Learning Matters: The Arts: every day in every way

"If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn"

-- Ignacio Estrada

The Bugg A+ Magnet School in Raleigh, NC specializes in something called arts integration. All subjects are connected. Literacy is taught with music. Students learn social studies in dance class. (In the US magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula). More specifically, the Creative Arts and Science Magnet Program is an approach to teaching and learning grounded in the belief that the arts can play a central role in how children learn. A+ schools combine interdisciplinary teaching and daily arts instruction, giving teachers multiple opportunities each day to recognize the special skills and learning styles of students. The arts teachers and science teachers are specialists who work with classroom teachers to help bring the arts into math, science social studies and language arts. This type of teaching results in classrooms where students are excited about school, challenged in areas where they have a need and are able to clearly see the connections between subjects. Students learn that there are many ways to be "smart" in accordance with the renowned learning research of Howard Gardner and the Multiple Intelligences pedagogy.