example of which could be manipulating or shaping one's body movements to imitate a flower waking and pushing its petals to the sun or dancing to music.