This book not only sheds lights on the problems inhibiting art education, but also demonstrates how art contributes to the overall development of the mind. Delineating how the development of artistic interests and ability is an important aspect of cognition and learning, the book aims to show how art helps individuals construct cultural meaning, a crucial component of social communication, a foundation for lifelong learning that includes the arts. The volume explains the cognitive nature of learning in the visual arts (debunking the persistent perception of the arts as emotive only); looks at recent understandings of the mind and intelligence to determine how they bear on questions of the intellectual status of the arts; explains how a cognitively oriented conception of teaching will change the ways the arts are taught; discusses the ways in which new developments in cognitive science can be applied to art education; describes how the arts can be used to develop cognitive ability in children; and identifies implications for art curricula, teaching practices, and the reform of general education. There are seven chapters in the book: (1) "The Uneasy Connection between Art and Psychology"; (2) "Artistic Development in Cognitive Developmental Theories"; (3) "The Cognitive Revolution and Conceptions of Learning"; (4) "Cognitive Flexibility Theory and Learning in the Arts"; (5) "Obstacles to Art Learning and Their Assessment"; (6) "Imagination in Cognition"; and (7) "The Arts and Cognition: A Cognitive Argument for the Arts." Each chapter includes notes. Contains extensive references. (BT)