Why we believe in the arts at USES

At USES, we believe that the arts are a powerful tool for learning across all disciplines. That’s why we developed the Arts in Early Learning curriculum, which uses sensory rich, STEM based (science, technology, engineering, and math) arts experiences to teach abstract concepts in a tangible and accessible way. Art and STEM are a natural fit – both require designing and thinking through a process, making a prediction on the outcome, testing it out, making changes based on the result, and trying again.

Here’s a snapshot of how our toddlers and preschoolers got to explore force and motion through the arts:

Using salad spinners to exercise gross motor skills, make predictions, and explore color mixing and centripetal force

Rolling paint-covered balls down a ramp to test gravity, speed, and motion while developing and revising hypotheses about how the balls would move down the incline

Exploring magnetism and practiced positional vocabulary by holding magnetic wands underneath boxes filled with paint covered magnetic balls

Watching as paint spilled out of a pendulum in beautifully intricate patterns

This fall, we are excited to be expanding arts education to club48, USES’s after school program. Like the Arts in Early Learning curriculum, the club48 arts curriculum will encourage these older kids to develop critical thinking and literacy skills, and to teach them how to use art for self-regulation and relaxation.

Thank you to our 2016-17 arts funders!

Boston Cultural Council

The BPS Arts Expansion Fund at EdVestors

Liberty Mutual

The Lowell Institute

The Paul & Edith Babson Foundation

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture.