HOW ART ENHANCES LEARNING According to Webster’s dictionary, art can be defined as a range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing arts which expresses the author’s imaginative or technical skill. This imaginative or technical skill is intended to be appreciated for its beauty or emotional power. Art is an example of a hobby which in its own way enhances learning and in this paper, we will discuss the different types of art which include visual art, fine art, music, dance and theatre. According to Tyler and Likova (2012), visual arts which is the oldest form of art, can be defined as art forms such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, filmmaking and architecture. Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts however, like the decorative arts, it involves the creation of objects where the practical considerations of use are essential in a way that they usually are not in painting. Visual art learning is reliant on a complex system of perceptual, higher cognitive, and motor functions, thus suggesting a shared neural substrate and strong potential for cross-cognitive transfer in learning and creativity (Tyler and Likova, 2012). The ability to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty during the creative process is an important mental trait. The tolerance for ambiguity is also an important attribute in the learning. According to Tyler and Likova (2012), contemporary research is beginning to explore new neuroscientific hypotheses concerning the effects of learning in activities such as visual arts. Art should be regarded as a cognitive process in which artists
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engage the most perplexing issues in present experience and try to find a way of symbolizing them visually so that they can bring logic to their experiences. Visual arts can be used to enhance an individual’s creativity. Key aspects that visual art bring to the mix is the creativity involved in the generation of the art work, which is analyzed into its experiential components which include preparation, incubation, intimation, insight and verification. Preparation involves focusing on the domain of problem and prior approaches to its solution, incubation is a sub- conscious process without explicit activity related to the problem, intimation which means that a solution is on its way, insight into a novel solution to the problem and lastly verification and elaboration of the details of the solution (Tyler and Likova, 2012). According to Tyler and Likova (2012), another key aspect of learning that can be facilitated by the arts is the emotional inspiration to be involved in the learning process. Inspiration is an integrative mental function at the intersection of cognitive, emotional and the conative processes. Conative processes are those goal-directed functions and also constitute to desire, ambition and will. Inspiration can turn almost any occupation in life into an avocation, a source of satisfaction in achieving life goals. It is when individuals feel themselves part of larger enterprise that they are inspired to learn and to achieve.

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REFERENCES
Tyler, C. W. & Likova, L. T. (2012). The Role of the Visual Arts in Enhancing the Learning Process. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6: 8