Art Integration
Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.
–Maria Montessori
Art Integration is the blending of the visual, performing and media arts with an inter-disciplinary classroom to make learning richer and deeper, more joyous and engaging, all the while addressing a broader impact on growth and development in young children. Current research in neuroscience documents the specific ways in which art making, aesthetic exposure, and visual thinking influences brain growth and the lifelong learning process. In his book Arts with the Brain in Mind, neurologist Eric Jensen explains that art not only entails the use of vast brain areas and resources, but also stimulates cross connections in the brain that are not achieved through learning in other disciplines. Excited and engaged learners tend to have better attendance figures and more positive behaviors at school. Both teachers and students are required to bring themselves and their experiences to the environment, learning to take intellectual risks and reap the rewards of “mistakes”, surprises, perseverance, and creative problem solving.