Education

Several people have told me recently about Visual Thinking Strategies, a non-profit that “uses art to foster kids’ capacities to observe, think, listen and communicate.” In fact, VTS was behind the Harvard Medical School art museum program I wrote about awhile back.  It sounds like they’re doing great work. Find out more about their research and principles here.

“RISD is MIT for the right brain.”— John Maeda, incoming president of the Rhode Island School of DesignThe quote is from a great WSJ profile of the super-innovative Maeda. Check out the WSJ writer’s description of what Maeda is doing for his presidential inauguration:“On the day I visit, an assistant in his office is folding hundreds of 15-inch squares […]

American medical schools, those bastions of left-brain muscle-flexing, continue their march toward whole-mindedness. Yesterday’s Boston Globe reports that Harvard Medical School has followed the lead of places like Mount Sinai Medical College and begun taking its students to art museums. The goal: To improve young physicians’ observation and diagnostic skills.This isn’t about the artsy-fartsy or touchy-feely. It’s about dollars […]

I may be the least musical person you’ve ever encountered.  And that’s something I’ve long regretted.  Now comes evidence deepening that regret, but offering a way for my kids to become more whole-minded than their dad. ScienceNow reports that Harvard’s Gottfried Schlaug and Boston College’s Ellen Winner and Marie Forgeard have used brain scans to produce the […]

Folk songs protesting government policy haven’t been in vogue since I was a toddler.  But Tom Chapin, who performs in the video below, might just have singlehandedly revived the tradition. (Major Hat Tip to Mike Sporer for hipping me to this song)