The decline in arts education in American schools is due largely to incomprehension regarding the role this branch of learning plays in the intellectual and educational development of children. Knowing and learning in art are different from these same activities in other areas. This idea is slowly penetrating the education field — and as the idea of many different kinds of ‘intelligences’ takes root it becomes clear that they are served by different disciplines. But the problem is not limited to the general public. There is also a great deal of confusion, even among arts educators, over such basic questions as what is to be taught, who is to teach it, and whether children acquire skills from it that have broader relevance. Research in art education is slowly developing a new rationale for its existence on the basis of evolving ideas in developmental and educational…