Strategies for Arts Integration
Arts integration is the use of the arts in core curriculum classrooms.When used well, arts integration is seamless — the interplay between the art and subject is fluid as one flows into the other.
The reason why arts integration holds so much potential for the classroom is the power of art to engage students in experiential learning, which is the process for making meaning directly from the learning experience as opposed to academic learning, the study of a subject without the direct learning from experiencing that subject. But there is a distinction between classrooms that use arts as a resource and classrooms that fully integrate art in the planning and implementation of curriculum.
Children thrive on the study of the arts. The arts open doors to creativity. They nourish critical thinking and innovation. Important new technologies can only add to the scope of the arts. The articles and lesson plans below provide research and strategies to help you effectively integrate the arts in your classroom.
Join our bloggers Rob Southworth and Carolyn Elwood throughout the school year for their perspectives on arts integration in schools today and more ideas to inspire your own teaching.
Articles
The Arts Matter
by Victoria Tilney
Instructor Magazine |
Offers creative ways to integrate the arts into the curriculum in order to enrich learning for every child.
Art the Fourth R
by Ohler Jason
Instructor Magazine |
Discusses how, in this multimedia age, art is as fundamental as are writing and math, and provides strategies for facilitating the coming of the art age in schools.
Web Sitings: Virtual Art, Real Learning
by Julie Wood
Instructor Magazine |
Describes how students can use the Internet to see visual representations of the topics they're studying and even create their own virtual art galleries.
Teaching Tip: Incorporate the Arts
by Rita McLary
Tips for incorporating the arts into a high school classroom.
All About Art Inside and Out!
by Sylvia G. Feinburg EdD
Early Childhood Today |
May ,2003
Feinburg discusses the importance of art in a child's social, cognitive and language development. For more information, see the related sub-article,
Color Fun
by Jodi Mahoney and Rona Iny
Instructor Magazine |
January ,2003
Use these color-oriented activities to integrate art, science, and writing. Including a color graph, an experiment in mixing colors, drawing, photography, and reading poetry with a color theme.
The Impulse to Art: Creation Through the Centuries
Instructor Magazine |
Presents a lesson in art history, and features an activity that requires students to practice perspective.
Lesson Plans
Everyday People, Everyday Things: Art Historical Portraits Lesson Plan Grades 9-12
This activity encourages students to consider the historical past through the stories about past artists.
Do You See What I See?
Students learn to identify the characteristics of different painting styles. They each create a painting in one of those styles.
Chasing Vermeer
Students develop problem solving skills while exploring fine art and learning about creative expression in relation to the book Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet.
Clifford Learns About Colors and So Do We!
by Marci Ruiz
Presents an integrated approach to teaching colors while exposing students to literature. The unit plan also applies science, math, drama, art, and movement to learning about colors.
Let's Be Artists!
by Gayle Berthiaume
Details a unique plan for teaching students about the varied aesthetic styles of well-known visual artists and illustrators.
