Brain Research: Arts & The Joyful Classroom

Brain-based learning research identifies four essential elements of learning – emotion, movement, context, and environment. What comes to mind first when you read each of those elements? Name five classroom experiences that epitomize the elements at their most positive. Chances are, the arts figure greatly in your ideas.

On a related note:

In an online article from Educational Leadership (Summer 2007, Volume 64 
Engaging the Whole Child), neurologist and classroom teacher Judy Willis says that "when we scrub joy and comfort from the classroom, we distance our students from effective information processing and long-term memory storage." She uses the acronym RAD to summarize three important neuroscience concepts to consider when preparing lessons:

Novelty promotes information transmission through the Reticular activating system.

Stress-free classrooms propel data through the Amygdala's affective filter.

Pleasurable associations linked with learning are more likely to release more Dopamine.

If only for the infusion of play, laughter, and freedom from the need to find one right answer, the arts should be an everyday experience for all students.