Original Contribution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original Contribution

American College of Education

C&I Portfolio

 

Geraldo M. Vieira

1848 Shower Tree Way

Wellington, FL 33414

July 13, 2013

geraldo.vieira@palmbeachschools.org

K-12 Art Teacher

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Benefits of Art Integration in Curriculum

Arts integration has provided significant contribution to academic achievement in public education across the United States. There is strong evidence that participating in art activities produces high achievement in academic subjects. Visual arts, music, dance, drama and others are centered in the conception of ingenuity, imaginations and exploration of the world. The broad scope of fine arts expand students’ thinking ability and creativity; consequently developing in a better understanding of academic subjects such as reading comprehension, writing, math, social studies, science and all others. With the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandate and establishment of Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teachers in public education face many challenges including accountability to impact educational conditions to improve student achievement. Utilizing an art integrated program as a mean to teach students from grades K through 12 provides educators with strong resources to engage diverse and multicultural populations.

 

Arts Integrated Disposition

As our public schools become captivated with testing, it places a strain on the student by the many varieties of assessments conducted by teachers at school and state level. Students have different abilities and are different culturally, socially and linguistically. Art education offers the solution for a stressed diverse population of students. Artistic activities such as drawings, watercolor paintings, clay sculpturing, crafts and others can considerably stimulate the creative side of the brain, developing and applying high level of intellectual and critical thinking.  Utilizing art as a means to teach can be very effective; art provides students with opportunity to look at content and problems from different perspectives. Educators can teach, review and reinforce academic contents by utilizing creative art projects that allow students to expand their imagination and critical thinking. Many scientific researchers have been conducted to investigate the benefits of art integration in public schools. Reviewing reliable data helps us to identify the place and importance of art education in our public schools.  Systematic researches provide insight regarding additional avenues that art education can be explored. According to Eckhoff (2007), the visual arts can be an important and rich domain of learning for young children. It is recommended that during early years of elementary education, art experiences for young children should include activities designed to introduce them to works of art that are high quality and developmentally appropriate in both content and presentation. Children from birth to age eight are capable of making creative connections in art viewing experiences. Eckhof (2007) agrees that educators provide support for integrating rich, meaningful art viewing experiences while utilizing effective strategies for early viewing experiences. These art viewing programs can be part of museum-based art visitation project or in school students’ produced art show.

Education is by far one of the most important experiences in a person’s life, and learning is often emphasized as the primary means by which one is able to excel or achieve success Rosier et al. (2013). Visual arts are the first mean for instruction in elementary education and should be perceived as a priority. The very first contact that children have with literacy is by viewing pictures and illustrations that in many cases are works of art. Studies have found that the longer students participate in visual arts activities, the more complex their artwork becomes (e.g., Hanline & Milton, 2007). Children that are frequently involved in art activities sustain development of creative and intricate thinking that last during adulthood. Researchers have come to an understanding that what attracts people to the arts is the expectation that encountering a work of art can be a rewarding experience, one that offers them pleasure and emotional stimulation and meaning. It is concluded that the effects of arts participation are likely to accrue to a student relatively slowly at first and then shape rather sharply once the individual gains familiarity with the artistic discipline and superior capacity for mental, emotional, and social engagement through a creative experience. Therefore, facilitating and promoting these experiences in our schools give students a chance to interrelate with art and help stakeholders to understand the intrinsic value of art. By promoting these benefits through K-12 education, we can help communities truly understand how art fits into their lives (Rosier et al. 2013).

 

Art Integrated Curriculum

Art education can expand through effective interconnection with literacy, math, science and social studies and other subjects in the regular classroom and beyond school confines. According to the National Center for Education Statistics et al. (2012), fine arts teachers in most public schools have a short weekly contact with students. Classroom teachers in elementary school spend considerably more time with their students than most elective instructors. Grade Level teachers know students’ individually in a day-to-day base. They have a better understanding of students’ habits, abilities, and strengths and follow closer data assessment information. They are the daily source to pass on knowledge to children, work difficulties together, prepare them for further education, and they are the foremost contributors to students’ achievement.

Introducing artistic activities such as drawing, painting, clay and other visual artworks aid students to create mental images of abstract concepts learned in math, reading, writing, social studies and sciences. Students that attend art classes demonstrated that visual arts stimulate the visual memory part of the brain that helps them to manufacture images in their mind while they are reading a book even without any illustration or picture. Students have also demonstrated that while engaged in pre-writing assignments, they primarily have a mental -picture of the concept they are planning to write.

The development of an art integrated curriculum prompts an examination of the contribution of fine arts to academic subjects that are assessed by state standardized tests. Educators must consider the cause and effect relationship in participating in art classes and academic achievement. Instructors can develop an effective integrated curriculum by analyzing the ways and possibilities that arts can expand students’ thinking ability and imagination and how it can develop in a better understanding of all educational subjects. Albert (2010) believes that struggling students, who would often be behind grade level academically, could be served with engaging art integrated activities to promote personal growth and discovery. Accommodations and modifications can be utilized along with various mediums and techniques to provide an environment that pushes each student to reach their highest potential.

Another advantage of incorporating arts in academic content is the possibility for students to explore different talents they have and give them the opportunity to try different things and take another perspective related to the content. Learners have exclusive opportunities to express themselves through the art mediums. The arts help students to explore their own knowledge about the content and about themselves. Art integration makes a dry subject interesting and exciting. It can take a simple lesson into a new world of endless possibilities. Students develop self-knowledge and self-esteem that can affect all areas of learning. Art interconnection with academics contents must envision the highest levels of knowledge which is creativity. Students are accountable to be creative. Creative learners can process information efficiently, synthesize and apply knowledge in a variety of settings including standardized tests and real life situation.

 

Arts Integrated in the 21^st Century

It is vital that schools of the 21st century prepare students to be critical thinkers able to adapt to an evolving education in a reshaping world. Jerald(2009) observed the fact that computers are becoming very good at performing works that mainly demands following directions, even performing complex tasks that involve decisions based on predicted scenarios. It is crucial that school curriculum emphasizes creativity and more complex thinking tasks that computers still cannot perform. Art Integration offers a unique opportunity for students to use their imagination beyond the confines of academics. Students learn to be unique and creative beyond the formal academic concept of what is right or wrong.  Students can explore techniques, skills and tools without being judged upon conventional limitations. The overall lesson that art programs teach is that life is not only based on right and wrong answers but is also grounded in wisdom to make appropriate choices. The main disposition of arts integration in the 21^st century is to allow students to use their imagination, creativity and problem solving skills. Arts can provide students with skills that could help them to solve problems in the real world. Whether students are looking for career in business, science, education or any other area, todays’ work force is demanding high creativity skills to be competitive in a globalized market. Most successful individuals in our world started their career by generating something new. All great inventors used their creative skills to design new products, build new structures, explore new scientific experiments, or utilize an unconventional way to conduct an outcome etc. Arts interconnection should be incremented during the integration process in our schools to foster creativity and innovation, preparing students with high critical thinking and invention skills. It must provide a broader way beyond derivative academic thinking and finding different forms of inspiration and perspectives. More sophisticated thinking practices during art can teach learners to see things around in various perspectives.  Especially during elementary school levels art programs can teach a youth to imagine the possibilities of their world as they begin to explore it.

 

Art Integration Advocacy

Many researchers have been lead to know the importance of arts integration advocacy and how the concept of advocacy has evolved with the times. Bobick and Dicindio (2012) agree that for an art education program to continue, it must be qualitatively significant. There must be a quality content learning and teaching support. Also, students must be provided with the quality of tools, materials and supplies necessary.  Moreover, Lynch (1989) pointed out that Disciplined-Based Art Education advocated for art education through a comprehensive approach derived from the teaching of aesthetics, art history, art criticism, and art creativity. It is crucial to promote art education to school administrators in our public schools because they have direct control over school budgets, which may include purchase of quality significant supplies, instructional material, class field trip to museums and art galleries. Bobick and Dicindio (2012) also endorse that art educators provide administrators and school board members with a plan of action that supports a school district's education goals that will strengthen the case for art education advocacy. This plan of action should contain realistic teaching goals, abiding with the state visual art standards and have the resources needed to reach these goals. In addition, art teachers should invite school administrators and school board members to visit their art classrooms. Art instructors teaching in their classrooms are the perfect locations for art education advocacy and valuation of its importance.

The future of arts education is determined by advocacy that is defined by the inclusion of excellent content and skills that learners acquire from studying the arts. Art teachers, art organizations and museums educators must reach out to the community leaders, present solid evidence in favor of funding arts programs and deliver high quality instruction. Bobick and Dicindio (2012) recommend that by working together, we can facilitate personal experiences in creating and looking at art that will help more people understand the immeasurable value of art education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Albert, R. (2010). Being both: An integrated model of art therapy and alternative art education. Art Therapy: Journal Of The American Art Therapy Association, 27(2), 90-95.

BobickB. &DicindioC. (2012). Advocacy for art education: Beyond tee-shirt and bumper stickers. Art Education, 65(2), 20-23.

Eckhoff, A. (2008). The importance of art viewing experiences in early childhood visual arts: The exploration of a master art teacher’s strategies for meaningful early arts experiences. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35(5), 463-472 doi:10.1007/s10643-007-0216-1

Hanline, M., Milton, S., & Phelps, P. C. (2008). A longitudinal study exploring the relationship of representational levels of three aspects of preschool sociodramatic play and early academic skills. Journal Of Research In Childhood Education, 23(1), 19.

Jerald, D. Craig (2009). Defining a 21^st century education: The Center for Public Education

Parsad, B., Spiegelman, M., & National Center for Education Statistics (2012). Arts education in public elementary and secondary schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10. NCES 2012-014. National Center For Education Statistics,

Rosier, J., Locker Jr., L., &Naufel, K. Z. (2013). Art and memory: An examination of the learning benefits of visual-art exposure. North American Journal Of Psychology, 15(2), 265-278.