MISSOULA – Wh headed over to Hawthorne Elementary School for this Arts and Education report where kids are learning math in some very unique ways.
When we stopped by the third grade class was learning fractions and when SPARK Arts Missoula is involved, learning does not come in the traditional form.
Instead, the kids were learning all about denominators, and numerators through theater. A teaching style, that can take otherwise difficult subjects and then bring it to life through the arts.
“Being able to use the arts in our regular class curriculum helps us better understand our thoughts in a dimensional space in our minds,” Theater Arts teacher Rosie Ayers.
“It takes the people who don’t learn traditionally and helps them access the information more easily. And it takes those traditional learners and it heightens their awareness and ability to learn,” she added.
One of the great benefits of this class is it takes the subject being taught off the paper and puts it into everyday life.
Studies have shown, that kids will learn and retain more information when being taught using techniques like these, However, none of that really matters to these kids as they are just having fun.
“Kids often believe they are not learning when I am here. They think that it is just all fun. And we actually see the opposite. We see the test scores go up, we see the kids engage with their own learning process as well as with the other students in the room in new and exciting and successful ways,” Ayers told MTN News.
“And teachers ask me back every year, and they are excited when I come back. It both gives them new energy and a little break as well as getting to know a new skill and new talent together,” she concluded.
