How
Learning Dance in School Can Produce Smarter Kids
Only “43
percent of all public elementary schools and only 14 percent of secondary
schools offer any instruction in dance,” according to Carmen Carter‟s 2004 study
published by the University of Florida. Instead, teachers focus on science,
math, and English, often leaving out the arts. This is partly because, according
to Serin Ngai, these subjects are measurable on state achievement tests, and
students‟ high scores lead to higher school district funding.
It makes
sense that under-funded teachers design lessons to increase students‟ test
scores, but it shows a disturbing skew in kids‟ education. Subjects such as the
arts have had huge budget cuts; many schools have cut them entirely to fund test
prep courses in math, science, and English. Unfortunately, studies have shown
that students who learn to dance in school have significant advantages: high
grades and higher SAT scores, compared to students without dance
lessons.
Dance
Lessons Help Kids Learn Other Subjects
Multiple
sources show that dance in schools relates to increased mental ability and high
grades. In MacDonald‟s study, elementary school teachers worked dance into their
lessons on math, history, and other subjects. Teachers in this study said,
“children responded to creative dance with an intensity, concentration,
„ownership,‟ and enthusiasm they did not usually see in children‟s educational
activities.” Teachers found that it was relatively easy to use dance to teach
many subject areas, and were “astonished at the possibilities it
offered.”
Using dance
to teach standard subjects allows students to have fun with the material, but
also helps them gain a deeper understanding of concepts by approaching them from
new angles. Cognitive scientists, such as Patricia Alexander, agree that the
understanding of concepts‟ underlying truths is the mark of expert-level
knowledge. When students are given multiple ways of understanding a concept,
they are better able to deeply grasp the underlying principles.
Dance in
School Makes Kids Smarter
Dance‟s
mental benefits are clear, both when taught with other subjects and when taught
alone. Cognitive generalization means that a learned skill in one area expands
to skills in many other areas. For example, when students scan an essay for
spelling errors, this improves their ability to recognize errors in other visual
patterns, such as rows in an accounting spreadsheet, or in a piece of sheet
music. In the same way, dance lessons give students important cognitive skills
that boost their ability in many other subject areas.
In addition
to the overlaps with other subjects, learning dance in school can lead to high
grades through an overall increase in mental ability. In dance class, Carter
explains, students practice physical exercises that “„stimulate mental
alertness, modeling, sequencing, attention to detail, and memorization
skills‟... —thereby promoting the learning process.” When kids learn to dance,
they learn important skills, like how to pick up new ideas quickly, to pay
attention to small details, and to focus on the task at hand.
Four studies
in the REAP (Reviewing Education and the
Arts Program) report showed a relationship between dance in school
and improved reading skills. Another three REAP studies showed that dance
lessons improved nonverbal reasoning, which includes math and mechanical
ability. This makes sense when you look at the overlap between dance and other
school subjects, as Carter explains: “...the spatial designs and angles of
the body are expressed with geometric terms; an understanding of anatomy and
physics are needed to properly negotiate the body in space with proper technique
and alignment...and the most apparent conception is that dance is
language-like...Writing a book is similar to the process of making a dance...The
art of choreography can be simply defined as composition of
movement.”
Learning to
Dance Leads to Higher Grades & SAT Scores
The positive
effects of dance on students‟ grades are shown in various scientific studies. In
a controlled study of high school students, there was a statistically
significant difference in the grades of dancer and non-dancer groups. The
dancers‟ overall Grade Point Average was 3.22, while the non-dancer group
averaged a 2.87. This equates to the difference between a B+ and a
B-.
Non-dancers
average two grade scales below students who have dance lessons; these students,
if they had access to dance in school, could do much better. Dancers‟ high
grades suggest to Carter that “dancers are able to manage themselves better in a
variety of academic situations, have higher levels of self-discipline, and have
better coping skills thereby achieving higher academic
success.
The positive
effects of dance in school go beyond high GPA into standardized testing.
According to Carter, “the College Board revealed that students who take arts
courses tend to score higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) than those
who do not,” and are more likely to be successful in college.
Both
Students & Teachers Need Dance in School
Now that we
know that dance in school leads to smart kids, high grades, and high SAT scores,
it would be wise for teachers to include more dance lessons. Instead of
shortchanging kids by limiting lessons to test preparation, including dance the
curriculum would help both students and teachers. It would give students the
advantages mentioned above, and it would help teachers by improving students‟
overall academic performance, test scores, and by extension, district funding.
With benefits to both students and teachers in mind, the data is clear: We need
dance in school."
Sources
Alexander,
Patricia A. “Can We Get There from Here?” Educational Researcher 32.8 (2003):
3-4. SAGE Publications. Web. Braaksma, Martine A.H., Gert Rijlaarsdam, Huub Van
Den Bergh, and Bernadette H.A.M. Van Hout-Walters. “Observational Learning and
Its Effects on the Orchestration of Writing Processes.” Cognition and
Instruction 22.1 (2004): 1-36. Informaworld. Taylor & Francis Group.
Web.
Carter,
Carmen S. Effects of Formal Dance Training and Education on Student Performance,
Perceived Wellness, and Self-concept in High School Students. Diss. University
of Florida, 2004. Web. MacDonald, Colla J. “Creative Dance in Elementary
Schools: a Theoretical and Practical Justification.” Canadian Journal of
Education (1991). JSTOR. Web.
Ngai, Serin.
“Painting over the Arts: How the No Child Left behind Act Fails to Provide
Children with a High- Quality Education.” Seattle Journal for Social Justice 4
(2006): 657.
Connie
Bergstein Dow
.JPG)
