Arts Integration

Purpose of Study

There is a wealth of research about arts integration in the classroom. What exactly is arts integration? Do students who are exposed to arts integrated lessons have better academics, cognitive, and personal outcomes then those who do not? Does art integration help with retention of learned information. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of arts integration in the elementary classroom.

What is Art Integration?

Silverstein and Layne (2010) define arts integration as “an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.” Arts integration

Ingram and Meath (2007) outlined a summative evaluation of the Arts for Academic Achievement (AAA) arts integration program that was conducted over a two year period, and its effect on reading achievement. The AAA program was implemented in 37 Minneapolis public schools. Researchers collected data from every school through teacher surveys measuring the frequency of arts-integrated instruction, standardized achievement measures including the NALT, MCA, and MBST reading tests, and the perspectives of students, teachers and artists collected through interviews. The relationship between student achievement and the AAA arts-integrated instruction was analyzed by comparing the standardized test results with the teacher implementation survey. Qualitative data collected through teacher, artist, and student interviews provided a rich picture of what the perceived effects of the program are in the schools. On standardized measures of reading achievement, a positive relationship was found for third, fourth, seventh, and eighth grade students. The more frequently a teacher reported integrating the arts to expand students reading skills, the more their students’ scores increased from year to year. Their students also performed higher on a single test given during the year. On non-standardized measures of AAA program effects, students were reported to have improved academically. Specifically, students were more

Smithrim and Upitis (2005) conducted research spanning three years to investigate if students benefited from participation in the Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) program. The LTTA program aimed to revitalize elementary education by increasing engagement of students through arts integrated curriculum developed by professional teaching artists in collaboration with classroom teachers. The researchers randomly selected 650 students from 15 elementary schools across Canada that indicated they would be willing to participate in the LTTA program for a full three years and select 20 control schools for comparison. The researchers used two control situations for comparison. The controlled situation was using schools with a different curricular initiative and the second was using schools without any special initiatives in place. The researchers collected quantitative data through standardized tests in mathematics, reading, and writing, and surveys regarding students’ attitudes about school, learning the arts, and their practices and hobbies outside of school. The researchers collected qualitative data through open-ended survey questions, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups. The treatment group of students received an arts integrated curriculum designed by LTTA teaching artists in collaboration with classroom students. The control groups did not receive LTTA arts integrated curriculum. Researchers gathered pre and post-test