Humanities are academic disciplines that study human culture.

In the Middle Ages,

the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the
main area of secular study in universities at the time. Today, the humanities are
more frequently contrasted with natural, physical and sometimes social sciences as
well as professional training.
The humanities use methods that are primarily critical, or speculative, and have a
significant historical elementas distinguished from the
mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences. The humanities include ancient
and modern languages, literature, philosophy,art and musicology.

To be inspired by some of the greatest minds and thoughts of the ages. What basic
skills do kids today need to thrive in the 21st century digital age? The 3 Rs of
reading, riting, and rithmetic were deemed essentials of mandatory public
schooling in the 19th century Industrial Age where mass printing and machine-made
paper and ink made books available to just about everyone for the first time in
history. A student today needs a fourth R: Reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic and rithms, as
in algorithms, or basic computational skills. By getting the youngest kids started on
algorithmic or computational thinking, we give them the same tool of agency and
being able to make (not just receive) digital content that the 3 Rs gave to Industrial
Age learners.

Insights Into Everything

Through exploration of the humanities we learn how to think creatively and critically,
to reason, and to ask questions. Because these skills allow us to gain new insights
into everything from poetry and paintings to business models and politics,
humanistic subjects have been at the heart of a liberal arts education since the
ancient Greeks first used them to educate their citizens.

Here's a definition of algorithm adapted from the Wikipedia dictionary. "Algorithm:

A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving
operations, esp. by a computer." Algorithms are the basis for computational
thinking, programming, writing code, and webcraft. Just as the last century saw a
major educational initiative aimed at basic literacy and numeracy for the masses,
the 21st century should be pushing for basic computational literacy for everyone,
starting with kids and, of course, with adult and lifelong learning possibilities for all
of us.

Understanding Our World

Research into the human experience adds to our knowledge about our world.
Through the work of humanities scholars, we learn about the values of different
cultures, about what goes into making a work of art, about how history is made.
Their efforts preserve the great accomplishments of the past, help us understand
the world we live in, and give us tools to imagine the future.

Before mass printing, universal literacy and numeracy were not considered
important because the division of those who ruled and those who were ruled was
skewed radically, so a small aristocracy controlled the majority of people. With the
rise of the middle class in industrialism came compulsory schooling and a push
towards universal literacy. Simple access to print doesn't mean much unless you
can read and write. You can't be middle class without some control over your own
budgets, income, earnings, spending, and savings so elementary numeracy is
crucial.

Bringing Clarity to the Future

Today, humanistic knowledge continues to provide the ideal foundation for exploring
and understanding the human experience. Investigating a branch of philosophy
might get you thinking about ethical questions. Learning another language might
help you gain an appreciation for the similarities in different cultures. Contemplating
a sculpture might make you think about how an artist's life affected her creative
decisions. Reading a book from another region of the world, might help you think
about the meaning of democracy. Listening to a history course might help you better
understand the past, while at the same time offer you a clearer picture of the future.
To practice the analytical thinking skills you need to be a successful student and
employee.
To improve your skill at oral and written communication.
To see the interconnectedness of all areas of knowledge - how it all fits together.
To develop a global perspective by studying cultures throughout the world.
To deepen your understanding and appreciation of other's cultures and other's
points of view.
To support and strengthen your local arts community by learning to appreciate the
importance of creativity.
To clarify your values by comparing and contrasting them to what others have
thought.
To deepen your sources of wisdom by learning how others have dealt with failures,
success, adversities, and triumphs.
To appreciate what is enduring and to be able to tell the difference between the
meaningless and the meaningful.

Algorithms are as basic to the way the 21st century digital age works as reading,
writing, and arithmetic were to the late 18th century Industrial era. Here's some of
what the fourth "R" of "algorithms" adds to the standard syllabus of 21st century
learning:
*Algorithms and algorithmic thinking give kids of the 21st century the ability to write
software and change programs to suit themselves, their own creativity, and their
desire to self-publish their own multimedia work. Wonderful open source, nonprofit
(free!) multimedia programs like Scratch , designed by the MIT Media Lab, inspire
kids to create and share your own interactive stories, games, music, and art. Or
kids can take advantage of the free online web remixing program Hackasaurus ,
created by the nonprofit Mozilla Corporation that develops the Firefox browser.
*Learning basic algorithms allows them to create not just content but the actual
structures of Webcraft that govern their lives today, including interaction with other
kids learning the same skills they are.
*It allows for more diverse participation in the creation (not just the consumption) of
the digital cultural, as well as the economic, educational, and business products of
the 21st century.
*It helps to end the false "two cultures" binary of the arts, humanities and social
sciences on the one side, and technology and science on the other. Algorithmic
thinking is scientific but also operational and instrumental it does stuff, makes
stuff, allows for creativity, multimedia and narrative expression all worked out

within code that has been generated by these larger human and social and aesthetic
priorities.
*By making computational literacy one of the basics, it could help redress the
skewed gender balance of learning right now, with an increasingly high proportion of
boys failing and then dropping out of the educational system, a disproportionate
number of women going into teaching as a profession, and an abominably low
percentage of women going into technology and multimedia careers. Starting early
might help level the playing field in several directions at once.
*If we don't teach kids how to control this dynamic means of production, we will lose
it. Computational literacy should be a human right in the 21st century but, to
access that right, kids need to learn its power, in the same way that the earlier
literacies are also powerful if you master them.
*For those kids not destined to be programmers when they grow up, this Fourth R
gives them access to computational thinking, it shows them what webcraft is and
does, and it shows them how the World Wide Web was originally designed; that is,
with algorithms that allow as many people to participate as possible, allowing as
much access and as little regulation, hierarchy, and central control as possible.

*For the Fourth R to catch on, wed also have to invest in teacher training. That
might include scholarships for college students who wanted to go on to be teachers
of basic computing skills. Think about the range of societal impacts this would have.
It may be true that simple code writing today can be outsourced and off-shored
but teaching the building blocks of literacy for a digital age is an important skill and
requires good teachers.
*Unlike math, which can often be difficult to teach because of its abstractness,
teaching basic programming skills allows kids to actually do and make things on line,
that can be shared within the various educational communities supported by
programs like Scratch or Hackasaurus. Grade school kids can very soon manipulate,
create, and remix, in their very own and special way, with unique sounds and colors
and animation and all the things that make learning fun and the Internet so vital.
Some have argued that the most important 3 R's in education are really rigor,
relevance, and relationships. Adding "Algorithms" to reading, writing, and arithmetic
also helps with that goal. The rigor is not only inherent, but it is observable. You get
your program right, and it works. No end-of-grade testing required. Algorithms only
when you make them right, so you don't need external measures. Your progress is
charted, tracked, and can be measured against that of others every time you solve a
problem on line.
What could be more relevant to the always-on student of today than to learn how to
make apps and programs and films and journalism and multimedia productions and
art for the mobile devices that, we know, are now almost ubiquitous in the United
States, if not by ownership then by availability in town libraries, schools, and
elsewhere?
Finally, relationships: teaching algorithms is hands-on, even when it is done digitally.
You correct on a minute level, you learn, you go to the next level. Someone guiding
you can make all the difference.
If every child began to learn programming along with basic reading, writing, and
arithmetic, the world of computer scientists and software entrepreneurs would be far
more diverse in gender, educational background, income level, race and ethnicity,
and region.

How would our world change if we had something closer to universal computer
literacy equal to the old forms of literacy and numeracy which were the object of
19th and 20th century public schooling? What could our world look like if it were
being designed by a more egalitarian, publicly educated cadre of citizens, whose
literacies were a right not a privilege mastered in expensive higher education, at the
end of a process that tends to weed out those of lower income?
The 4 R's. Reading, writing, arithmetic, algorithms.

Think about it!

nature of art, and related concepts such as creativity and interpretation, are
explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics
Art is important because it encompasses all the developmental domains in child
development. Art lends itself to physical development and the enhancement of fine
and gross motor skills. For instance, when kids work with play dough, they fine-tune
their muscle control in their fingers. All manipulative movements involved in art help
develop hand and finger muscles that are needed to properly hold and use a pencil.
Art activities also help childrens social and emotional development. Children learn
about themselves and others through art activities. It really helps them build selfesteem. Its an opportunity for children to make a personal statement about their
uniqueness through art while allowing them to express happiness, joy, and pride.
Art also enhances childrens cognitive development which can help kids with their
early math skills. Children who have experienced a wide range of people and places
will have an array of ideas to choose from when doing art. Art reflects what a child
knows about the world and enables the child to choose how to translate those ideas
and experiences.
Finally, art is important because it allows children to be creative. Each piece of clay
manipulated or each easel painting is individual and original to each child in your
program. Art is open-ended and all work can be honored.
Form

Art is a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing

artifacts artworks, expressing the author's imaginative or technical skill, intended
to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power. In their most general form
these activities include the production of works of art, the criticism of art, the study
of the history of art, and the aesthetic dissemination of art.

The form of a work is its shape, including its volume or perceived volume. A threedimensional artwork has depth as well as width and height. Three-dimensional form
is the basis of sculpture.[1] However, two-dimensional artwork can achieve the
illusion of form with the use of perspective and/or shading or modelling techniques.
[2][3]
Formalism is the analysis of works by their form or shapes in art
history or archeology.
Line

The oldest documented forms of art are visual arts, which include creation of images
or objects in fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and
other visual media. Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts; however,
like the decorative arts, or advertising, it involves the creation of objects where the
practical considerations of use are essentialin a way that they usually are not in a
painting, for example. Music, theatre, film, dance, and other performing arts, as well
as literature and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader
definition of art or the arts. Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or
mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after
the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are
separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative
orapplied arts.
Art may be characterized in terms of mimesis (its representation of reality),
expression, communication of emotion, or other qualities. During the Romantic
period, art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified
with religion and science". Though the definition of what constitutes art is
disputed and has changed over time, general descriptions mention an idea of
imaginative or technical skill stemming from human agency and creation. The

Lines and curves are marks that span a distance between two points (or the path of
a moving point). As an element of visual art, line is the use of various marks,
outlines and implied lines in artwork and design. A line has a width, direction, and
length.[1] A line's width is sometimes called its "thickness". Lines are sometimes
called "strokes", especially when referring to lines in digital artwork.
Colour
Color is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected
back to the eye.[1] There are three properties to colour. The first is hue, which simply
means the name we give to a colour (red, yellow, blue, green, etc.). The second
property is intensity, which refers to the vividness of the colour. A colour's intensity
is sometimes referred to as its "colourfulness", its "saturation", its "purity" or its
"strength".The third and final property of colour is its value, meaning how light or
dark it is.[4] The terms shade and tintrefer to value changes in colours. In painting,
shades are created by adding black to a colour, while tints are created by adding
white to a colour.[2]
Space
Space is an area that an artist provides for a particular purpose.[1] Space includes the
background, foreground and middle ground, and refers to the distances or area(s)

around, between, and within things. There are two kinds of space: negative
space and positive space.[5] Negative space is the area in between, around, through
or within an object. Positive spaces are the areas that are occupied by an object
and/or form.
Texture

Texture, another element of art, is used to describe either the way a work actually
feels when touched, or the depiction of textures in works, as for example in a
painter's rendering of fur.