It’s a right-brain kinda thing.
March 3, 2008 at 10:54 pm
· Filed under Art, Blogroll, Education, Random, Science, Technology and tagged: Johns Hopkins, multitasking, study on cell phones and driving, talking and music in art class
One of the issues I face in my classroom as an art teacher is when my kids tell me that talking to their friends while working is okay for them, actually critical. A 2005 Johns Hopkins’ study, which specifically addressed cell phone use while driving, would also seem to speak to my classroom situation.
Professor Steven Yantis states,
“Directing attention to listening effectively ‘turns down the volume’ on input to the visual parts of the brain. The evidence we have right now strongly suggests that attention is strictly limited — a zero-sum game. When attention is deployed to one modality — say, in this case, talking on a cell phone — it necessarily extracts a cost on another modality — in this case, the visual task of driving.”
Again, the implications from this would seem to indicate that concentration in any one modality is compromised when another is introduced. So, I guess this would also give me an answer when my students say listening to their iPods helps them concentrate while they work on my projects. LOL!
Permalink
M Miller wrote @ July 1, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I am in the process of doing an educational research project to learn about the impact of “chatting” on student productivity in art class. I tend to think that non-art-related chatter cuts down on productivity, but your comment is one of the first I’ve seen that agrees. Usually comments focus on “freedom” that is necessary for “true artistic expression”.
JWP wrote @ July 5, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I have a sense of what you mean regarding comments about “freedom” and “true artistic expression.” In the conferences I’ve attended the attitude usually manifests itself as an “art should be fun” mentality. When I have challenged that attitude with a simple question about that person’s own learning experiences in other subjects, I usually get annoyed looks as if I’m offending them with simple logic.
As far as I’m concerned their attitudes undermine art education at all age levels. After all, how many things have any of us learned that didn’t require some hard work and diligence. Even things that come “naturally” require some hard work to get to the next level. I think when you focus so much on “fun” and “freedom” and “true artistic expression” you end up devaluing hard work and what is ACTUALLY required to do anything in life that is worthwhile.
Thanks for your comment, and please let me know how your research project goes!
HTML-Tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Subscribe to My Blog
