Blog 8

Discuss the role of art in children's development. How are the cognitive and fine motor skills developed in art essential to the holistic development of a child? How does the art educator respond to the individual needs of the learner while ensuring the continuity of experience?

Art creates opportunities to view and express concepts of life in different ways than the other subject areas. Kerlavage speaks of how art processes influence and develop cognitive abilities as the child moves from representation and symbology, to spacial awareness and visual accuracy, and finally to logical continuity and the abstract. These cognitive processes are essential to a full understanding of the world, and for individuals to reach their full potential. The same form of process occurs with fine motor skill development. Art provides opportunities for students to develop increasing sophisticated and controlled fine motor skills, which allows us all to feel better about the people who fix our watches and operate on our brains! Perhaps more importantly, artistic endeavours provide a variety of ways to develop motor skills, as writing is vastly different than colouring, brush strokes, or manipulating clay. These activities provide a greater depth of experience, and chances for individual growth in the student.

The art educator must consider the needs of the class and the individuals when creating lessons. Hopefully, the teacher then allows for those individual differences, and can differentiate instruction, media, time frame, and/or expectations as needed to meet the needs of both the classroom goals and the abilities/desires of the students. Often the situation itself is not the problem - the teacher just needs to be flexible about how the student approaches that new situation, and respond with appropriate guidance and help when necessary.