When I reviewed this video my former colleague Tyler Wall, the Lead Media Specialist at Lethbridge College, sent my way I immediately thought: this is great–but it isn’t the Arts program that is the key to this success. The Arts integration is simply the mechanism or catalyst that provides the context for learning. Students are not asked to just regurgitate information, they are required to apply what they are learning to some context that is Arts related. Or an Arts context is the starting point for teasing out principle that the students need to discover, understand and then apply.
It is the context and the environment that really matters and Arts integration programs are wonderful ways to move the learning environment beyond recipe and regurgitation and onto deeper learning. But Arts integration is not the only way to create a significant learning environment and the context for learning. STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) schools or programs are becoming popular in the US because they provide a project based focus for students to use the STEM disciplines to create solutions to real problems. Another unique school that provides a positive context and signficant learning environment is the Oasis Alternative Secondary School which is behind the Oasis Skateboard Factory. Students are involved in the planning, design, production and distribution of skateboards. This program has not only helped many kids to appreciate learning it has also saved many kids from dropping out of school.
My wife and I have been using significant learning environments with our own two boys. My youngest son Caleb recently built up a Specialized Demo 7 downhill mountain bike. The following video highlights the bare frame build up but it doesn’t show the over 100 hours of work that went into planning the project, finding and aquiring the right frame, parts and components and finally the building and testing.
The right context and learning environment empower students to learn while they create something meaningful. Whether it is creating art, performing dance or theatre, building skateboards or bikes or working on a “real world” STEM related project it is very clear that our students benefit greatly by being creative. These types of programs or personal initiatives help to provide the context and the learning environment that motivate learners to create and learn. Unfortunately, these are the exception and not the norm.
Why are we so quick to highlight these exceptions and laud their effectiveness but fail to move beyond these special programs? Don’t we owe it to our children and society’s future to provide significant learning environments for all our students?
Here here! I worked at an Arts based Education Centre and I LOVED the approach of STEAM the school represented having students find means to show their learning through innovation, imagination, and creation. For me, music and movement have always been my language for how to demonstrate my learning – it is my comfort area and where I feel powerful and like a leader. In a world where employers boast the importance of looking for critical thinkers, people who think outside the box – I pose the question does there even have to be a box? What if there are learners who see something else – these are the people I want to invest in and learn alongside – the imagineers, the music makers who see the world through different lenses and who come up with true unique and innovative ideas.
While I agree that there doesn’t need to be a box, our system is so focused on the box that we have to acknowledge that it is there before we can recommend removing it.