Why STEM Kids Need the Arts

Art helps all students succeed in the classroom

WORDS SUNDEY MCCLENDON

TARRANT COUNTY MOM SELEENA CARROLL WAS IN SEARCH OF BAL ANCE. Her daughters excelled at dance and music, so she started seeking out fine arts schools. “We were looking for a school that would allow them to be in musicals or choir but also had very stringent academics, and it was kind of hard to find,” she says.

Carroll finally landed on Fort Worth’s All Saints’ Episcopal School, which she believes offers the best of both worlds. “My oldest daughter wants to be a surgeon, so she needed a strong science department,” she explains. “And art is an outlet for my girls.”

Her hope for a more holistic approach to education is backed by science: Research has shown deep value in the inclusion of the arts in education.

ARTS & ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

If you’re trying to boost your child’s academic performance, you may be inclined to keep them focused on core subjects. But don’t count out the arts. The National Endowment for the Arts found that a child who studies the arts is four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement. And a study published by Americans for the Arts reveals that sustained music and theater education correlated to higher achievement in math and reading.

That’s because art shapes the brain in ways that can enhances brain functions in both hemispheres. The help all students, not just those who have a knack for visual arts have a similar effect. creative activities. “We are still learning all the time that there

Cynthia Garrison, a longtime DeSoto art is so much more to learn about how art affects teacher, understands this not only as an educator but the brain,” says Davis, “but what we know right also as a parent. Her youngest son was inclined to now is that it goes far beyond a left brain or right “more left-brained thinking,” as Garrison puts it. He brain functionality to the importance of art on the excelled at school from an early age, but Garrison whole brain.” says she could see the need for the balance FULL STEAM AHEAD that art could give him. Many North Texas “When he was young, he was in an STEAM On schools are now making the connecacademically rigorous North Texas offers a wealth of resourc- tion between science class,” she explains. es for STEAM-based learning. Nancy and art. Larry Labue is But something was Bernardino, founding principal of Dallas the executive director missing. “We actually ISD’s Solar Prep School for Girls, offers of the Allen STEAM had him moved to a a few ideas: Center through the Alclass where he could • Visit a museum that len Independent School be more creative,” she mixes science and art. District. (STEAM refers says. “It was important “The Perot Museum to STEM—science, to me to develop the [in Dallas] does a technology, engineerwhole child.” great job at ing and math—plus the integrating the arts,” arts.) Labue says that THE WHOLE-BRAIN she says. Perot Allen ISD heard the call APPROACH Museum of Nature and from local companies Previously, the notions Science, Dallas. for graduates to be of left-brained individ- 214/428-5555, more well-rounded, uals and right-brained perotmuseum.org including the ability counterparts might have made parents feel that they had to pick one track over the other for their child. But “left brain” and “right brain” are not so clear-cut. Andrea Davis, a Dallas-based art therapist, says studies with stroke victims are showing that people • Make Lego masterpieces at the Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine. “Our kindergarteners start out using Legos to build creativity.” Legoland Discovery Center, Grapevine. 469/444-3050, legolanddiscovery center.com/dallas-fw to collaborate and be creative. The arts were the answer. “We are trying to create a student who is well rounded and ready for whatever the future holds,” says Labue. “In creating the STEAM Center, we have created that balance to prepare them.” The idea that with damage on the • Attend a children’s STEAM students have right side of the theater performance, a competitive edge in brain are still able to which exposes the workforce is also participate in art- children to the backed up by clinical based pursuits, leading theater and to prin- studies. Research done many therapists and ciples of design as by Michigan State Uniscientists to believe that they study the set. versity psychologist art touches more parts Dallas Children’s Robert Root-Bernstein of our brain than we Theater, Dallas. 214/ has put a fine point on previously realized. 740-0051, dct.org. the matter: Most Nobel

Eric Jensen’s Casa Manana, Fort Prize–winning scientists book on neurosci- Worth. 817/332-2272, and their high-achievence and educa- casamanana.org ing peers all dabbled tion, Arts With the in fine arts, while their Brain in Mind, conjects “less successful colthat art is much more leagues” did not. than a brain booster—it is more of a brain food: “The Garrison agrees that art can make anyone stronsystems [that the arts] nourish, which include our ger—as a student and as a person. integrated sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional “Art opens your mind to see the world in a and motor capacities are, in fact, the driving forces different way,” she explains. “It’s the opportunity behind all other learning.” to expand your outlook and perception, to take

Jensen’s thoughts are supported by a grow- chances and become as well-rounded as possible. ing body of research that suggests music training It’s for everyone.”

Studies show that academic achievement, attendance, and graduation rates are significantly higher for students engaged in the arts.

An arts-based education begins building fundamental skills such as critical thinking, innovation, collaboration, and communication, preparing your child for a successful future in any field!

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