IEA Weekly Newsletter - January 3, 2007

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts weekly newsletter for January 3, 2007. The newsletter is published each Wednesday morning to the IEA listserv and is archived here on the IEA blog.


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REPORT
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EDUCATION MAP OF THE DECADE
KnowledgeWorks Foundation
“Public education in the United States is at a critical crossroads. The knowledge economy and globalization continue to challenge the basic industrial-era assumptions upon which most public schools, curriculum, and evaluation mechanisms are based. New interactive digital media are diffusing rapidly, even in lower-income communities, fostering a youth media culture that is crashing into schools and educators like a tsunami, raising issues of privacy, pedagogical relevance, and equity. Student performance is inconsistent across the country and average U.S. performance indicators lag disappointingly behind those of other countries. KnowledgeWorks Foundation commissioned a map to examine the forces affecting education and our economy because we believe that excellent education is critical to the future.”
Learn more and download a copy of the map (requires registration) at http://www.kwfdn.org/map/ .


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ARTICLE
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MUSIC OF THE HEMISPHERES
Clive Thompson, New York Times, 12/31/06
“Daniel Levitin … hit a button on his computer keyboard and out came a half-second clip of music. It was just two notes blasted on a raspy electric guitar, but I could immediately identify it: the opening lick to the Rolling Stones’ ‘Brown Sugar.’ Then he played another, even shorter snippet: a single chord struck once on piano. Again I could instantly figure out what it was: the first note in Elton John’s live version of ‘Benny and the Jets.’ Dr. Levitin beamed. ‘You hear only one note, and you already know who it is … so what I want to know is: How we do this? Why are we so good at recognizing music?’ … Dr. Levitin has devoted his career to exploring this question … This summer he published “This Is Your Brain on Music” (Dutton), a layperson’s guide to the emerging neuroscience of music … Dr. Levitin is singular among music scientists for actually having come out of the music industry. Before getting his Ph.D. he spent 15 years as a record producer, working with artists ranging from the Blue Öyster Cult to Chris Isaak.”
Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/arts/music/31thom.html?ex=1168232400&en=0a272e106438ff8f&ei=5070&emc=eta1 .



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CREATIVITY AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS
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CREATIVITY: LEARNED OR INNATE?
National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation, 12/15/06
”From a soulful poem to an ingenious experiment, what sparks the creative process? Is creativity something you're born with, or can it be learned? A look at the nature of creativity with neuroscientist Nancy Andreasen, Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry, Director of the Mental Health Clinic Research Center, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA.”
Hear the broadcast online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6631146 .

HARE BRAIN, TORTOISE MIND
John Cleese, Edutopia, 12/05
We often don't know where we get our ideas from … they just pop into our heads somehow, from out of the blue. They're not the result of fast, purposeful, logical thinking. We all understand that the slower kind of thinking regularly works for us. Yet, for some reason, we don't quite trust it. Which is why I was overjoyed to find a book Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less, by Guy Claxton, an academic psychologist. Claxton uses the phrase "hare brain" to refer to the sort of deliberate, conscious thinking we do when we apply reason and logic to known data. "Tortoise mind," on the other hand, is more playful, leisurely, even dreamy. In this mode we are contemplative or meditative. We ponder a problem, rather than earnestly trying to solve it, by just bearing it in mind as we watch the world go by. Why, then, has the tortoise mind become neglected?”
Read Cleese’s full essay at http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1430&issue=dec_05 .

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BOOK REVIEW
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A WHOLE NEW MIND: MOVING FROM THE INFORMATION AGE TO THE CONCEPTUAL AGE
by Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Books, 2005
Reviewed by John Giordano, National Arts and Learning Collaborative at Walnut Hill Newsletter
“In order to remain competitive in a global economy people should acknowledge the importance of the right sides of their brains. This is the compelling promise of Daniel Pink’s recent book, A Whole New Mind. Pink proposes that the emerging era is a conceptual age … conceptual age thinkers see the world metaphorically, intuitively, and holistically, drawing from the functions of the right hemisphere of the brain. Gone are the days when we were happy having things. Pink has noted that we now want things to have high-quality design and meaning … the winners in this new era, according to pink, are the people who possess highly developed interpersonal skills, empathy, design skills and big-picture thinking.”
Read the entire review on page 15 of the NALC newsletter, found at http://www.artslearning.org/uploads/NALCALReviewWinter2007.pdf .



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TEACHING AND LEARNING IDEAS
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AWESOMESTORIES OFFERS FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO PRIMARY STORIES DATABASE
http://www.awesomestories.com
“AwesomeStories is a gathering place of primary-source information. Its purpose … is to help educators and individuals find original sources, located at national archives, libraries, universities, and government web sites. Sources held in archives, which document so much important first-hand information, are often not searchable by popular search engines. AwesomeStories is about primary sources. The stories exist as a way to place original materials in context and to hold those links together in an interesting, cohesive way … As our holiday gift to students, their parents and the general public, we are waiving the $9.95 annual subscription fee. There will be no 'group access' for these memberships, but students (and their parents, if they wish) can receive free individual access to the site by simply requesting it with this form. https://www.awesomestories.com/signup.php?ua=individual_signup … With their individual password, students and library patrons can access the database from any computer connected to the Internet. A story about the science of spiders (http://www.awesomestories.com/movies/charlottes_web/charlottes_web_ch1.htm) was recently released to coincide with the above announcement and the opening of Charlotte's Web. A privacy policy http://www.awesomestories.com/content/privacy.shtml is strictly enforced. Free academic-group status - for educators, schools and libraries - remains available, without restrictions, by submitting this form: https://www.awesomestories.com/signup.php?ua=group_signup .”


TECH-TIPS: GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR PODCAST
Scott Nesbitt, Geeks.com, 12/31/06
You've come up with a great topic for a daily or weekly podcast. The problem is that you don't know where to begin. Believe it or not, you don't need a lot of high-priced equipment or the expertise of an audio engineer to start podcasting. You can do it with a minimal amount of cash and a bit of work. So, what do you need? You need the right software, a good microphone, and a place to host your podcast. This TechTip will give you a few suggestions, and look at some of the other factors you should consider when starting a podcast.
Read more at http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2006/techtips-31dec06.htm



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CONFERENCE
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MASSACHUSETTES ARTS EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE
Holsted by the National Arts and Learning Collaborative at Walnut Hill, Lesley University, Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council
Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, 5/31/07
Local and national arts education experts present research on what constitutes quality arts education, perspectives on the state of arts education funding from regional funders, discussion about how the arts teaching work force can work together to transform schools through the arts, and examples of local model programs that have received national recognition and funding.
Learn more at http://artslearning.org/programs/education.aspx .


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FUNDING, GRANTS, AND AWARDS
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NATIONAL SCHOOL AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS AWARD
Council for Corporate and School Partnerships
”Created by The Council for Corporate & School Partnerships, The National School and Business Partnerships Award recognizes exemplary partnerships between schools and businesses around the country. Partnerships involving kindergarten through 12th grade public schools and/or school districts and businesses are eligible to apply for the award … The Council presents six awards per year. Those selected for the award receive national recognition and the schools or districts receive $10,000 to support partnership efforts.”
Application Deadline: 1/30/07
For more information, visit: http://www.corpschoolpartners.org/award.shtml .

TRANSFORMING ARTS TEACHING: THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
The Dana Foundation
“The Dana Foundation initiative Transforming Arts Teaching: The Role of Higher Education will examine the role of teacher education colleges, conservatories, fine arts colleges, and other higher education institutions in preparing and advancing those who teach the arts to young people, grades preK-12. Transforming Arts Teaching will include the fall, 2007 release of a Dana Press publication featuring case studies and profiles of higher education ‘best practices’ from around the nation.”
Deadline for consideration for selection: Friday, 2/16/07
Learn more at http://www.dana.org/grants/artseducation/transformingartsed/ .

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