My wife and I are constantly asking ourselves the question, “Are we preparing our children to live a life that positively impacts our world?”
As I observe adults I interact with daily, there are two distinct groups: those whose minds are engaged in energetic, profound and thoughtful activity, and those whose minds are filled with complacent, lethargic, and surface activity. The results that these two groups achieve are undeniably different. When given an outcome to accomplish, those that have the initiative and thinking skills to “figure it out” excel in life!
We do not want our children to fall into the shallow thinking category. So we ask, “What can we do to prepare them to be deep thinking, logical, problem solving adults, able to lead our nation and change the world?”
“Learning through the arts promotes the idea that there is more than one solution to a problem, or more than one answer to a question,” said Elliot Eisner, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University.
In my art class, for example, students are taught to look through a viewfinder with one eye, so that they lose their depth perception and see the world as if it were a two-dimensional picture with flat lines, shapes and colors. Ultimately, the exercise enables students to grasp alternative ways of seeing.
“Students who study the arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgments and justify such judgments,” conclude Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland, authors of the book Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education.
Training our children to be creative builds deep thinking skills. The process of creating things is invaluable in deepening the child’s ability to logically think. Let them learn to build a slingshot and they will learn to think through the science and math required to execute the project. Let them learn to bake a cake and they will learn to use logical processes and apply math skills. Let them learn to paint a picture and they will learn to see the world differently, to make critical judgments, and to solve problems.
Training in visual arts engages the mind and teaches the children to ask better questions. These questions are the key to critical thinking. When we ask better questions, we arrive at better solutions.
What are you doing to build these skills in your children? Will your children be prepared to change the world?
Fine Art Experience can help in this process by providing fine art lessons targeted to build critical thinking skills in your children. Click here to find out more.
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Inspirational Article. The Moral of entire article is "Training makes man perfect". If your train your kids in different areas as you like to be creative in any profession.
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