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Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
BOOKThe Arts and the Creation of Mind
Elliot W. Eisner
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31759
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 W. 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.
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Print publication date October 2002 (in print)
Print ISBN 9780300095234
EISBN 9780300278668
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Illustrations 34
Print Status in print
Publisher (in print)
WorldCat
Google Books

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List of illustrations

  • Red Poppy
  • Children's drawing of a flower
  • Children's drawing of a flower
  • Children's drawing of a flower
  • Children's drawing
  • Children's drawing
  • Children's drawing
  • Children's drawing of Mommy
  • Children's drawing of Daddy
  • Children's drawing of a cat
  • Children's drawing of a house, sun, and animal
  • Children's drawing of a bird
  • Children's drawing of an elephant
  • Children's drawing of children jumping rope
  • Children's drawing of children jumping rope
  • Children's drawing of a girl
  • Children's drawing of a boy
  • Children's drawing of an old woman
  • Children's drawing of a man from behind
  • Children's drawing of a tree
  • Children's drawing of bicycles
  • Children's drawing of a bicycle
  • Children's drawing of a group of people
  • Children's drawing of a figure seated in a chair
  • Children's drawing of a girl
  • Children's progressive drawing: clothespin into frog
  • Children's progressive drawing: bird into man
  • Children's progressive drawing: running man into horse
  • Children's drawing of a castle
  • Children's drawing of two girls
  • Children's drawing of a woman
  • Children's drawing of a crowd
  • Children's drawing of a crowd
  • Eisner fig 23
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Contents
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
Contents
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31760
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Acknowledgments
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
My interest in the visual arts began in elementary school. In fact the visual arts were a source of salvation for me at both the elementary and secondary school levels; I might not have got through without them. Upon graduating from my secondary school in Chicago, I enrolled as a student in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later in the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of...
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31761
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Introduction
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind situates the arts in our schools and examines how they contribute to the growth of mind. Traditional views of cognition and the implications of these views for the goals and content of education have put the arts at the rim, rather than at the core, of education. Schools see their mission, at least in part, as promoting the development of the intellect....
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31762
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1. The Role of the Arts in Transforming Consciousness
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
To understand the role of the arts in transforming consciousness we must start with the biological features of the human organism, for it is these features that make it possible for us humans to establish contact with the environment in and through which we live. That environment is, in its most fundamental state,...
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.1-24
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31763
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryDewey, John, 1859-1952Mimesis in artChildren's art--United States--20th centuryNeurologyChild development--Research

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2. Visions and Versions of Arts Education
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
Visions of the aims and content of arts education are neither uniform nor discovered simply by inspection. What is considered most important in any field—the aims to which it is directed—is a value, the result of a judgment, the product not only of visionary minds and persuasive arguments, but...
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.25-45
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31764
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryCurriculum planning--United States--20th centuryChild development--ResearchVisual culture--United States--History--20th centuryArnheim, RudolfAcademic achievementDewey, John, 1859-1952Inclusive education

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3. Teaching the Visual Arts
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
Understanding competing conceptions of art education and the conditions that give rise to them, while important for an enlightened view of the field, is inadequate for making any of those conceptions real in the lives of children. For that to happen, one must address problems where the rubber hits the road: in the classroom. Two of the most important factors affecting students’ experiences...
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.46-69
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31765
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryArt--Study and teaching--United States--20th centuryCurriculum planning--United States--20th centuryArt appreciation--United States--20th centuryChildren's art--United States--20th century

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4. What the Arts Teach and How it Shows
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
What the arts teach is influenced by both what and how something is taught. That is, the arts, like other fields, can be taught in different ways for different ends. The aims of any field are not determined solely by its subject matter; they are also determined by policymakers and teachers who decide what is important to teach.
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.70-92
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31766
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryArt--Study and teaching--United States--20th centuryChildren's art--United States--20th centuryDewey, John, 1859-1952

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5. Describing Learning in the Visual Arts
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
If children’s artwork is examined in social rather than in individual terms, it becomes apparent that what they learn when working on a painting or sculpture is not simply what they learn about dealing with a material; it is also a function of what they learn from others as they become members of a community. Social norms, models for behavior, opportunities to converse and share...
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.93-147
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31767
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryArt--Study and teaching--United States--20th centuryChildren's art--United States--20th centuryChild development--ResearchDewey, John, 1859-1952Arnheim, RudolfLowenfeld, ViktorArt, Modern--20th century

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6. The Centrality of Curriculum and the Function of Standards
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
In previous chapters we examined some examples of what teaching looks like in the visual arts and encountered descriptions of the forms of learning that are reflected in the features of children’s artwork. But what about the school’s program; what about the curriculum?
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.148-177
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31768
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryCurriculum planning--United States--20th centuryArt--Study and teaching--United States--20th century

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7. The Educational Uses of Assessment and Evaluation in the Arts
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, assessment generally refers to the appraisal of individual student performance, often but not necessarily on tests. Evaluation generally refers to the appraisal of the program—its content, the activities it uses to engage students, and the ways it develops thinking skills.
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.178-195
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31769
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryArt appreciation--United States--20th centuryEducational evaluation--United States--20th century

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8. What Education Can Learn from the Arts
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
To suggest that education has something to be learned from the arts is to turn topsy-turvy the more typical view that the arts are basically sources of relief, ornamental activities intended to play second fiddle to the core educational subjects. Yet those interested in enhancing the processes of education, both in and out of schools, have much to learn from the arts. Put simply, the arts can...
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.196-208
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31770
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryArt appreciation--United States--20th century

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9. An Agenda for Research in Arts Education
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
Before discussing the kind of research that might strengthen arts education, I would like to make two points regarding the development of a research agenda for arts education. The first is that what the field needs is an agenda. By an agenda I mean not simply more unrelated studies, but, rather, research programs of related studies that ultimately will advance our understanding of...
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.209-229
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31771
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th centuryArt appreciation--United States--20th centuryEducational evaluation--United States--20th centuryCurriculum planning--United States--20th century

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10. Summary and Significance
Elliot W. Eisner
Description: The Arts and the Creation of Mind
The Arts and the Creation of Mind
This chapter brings to a close the journey that we have taken. The road has had many turns, as it must in a field that addresses so many complex issues and that requires that so many be considered. It is now time to distill some of the ideas that we have encountered. This chapter revisits thirteen important ideas that have been elaborated in the preceding pages.
Author
Elliot W. Eisner
PublisherYale University Press
Copyright© 2002 by Elliot W. Eisner
Related print edition pages: pp.230-241
Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-31772
Chapter subject tags:Art in education--United States--20th century

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The Arts and the Creation of Mind
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