The Importance Of Arts Integration In Education

When I was working for Girls Rock Math– a summer camp that incorporates arts activities as a method of teaching math concepts with the intention to spark young girls’ interest, I noticed a significant increase in the girls’ interest when arts activities were present compared to when it was just plain math. The first and second graders in my class appeared to be much more excited about the subject and more concentrated when the teacher was trying to explain the instructions. This discovery makes me wondering about the influence of arts integration has on students learning. Defined by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, arts integration is "an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form.” By integrating arts into core subjects teaching, educators are allowing students to learn through the arts, with the arts or accompanied by art lessons. In fact, arts education has been constantly associated with higher individual achievement.

When used well, the arts are the cement that brings all the disparate curricular areas together. In the best schools, this is often the case. The arts are valued for their interdisciplinary potential. The result is a more cohesive curriculum in which students explore relationships across disciplines. . . . the arts in conjunction with other aspects of the curriculum afford students more complete and compelling conceptions. (p. 7)

Art integration is when teachers use the fine arts to assist in the teaching of core subjects. The fine arts consist of anything that includes dance, music, visual arts, and theater. The core subjects would be math, reading or language arts, science, social studies and even physical education. The way the integration works is if the teacher can make the two groups fit together without any flaws. Riley (2012) found that teachers cannot only just use integration, but they need to collaborate, and research to make it work properly in their lesson plans. While it is not hard to do, it just takes some time to get used to using the arts while teaching the core subjects. According to Riley, (2012) students need to work hard also to make integration function correctly. They must be creative, use problem-solving skills, collaboration and be able to work through “multiple concepts” to

“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading writing, and arithmetic…music dance, painting, and theatre are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment” (William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education).

The recommendation of this paper are all three options; these options are that school districts should include arts in the curriculum, having prepare teacher that have an art major and adding support in the classroom. Besides this option, several options can be taken into consideration. The teacher is a big part of student life because they can teach them the skill, new experiences, and motivate them to become better. However, there are some limitations to this analysis. First, the lack of school's administrators that would like to incorporate arts. Then the cost and the visibility that parents and administrators would take this subject to be included in the curriculum. Also, prepare the teacher in the field would cost money and most schools

Arts integration is a cross-curricular approach to teaching that correlates with Constructivist approaches to education.

The first day of class was very exciting. My first class at USF and my first class in the teaching program. Almost expected in a “creative experience for child” I walked in to examine a variety of art supplies and a variety of students. That first day the class explored what is real “art’s integration”. Art’s integration to me had always meant that the school address art. I had thought that if the school were to simply add some type of art class it would count as integrating art into the school curriculum. However, I now know that art integration equally addresses the academia with the creative process and art forms.

In the United States, school systems are making budget cuts with the arts programs being the first to go. The arts programs however are a very crucial part to a student’s life. But first, what exactly do the arts programs consist of? According to US Legal, the definition of an Arts education, in other words the arts programs, is “learning, instruction and programming based upon the visual and tangible arts. Art education includes performing arts like dance, music, theater, and visual arts like drawing, painting, sculpture, and design works. Design works include design in jewelry, pottery, weaving and fabrics.” It is a fundamental core that the boards of school tend to overlook. As Sir Ken Robison says, “We don’t grow into creativity, we get

Arts education is something that thrives off knowledge and experiences in which students are allowed to have artistic expression. Integrated arts plays a significant role in fostering the development of self expression, and confidence (Hassan). This means that an arts education facilitates students in learning how to understand things through creativity. Arts students who are provided an opportunity to do something artistic task individually, will take initiative. Being allowed to produce original art fosters creativity and creative skills, which help students in developing decision-making skills, making them more confident in their own abilities to enter the real world and be productive and efficient.

Artist can integrate content and form, which is where content and skills are forming the visual arts, theater and music whit other core subjects. There is a seamless blending of that content and skill of an art form of a curricular subject. An art integrate is a valuable resource that guides and plans the professional development for the support of

I recognize in the era of high-stakes accountability, educators can be fearful of incorporating arts education into their curriculum. Yet, research supports the argument

Another benefit of arts integration will be building confidence in the classroom. The arts force students to participate in the classroom. Therefore, shy or uncomfortable students that usually in the back of the class or hiding in the corner seat, will also be involved. This helps with self-esteem because students will be able to build confidence with role playing with other

I believe that arts-based education will greatly improve education in the US in the 21st century. The standardized test that is used now only evaluates what students learn in a classroom. Every student gets selection of questions and their level of knowledge is measured by these tests. This test fails to agnalg that not every student learns the same way. Students can learn different subjects through Self-expression and creativity. This test also does not help the students that know the materials but just do not test well. The arts-based education will help include the students that have been affected by the standardized test. The arts-based education will help all of the I believe that every child will benefit arts-based education. The purpose

When it comes to literature and the arts is very beneficially to the learners as well as the teachers. Knowing that art integration is an instructional style and not just another activity will help teachers smoothly incorporate it into lessons. Also, knowing the types of fine arts can help with students intellectual, social, personal, and emotional skills. Students will be able to communicate better and use their cultural understanding to be greater achievers.

After carefully evaluating three possible solutions that were presented in the previous section on implementing arts integration into the classroom, this paper will recommend the solution to be, hiring an art teacher. As stated before, hiring additional teachers, for most student tends to be very helpful. It can relieve stress and any additional preparation that comes with integrating the arts. This recommendation could help teachers divide their work with the hired art teacher.