Saturday, December 6, 2008

Hypothesis: Arts and Incubation

My recent rambling about time and space bring me to this state—here is a core idea I will be exploring further.

The creative process of is often described as four stages: Preparation, incubation, illumination (the aha! moment), and verification. Rather than viewing their job as "preparation," schools need to be concerned with developing students' abilities to work in all four stages. The incubation stage takes time. It's a time of playing with knowledge and ideas, applying skills without definite ends, generating many ideas and possibilities. In other words, it's not going to have standardized, easy to measure results.

Among the many benefits of engaging in arts learning and practice, I think, is the possibility of activating alternate ways of thinking (and the neurons that accompany those ways of thinking). As students work on music or art, what they have learned through conscious methods is being processed by the unconscious. Yes, that's only a theory and I need to support it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home."
— Twyla Tharp
Just thought you might enjoy that quotation if you did not already know it. I enjoy reading your blog.

Deborah Vrabel said...

Thank you so much. I love the quote and enjoyed The Compass Point blog as well. I didn't know about Claxton's latest book and will be sure to read it.