The Arts and the Creation of Mind by Elliot Eisner

• Sep 20, 2004
  280 p., 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
  38 b/w illus.
  ISBN: 9780300105117
  Paper: $21.00 sc

The Arts and the Creation of Mind

• Elliot W. Eisner

REVIEWS	PREVIEW	CONTENTS	EXCERPTS

The 2005 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education

Learning in and through the arts can develop complex and subtle aspects of the mind, argues Elliot Eisner in this engrossing book. Offering a rich array of examples, he describes different approaches to the teaching of the arts and shows how these refine forms of thinking that are valuable in dealing with our daily life

“Not since John Dewey has an American author written about art, education, and the creation of mind with such power and sensitivity.”—Michael Day, International Journal of Arts Education

“A primer for the future. . . . This book will serve as an inspiration for those needing the language to convince policy makers and curriculum developers of the value of the arts in education, while also serving as a vehicle for illustrating the educational aspirations the very best education can offer.”—Rita L. Irwin, Journal of Critical Inquiry Into Curriculum and Instruction

“[Eisner] has composed a text that is as insightful and inspirational as the educational research he envisions.”—James G. Henderson, International Journal of Education & the Arts

Elliot W. Eisner is Lee Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of Art at Stanford University.

Elliot Eisner is emeritus professor of Art and Education at Stanford University. He is active in several fields including arts education, curriculum reform, qualitative research, and is the recipient of a Grawemeyer Award in 2005 for his work in education.

Originally trained in the visual arts, Eisner received his Ph.D in education from the University of Chicago in the 1960s, where he studied with Joseph Schwab, Bruno Bettelheim, and Phillip Jackson.

Eisner's work has supported Discipline-Based Art Education, and he developed the importance of forms of representation in education. During the 1980s, he had a number of exchanges with Denis C. Phillips regarding the status of qualitative research for educational understanding. Eisner also had a well-known debate with Howard Gardner as to whether a work of fiction such as a novel could be submitted as a dissertation (Eisner believed it could, and some novels have since been successfully submitted).

Eisner publishes regularly; his works include hundreds of articles and over a dozen books. He also frequently speaks before teachers, administrators, and at professional conferences.

Eisner has served as president of many professional organizations, including the American Educational Research Association, the National Art Education Association, and the John Dewey Society.