...have, in many cases, pushed art into the margins of the elementary education curricula, which is a stance that the arts constitute purely "emotional outlets, to be reserved for the exceptional child" (Zwirn and Graham 267). On the other hand, it has been well-established in educational literature that art, particularly when it is integrated into other subject areas, is capable of facilitating "innovative ways of thinking, understanding and representing knowledge" (Zwirn and Graham 267). In other art, and the creativity associated with artistic endeavor, can open the door to enhanced student learning.
Two practical aspects of creativity : High-stakes standardized testing, while useful in some ways, does not access the potential with students for creativity; it does not teach them creative problem-solving or encourage the use of the imagination in learning. A practical side of creativity is that it encourages learning by engaging the students on an imaginative level. Elementary teacher Laurene Ring recounts how she led a study of Andrew Wyeth's painting Christina's World. As the students were...