Volume 8, Number 4

Aesthetic Intelligence and Aesthetic Experience in Children

  Authors

Lilly K V and Sudhakar Venukapalli, The English and Foreign Languages University, India

  Abstract

How do children experience music, art, emotions, and beauty? Is aesthetic potential in children innate or acquired? Do children understand the world around aesthetically? Is aesthetic experience a developmental process? How can teachers provide students with opportunities to experience aesthetics for cognitive, social, cultural, and psychological development? These are some of the fascinating questions in the field of contemporary aesthetic education. This paper presents what is aesthetic experience and how it enriches the lives of children. Children should be exposed to fine arts and support from teachers will help them to find meaning in fine arts. Visual arts curriculum will help children in cognitive development by continuously constructing new knowledge and integrating it into existing knowledge. Curriculum designed to teach aesthetic experience should incorporate both art viewing and art making. Aesthetic experience integrates mind, body, and emotion. It can induce personal growth in children, and it is intrinsically satisfying.

  Keywords

Aesthetic experience, Cognition, Aesthetic intelligence, Aesthetic Judgement, Aesthetic learning