Benefits of Arts Integration
Objectives
By the end of this unit participants will..
1. Be able to explain how the arts in education creates a deeper understanding
2. Be able to describe three benefits of arts integration
Learning Activity
Watch the following video that discusses some of the benefits of integrating the arts into the core curriculum. Take notes on a separate piece of paper.
After you watch the video be sure you click the back button to get back to my page.
Mini Lecture:Benefits of Arts Integration
Arts and Academics There is research that shows strong positive relationships between the arts and academic achievement. Rodney Van Valkenburg, Director of Arts Education, Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga, believes that the reason the arts work is that "the skills necessary to be a good artist are the same skills that are needed to be a good student: self-control of your body, voice, and mind." (Cornett, 2007)
Achievement Gap There is a lot of support for arts-based education, especially for disadvantaged populations. The arts give students the desire to learn. The arts can be a feel-good alternative to drugs and other destructive means. The arts also contributes to increased self-esteem and the development of creative problem-skills that build independence.(Cornett, 2007)
What Matters Most? Many well-rounded successful people were not straight A students. High scores do not guarantee desirable social and moral behavior. More important is a broader view of success. If you were to describe your ideal student some qualities might be alert, engaged, respectful, cooperative, etcetera. Ideal students do not have to have high test scores or even be good readers. Teachers want students to do their best possible work. Arts integration can help to establish some of these attributes.
Fourteen Unique Gifts of the Arts
1.Communication
The arts are unparalleled communication vehicles. They are symbolic languages that exist because all thoughts cannot be captured with words. Arts communication is interrelated with cognitive, social, and personal effects of the arts.
2.Content of the arts
The arts are not just process. A vast worldwide arts treasury stands ready to change hearts and minds.
Intellectual. It takes high-level thinking to understand and create through the arts.
3.Creative Problem Solving (CPS)
Is the process used to construct meaning and is at the core of the arts. It is grounded in seeking connections and synthesizing diverse solutions.
4.Critical Thinking
Is part of CPS. It is a focus of the arts where quality is highly valued. In particular, arts criticism involves analysis of details and patterns, compiling evidence, and using criteria to make judgments.
5.Comprehension
Is understanding. Across disciplines understanding is actively created when we problem solve to make sense. The arts stress personal meaning making using thinking such as visualizing, taking divergent perspectives, and making original connections among ideas.
6.Composition
Is the process of expressing meaining. The arts contribute special principles, techniques, and materials to the composition process and add a range of composition forms.
Social Capacities. Meaning may be altered by social circumstances.
7.Culture
The arts uniquely record ways people have lived throughout history. They also provide rich contexts for growth, including positive classroom climates.
8.Cooperation/colloboration
The arts involve students in group problem solving.
9.Community
The arts create a sense of belonging based on respect for the distinctive contributions of each person.
10.Compassion
The arts build empathy by providing experiences that cause new perspectives.
Personal/Emotional Capacities. The arts engage the emotions.
11.Commitment/interest
The arts develop intristic motivation because they are inherently engaging. Persistence, based on curiosity and choice, gives satisfaction, and people feel the rewards of commitment.
12.Concentration
The arts capture attention and develop concentration because they are emotionally compelling.
13.Confidence
The arts develop the courage to take risks and take pride in unique contributions to solving problems.
14.Competence/control
The arts develop skills with tools and materials and control over mind, voice, and body. They build special strategies to plan, think, work, and produce. Artists feel free to break rules because they've mastered them.
Article:How Arts Unlock the Door to Learning
Read this article. It is about Wiley H. Bates Middle School in Annapolis, MD.
This article shows how powerful arts integration can be.
http://www.edutopia.org/stw-arts-integration-reform-overview
Click the back button to get back to my page.
Discussion Questions
1. What are three benefits of arts integration?
2. Why does integrating the arts create a deeper understanding of curriculum?
3. How is arts integration address multiple intelligences?
Return to Integrating the Arts into Education