Arts with the Brain in Mind [Paperback]

Eric Jensen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0871205149 | ISBN-13: 978-0871205148 | Publication Date: January 2001

How do the arts stack up as a major discipline? What is their effect on the brain, learning, and human development? How might schools best implement and assess an arts program?? Eric Jensen answers these questions C and more C in this book. To push for higher standards of learning, many policymakers are eliminating arts programs. To Jensen, that's a mistake.

This book presents the definitive case, based on what we know about the brain and learning, for making arts a core part of the basic curriculum and thoughtfully integrating them into every subject. Separate chapters address musical, visual, and kinesthetic arts in ways that reveal their influence on learning.

What are the effects of a fully implemented arts program? The evidence points to the following:

$ Fewer dropouts $ Higher attendance $ Better team players $ An increased love of learning $ Greater student dignity $ Enhanced creativity $ A more prepared citizen for the workplace of tomorrow $ Greater cultural awareness as a bonus

To Jensen, it's not a matter of choosing, say, the musical arts over the kinesthetic. Rather, ask what kind of art makes sense for what purposes. How much time per day? What kind of music? Should the arts be required? How do we assess arts programs? In answering these real-world questions, Jensen provides dozens of practical, detailed suggestions for incorporating the arts into every classroom.

Product Details

• Paperback: 139 pages
• Publisher: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Deve (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871205149
• ISBN-13: 978-0871205148
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ERIC JENSEN
Background

Eric Jensen has always been passionate about learning. As a child, he seemed to read every book he could find in his own home and any library nearby. There are rumors that he "over-borrowed" from local libraries and a nearby Boy's Club. To make up for that, today he donates back up to 50 books a year to others. He graduated early from high school (age 16) and averaged reading two books a week in college. He graduated with distinction with a bachelor's degree in English. Even today, Eric is still learning, completing his doctorate in Human Development from Fielding Graduate University.

As a teacher, Eric has worked with a wide range of students. He taught middle school, high school students though a private school, focusing on reading and study skills. While he began as a completely average teacher in terms of technique, he's always been know for his passion for learning. Later, he became adjunct faculty for three universities, serving as a professor for adult learners at the University of California at San Diego, National University and the University of San Diego. In 1988, Jensen was selected as an Outstanding Young Man of America.

In the workplace, Eric Jensen co-founded the world's largest brain-compatible academic enrichment program, SuperCamp, which now has over 50,000 graduates. In 1985, he founded Turning Point and which later became Jensen Learning with over 50,000 educators attending programs. These programs introduced the science of teaching and learning to teachers from around the world. Eric Jensen has introduced brain-based teaching to Denmark, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, New Zealand and other countries. Jensen was the founder of the Learning Brain EXPO, the world's first conference that linked neuroscience to everyday educational practices.

Part of the leadership in the field is literary scholarship. Jensen has authored ten journal publications to his credit, twenty-six full-length books through five different publishers. Jensen has appeared on over 250 television and radio stations, both domestic and international including CNN. Articles on his work have appeared in USA Today, CNN, Wall Street Journal and major educational journals such as Education Leadership, Education Week and PDK International/ Phi Delta Kappan. His work has appeared in The South China Post and he's been interviewed on stations in Asia and his books have been translated into 15 languages including Chinese.

Jensen is currently an active member of the Society for Neuroscience, The President's Club at Salk Institute of Biological Studies, NY Academy of Science, American Psychological Association and International Mind, Brain and Education Society. Jensen is on the Advisory Board for Body, Mind and Child in Barnstead, New Hampshire. He is a partner and consultant in the Temporal Dynamics Learning Center Project at University of California at San Diego. This project involves over 50 scientists and affiliates to bring neuroscience into the classroom.

Later, with his passion for neuroscience, Jensen made over 45 visits to neuroscience laboratories to interact with countless scientists. At the world-renowned Salk Institute of Biological Studies, Jensen is a member of the select President's club, which interacts often with neuroscientists as well as supports their work financially. Jensen has become one of the leading translators in the world of neuroscience into education. Currently he is the Master Trainer and Consultant to the Association of Brain-based Learning in Education in Hong Kong. This is the first long-term brain-based program focusing on classroom pedagogy in Asia. (http://www.brainbased.net).

Jensen's best known books are Teaching with the Brain in Mind, SuperTeaching, Enriching the Brain and Teaching with Poverty in Mind. He's an incurable writer who seems obsessed with doing another book every year.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If Think the Arts don't matter in school? You better think again!, May 27, 2006

By 

L. Green - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arts with the Brain in Mind (Paperback)

If you think the Arts don't matter anymore, I'm here to tell you to THINK again.

As a second grade teacher I find Jensen's work a must-read for every parent and educator. The Arts really do play an important part in education; whether the Arts fall under musical, visual, or in kinesthetic. The Arts will enhances the neurobiological system (Jensen, 2001, p. 116) or the brain, increasing a healthy responsive learning environment to other disciplines/subjects that are outside of the Arts.

Jenson discussed in-depth how each of the three Arts are important and why they should be part of every school's curriculum.

Simply a great book!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A leading path, October 22, 2005

By 

Edilberto Torres Santos (PR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arts with the Brain in Mind (Paperback)

With a sometimes harsh style sometimes subjective, Mr. Jensen provides us with a leading path to make a coherent relation between the brain an it's development and the education in arts. Not very detailed with the ideas and paradigms but effective to motivate our curiosity in the field. With the arts education in the middle of a crucial crisis in the U.S., the "new idea" (for the positivist people) of a direct effect of the arts education in the development of high cognitive skills, provide a solid fundamental for the importance of this matter. At least, is a very serious proposal, well supported by researchers in the field.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Arts With the Brain in Mind, October 8, 2008

By 

R. L. Smith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arts with the Brain in Mind (Paperback)

Jensen delivers an excellent case for increasing the arts offerings in our schools with compelling research and interesting neurological evidence. Not much is new here, if you read other books on the subject of the brain by Jensen.