I. Cognitive

Through critical thinking and problem solving, students learn higher order thinking skills, which are central to the creative process. Young Leaps’ artists are fearless about imagining and learn to navigate through frustration. Making art deepens their understanding as invested learners across all areas of the curriculum.

 

A. Thinking Skills
Students engaged in creative practice:

  1. Observe

  2. Categorize

  3. Perceive patterns

  4. Hypothesize

  5. Infer

  6. Analyze

  7. Synthesize

  8. Verify

  9. Apply

  10. Represent

B. Art
Students engaged in creative practice:

  1. Approach art with imagination and original thinking

  2. Explore, combine, and transform materials into tangible forms

  3. Develop new art techniques

  4. Reflect on their own art, accept and offer peer feedback

  5. Refine thinking strategies through long-term
    project work

 
 

C. Literacy
Students engaged in literacy studies:

  1. Conduct research using books and other resources

  2. Make connections between literature, personal experience, and real world issues

  3. Expand and apply new vocabulary

  4. Record ideas and reflections

  5. Author original stories

D. Place-based Studies
Students engaged in place-based studies:

  1. Identify with their location and develop a “sense of place”

  2. Recognize geographical characteristics of the Maine coast

  3. Identify relevant features on a map

  4. Design original and imaginative maps, applying knowledge of basic land features

 

E. Environmental Science and Field Experience
Students engaged in environmental science:

  1. Observe and identify attributes of plants and animals

  2. Categorize materials, ideas, and information

  3. Generate and verify hypotheses

  4. Apply research to original artwork

 

II. COLLABORATION + PERSPECTIVE TAKING

Collaboration is the process by which two or more people or groups work together to realize common goals.

 

A. Collaboration

We teach learners to:

  1. Solve problems collaboratively

  2. Negotiate with peers

  3. Reach consensus within a group

  4. Respond resiliently

B. Perspectives  

We teach learners to:

  1. Take multiple perspectives and respect points of view

  2. Integrate perspective-taking into artwork

  3. Deepen understanding of social justice and environmental issues

 

III. COMMUNICATION

Communication is central to art making. Students acquire a repertoire of skills, including processing, listening, speaking, questioning, and writing

 

A. Oral

Students learn to:

  1. Communicate insights and inferences connected to emerging themes and artwork

  2. Share emergent ideas in groups

  3. Dialog about one’s own and/or others’ artwork

  4. Apply new vocabulary in conversation

  5. Craft stories, connecting art to big ideas

  6. Reflect on experience in group context

B. Written

Students learn to:

  1. Document their ideas in journals

  2. Conduct simple research

  3. Write original stories independently or with a partner

  4. Respond to peers’ artwork with written feedback