Howard Gardner introduces Arts PROPEL which can be considered a disciplined inquiry in high school. Arts PROPEL is an approach to curriculum and assessment in the arts principally on the high school level. In working on the research of Arts PROPEL, the path- breaking methods of investigation devised by Jean Piaget in 1970 were used. By studying Piaget, three principle lines of investigation evolved. A cross-sectional experimental study of specific capacities such as: style sensitivity or metaphoric competence was done to determine the "natural" developmental trajectory of these important skills. Secondly, Gardner and his colleagues carried out naturalistic longitudinal studies of the development in early childhood of various kinds of symbol-using capacities. Thirdly, in a scientifically related body of work, Gardner and his colleagues "investigated the breakdown under conditions of brain damage of the very symbolic skills whose oncogenesis had been probing." These are the findings from this study that was conducted during the 1970's. The researchers found that in most areas of development, children improve with age. Young children have a high level of competence in the artistic spheres whereas there is a possible decline during the middle years. Preschool children acquire a tremendous amount of knowledge about competence in the arts (Gardner, 1993). Children's drawings show that there is "self-generated learning and development". In nearly every area, an individual's perceptual or comprehension capacities develop well in advance of productive capacities. "This finding underscores the importance of giving young children ample opportunity to learn by performing, making, or 'doing'. According to classical development theory, children's competence in one cognitive sphere should predict the child's level of competence in other spheres. Gardner and his colleagues found that it was normal for a child to be strong in one or two areas while at the same time being average or below average in their attainment in other areas. The belief has been that the brain was "equipotential". This means that each area of the brain would be capable of subserving the range of human capacities. Neuropsychological research doubts this finding that specific areas of the cortex have particular cognitive foci. After early childhood, there is little "plasticity" in the representation of cognitive capacities in the nervous system (Gardner, 1993). Project Zero has established that artistic development is complex and multivocal, and that generalizations are hard to come by and they often fall by the way. Gardner (1993) states that in his own work the various insights from Project Zero came together in his "theory of multiple intelligences". Gardner goes on to say that according to his analysis, he believes that there is not a separate artistic intelligence. He adds that each of these forms of intelligence can be directed toward artistic ends. "The symbols entailed in that form of knowledge may, but need not, be marshaled in an aesthetic fashion" (Gardner, 1993).
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