Synopses & Reviews
Although the arts are often thought to be closer to the rim of education than to its core, they are, surprisingly, critically important means for developing complex and subtle aspects of the mind, argues Elliot Eisner in this engrossing book. In it he describes how various forms of thinking are evoked, developed, and refined through the arts. These forms of thinking, Eisner argues, are more helpful in dealing with the ambiguities and uncertainties of daily life than are the formally structured curricula that are employed today in schools.
Offering a rich array of examples, Eisner describes different approaches to the teaching of the arts and the virtues each possesses when well taught. He discusses especially nettlesome issues pertaining to the evaluation of performance in the arts. Perhaps most important, Eisner provides a fresh and admittedly iconoclastic perspective on what the arts can contribute to education, namely a new vision of both its aims and its means. This new perspective, Eisner argues, is especially important today, a time at which mechanistic forms of technical rationality often dominate our thinking about the conduct and assessment of education.
Review
and#8220;By illuminating the various ways that making and appreciating art are cognitive endeavors, Eisner invites us to celebrate the uniqueness of art education and entices us to explore the rich connections between thinking and learning in the arts and in other areas.and#8221;and#8212;Shari Tishman, Harvard University
Review
and#8220;Elliot Eisner is long regarded as one of the most eloquent and best informed of those critical of the technicism dominating so many schools. At once, he is known as a trailbreaker in contemporary efforts to make the artistic-aesthetic dimension of experience central in public educationand#8217;s classrooms. This book reimagines the kinds of reforms needed in education, as it brings together Eisnerand#8217;s generative notions about learning and teaching, arts-based research, and (climactically) a conception of mind as process, a way of being in and acting upon the world. Encounters with the arts, Eisner tells us, can nurture and enrich mind in its becoming. The very idea of and#8220;creationand#8221; in this context opens perspectives on ways of making and#8220;mindand#8221; the beating heart of live and humane schools.and#8221;and#8212;Maxine Greene, Teachers College, Columbia University
Synopsis
Learning in and through the arts can develop complex and subtle aspects of the mind, argues Elliot Eisner in this engrossing book. Offering a rich array of examples, he describes different approaches to the teaching of the arts and shows how these refine forms of thinking that are valuable in dealing with our daily life.
Synopsis
Learning in and through the arts can develop complex and subtle aspects of the mind, argues Elliot Eisner in this engrossing book. Offering a rich array of examples, he describes different approaches to the teaching of the arts and shows how these refine forms of thinking that are valuable in dealing with our daily life
Not since John Dewey has an American author written about art, education, and the creation of mind with such power and sensitivity.”Michael Day, International Journal of Arts Education
A primer for the future. . . . This book will serve as an inspiration for those needing the language to convince policy makers and curriculum developers of the value of the arts in education, while also serving as a vehicle for illustrating the educational aspirations the very best education can offer.”Rita L. Irwin, Journal of Critical Inquiry Into Curriculum and Instruction
[Eisner] has composed a text that is as insightful and inspirational as the educational research he envisions.”James G. Henderson, International Journal of Education & the Arts
About the Author
Elliot W. Eisner is Lee Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of Art at Stanford University.