INTEGRATING
THE Arts
INTO YOUR
CHILD’S EDUCATION
y our friend puts you in charge of
party decorations because she
claims she’s “not artistic.” When
we categorize ourselves as creative
or not creative — left-brained or right-
brained — we simplify the processes in
the brain that are really quite complex
and often not isolated to one area
of the brain.

Despite what we high school algebra-
phobes would like to believe, many
opportunities exist where art can
seamlessly work its way into math
curricula, for example. Plus, research
proves the benefit of arts integration
through a child’s ability to retain new
information for longer periods.

26 Washington FAMILY MARCH 2022
BY JACQUELINE RENFROW
A PASSION FOR ARTS
INTEGRATION Integrating arts into education is a career-
long passion for Mariale Hardiman,
professor, co-founder and director of
the Johns Hopkins Neuro-Education
Initiative (NEI), designed to bring
educators knowledge from the science of
learning to inform teaching and learning.

Part of this initiative included the creation
of the Mind, Brain and Teaching (MBT)
certificate and doctoral specialization at
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School
of Education.

Before joining JHU in 2006, Hardiman
worked in the Baltimore City Public
Schools for more than 30 years, serving