INTEGRATING ART WITH OTHER
CONTENT AREAS

When considering linking art with other content areas in the school curriculum, it is important to remember the relationship of art to other school subjects. Art provides a visual language used to express ideas about something -- events, people, objects, emotions, or concepts (links to social studies). Art work is accomplished with materials, using techniques, and following procedures. These materials and techniques are developed by artists, chemists, and engineers (science and technology, mathematics). Art history, criticism, and aesthetics use language skills (English language arts, modern and classical languages) and are linked with world history, philosophy, sociology, and psychology (social studies). A broad array of art careers are available (career preparation). The making of art involves small and gross motor skills (physical education). The safe use of art materials is a health issue (health). Art is a part of real life for everyone.

Advantages for students

Including well designed integrated units and lessons in an art curriculum has several advantages for students:

• relationships among disciplines are made apparent;
• students interact with one another and with teachers from all content areas included;
• multiple view points are presented; and
• relevance to students' lives is made obvious.

Lessons which teach relationships among subjects in school help students understand the continuity of knowledge.

A discrete program for art

Though integrated studies are important, not all art lessons can or should be integrated. Students should acquire a solid background in art commensurate with grade level abilities before they can truly benefit from interdisciplinary studies. Art is an essential and legitimate discipline in its own right. The study of art includes a basic understanding of the language of visual communication -- the elementsof art and principles of design -- with which artists express ideas about their world. It includes the study of what constitutes successful and valuable art works. It includes the study of beauty. It includes the contributions of art throughout history. The study of art includes self-expression through techniques with various art media. In addition, the study of art provides a unique contribution to human intellectual and perceptual development, and self-realization. For full comprehension, these concepts in art education must be taught in lessons and units separate from other disciplines as well as being integrated.

The National Arts Education Associations' (Art, Dance, Music, Theatre) joint statement on integration of the arts with other disciplines and each other includes the following cautionary assertion:

The associations are concerned about the practice in some schools of reducing time devoted to instruction in the arts on the grounds that arts instruction is being “integrated” into instruction in other disciplines. The arts can provide powerful means to enhance other instructional activities and should be so utilized when appropriate. However, this type of instruction should be considered supplementary to content-based instruction in the arts. It cannot substitute for a discrete program of instruction in each of the individual arts because it cannot teach the skills and knowledge comprising each of the arts in a comprehensive and sequential manner. (NAEA, 1992)

A carefully planned curriculum that includes integrated units and lessons strengthens students' understanding or art and its relationship to their lives.

Design options

Several models for integration are being used at present. Terminology for these strategies varies among theorists, however the relationships are generally these:

• Art concepts and concepts from other content areas are combined in a lesson taught by the art teacher (integrated or correlated lessons).

• Art lessons are designed and sequenced to coincide with a related topic in other content areas during the year (parallel lessons) and should be planned by the art teacher and the classroom teacher(s).

• Art concepts are part of a theme-based unit or lesson which includes several content areas. They should be planned and taught by all teachers involved (multidisciplinary units or lessons).

• Art concepts are part of a unit which includes all content areas (interdisciplinary units). All content area teachers are involved in planning and teaching.

These options can be used in combination as appropriate to a program's needs.

Characteristics of integrated art lessons

The following are characteristics of integrated art experiences that will maintain the integrity of art in the curriculum:

1. Art products must reflect the individuality of the creator. If all art works created during a lesson suffer a sameness, question if the teaching unit had taken sufficient note of art criteria.

2. Art skills must be taught as part of the lesson. Goals for instruction must include those which meet the guidelines of local, state, and national art curriculums. This would include instruction in media and drawing skills.

3. During the lesson, instruction should be directed at the aesthetic development of the art work. This component includes using design and composition criteria to evaluate the progress and success of the project.

4. Art educators should design and/or direct those art components used as part of interdisciplinary instruction.

5. Information drawn from art history, art criticism, techniques, and aesthetic issues should be incorporated into interdisciplinary units.

6. Interdisciplinary instruction should supplement, not supplant specific art instruction for all pupils. (Thompson, 1995, pages 38-45)

Guidelines for development

The following guidelines should help in development of any form of integrated lessons:

• Teachers involved should share in the teaching, reinforcing their discipline's concepts.

• Concepts should be clearly defined and demonstrated throughout the lesson. For instance:

- Guide discussions during the lesson that reinforce both art and other content concepts.

- Provide individual instruction that helps students understand and use the concepts.

- Check for understanding of the concepts by creating evaluation activities that allow students to demonstrate their understanding of all concepts presented.

• It should be clear to students that relationships exist between the art concepts and the other content area's concepts. It should also be clear how, together, they help students understand the theme of the lesson. Understanding of this relationship should be one of the objectives of the lesson.

• Lessons should be engaging learning experiences that address significant concepts in art. Include art criticism, history, and aesthetics along with creative expression and techniques.

• Concepts should be reinforced again in the next lesson even if it isn't an integrated lesson. Students will learn to see that art is an integral part of their education and their world if connections are made with other content areas throughout the year.

Collaboration for planning and teaching

Art teachers and teachers in other content areas must work collaboratively to create viable lessons. Team-planned lessons have a much better likelihood of success because teachers involved have considered the whole curriculum, students, facilities, and materials. However, for such collaboration to be successful, positive beliefs and attitudes must pre-exist among those involved.

Prerequisite beliefs and attitudes

• Willingness to work with the other teacher. Create a team who can work together with mutual respect.

• Enthusiasm for the content to be integrated. It is difficult to keep up the required energy if one isn't excited about the content.

• Curiosity about the other discipline. Enjoy learning the topic you will work on together.

• Respect for your colleague's role and knowledge.

• Willingness to take the role of specialist and generalist. You will be the specialist in art and you will become a generalist in the other disciplines.

• Mutual empathy for each other's roles.

• Sensitivity to teammate's time. Keep schedules.

• Respect for your teammate's effort.

• Perseverance. Developing integrated lessons is hard work, keep at it.

• Sensitivity to teammate's cognitive style.

• Awareness of differential treatment. Try to involve as many teachers as possible in the course of a year so no one will feel left out.

Prerequisite conditions

• An environment of acceptance of change is needed from faculty, administration, parents, and students. This acceptance may not exist for all involved the first year, but keep records of time spent, materials costs, lessons taught and your reflections, student responses to the lesson and examples of their work, and parents' favorable comments (you will have responded to those who are unsure how this integrated lesson benefits their child). Use this evidence to get more cooperation from administrators the next year. Also, consider the kind of curriculum change this type of teaching represents:

• Evolutionary change takes a little more than the usual planning time because it involves change that evolves from previous steps.
• Revolutionary change takes a lot of time because it involves new ways of thinking and doing things -- sometimes a paradigm shift (change in basic beliefs about education).

• Time for planning and time for team-teaching. Those who already plan integrated lessons know that collaboration among teachers takes time. Plan for more time than you think it will take. Planning time must be built into the schedule so that teachers can work together on integrated lessons and units. Furthermore, such activities should be guided by all teachers involved, so teaching time must be coordinated.

• Appropriate facilities or special room arrangements may be needed. For instance, storage for art works may be a problem if the lesson includes large-scale items.

• Support materials. Gathering materials for teaching takes time and, sometimes, money.

Guidelines for working together collaboratively

While working together, teachers may debate and discuss several points about the lesson -- the importance of certain content, the procedures to use, time needed for parts of the lesson, etc. -- some disagreement is expected. Collaboration may be defined as giving humans the permission to debate and argue issues. Rules for how this will be done must be created beforehand so that people understand the rules of the game. Here are some things to remember:

- If sthere is disagreement with an idea, a new suggestion must be given so a stalemate will not exist.

- Set a time limit on discussion, then make a decision. Otherwise, the discussion can go on and on. If things need to change later, they can.

- Several alternatives should be brought to the first meeting so brainstorming can be “seeded”. Since time is short in school situations, a lot of pre-thinking should occur.

- Do not get attached to an idea before the first planning meeting -- a colleague may have come up with a better idea. Be open.

- Remind yourself that you are a team member. Since teachers are used to being the expert and leader, it sometimes takes practice to be a team member because it means giving up some autonomy.

- Give a little and take a little. You can always try it another way next time.

Steps for planning

1. To begin the process, briefly suggest possible ideas for integration to initiate thinking.

2. Compare schedules to find time to plan together -- before or after school, on the phone, e-mail -- it all does not have to be done in person.

3. Have your own related art concepts clearly in mind. Your teammate should also have concepts in mind.

4. Brainstorm ideas that include concepts from both (or all) areas. Be sure to explore alternative ideas from the first ideas that came to mind. Remember to put student learning first.

5. Share curriculum materials (involve librarians and curriculum coordinators).

6. Seek other experts for involvement (parents, local artists, scientists, historians, etc.).

7. As part of the lesson, develop clear evaluation measures that are appropriate to both disciplines and team-teach them too.

8. Outline a lesson that includes both sets of concepts. They may overlap or be sequential.

9. Divide the teaching time as evenly as possible.

10. Get critiques from other teachers.

11. Develop this outline into a complete lesson.

12. Teach the lesson.

13. Display the art work and include lesson objectives for both discipline areas. A brief description of the lesson is a good way to show your planning. Include student response sheets for your lesson. This helps viewers understand what you both expected of the students. (Newsletters home to parents explaining the value of each integrated lesson helps them understand too. Most people will acknowledge the validity of your program if given concrete evidence of its worthwhileness to their children. Remember, they vote on school funding.)

14. Together, review what you've done and revise it for next time. Getting feedback from students helps too.

Develop a set of integrated lessons that will work with several teachers. After they are planned initially, adjustments can be made to fit local needs (materials, facilities). These become part of the repertoire of lessons used each year. During work days before the school year begins, give each teacher at each grade level the set of lessons for that grade and ask for a commitment to team-teach and for choices to be made. Then you may plan for these classes well in advance. A week or two before the lesson is scheduled to be taught, adjustments can be made to fit existing conditions.

Suggestions from Maine art teachers:

Here are a few of the ways art teachers in Maine work to accomplish integrated units and lessons:

• Ask for units of study from other teachers.

• Ask for a “themes” calendar at the beginning of the year. Give each classroom teacher a blank calendar for the year for them to fill out.

• Work with a few selected teachers.

• Attend team meetings to schedule time for planning.

• Read curricula from other content areas.

• Attend regional curriculum workshops together with classroom teachers.

• Leave notes in mail boxes letting teachers know what you are planning for their class in the future.

• Give lesson ideas to classroom teachers along with guidelines for their use.

• Give the lesson plan to the classroom teacher so they can begin (provide content motivation) or finish an integrated lesson in their class. Include evaluation guidelines.

• Get information about classroom lessons from students.

• Have a “Discipline Buddy” each year with which you plan regularly. This is a good way for new teachers to get to know your discipline better and for you to get to know theirs.

• Visit other teachers who have had successfully integrated art in their schools.

• Create teaching materials packets for classroom teachers to use. This works well with art history.

Resources:

• Art Connections, Thompson, K. B. & Loftus, D. S. (1994), Good Year Books.

• Connections in Art, Colbert, C. & Brooks, R. (1999), Davis Pub.

• Connections: The Geometric Bridge Between Art and Science, Kappraff, J. (1990), McGraw Hill.

• Great Ideas... That Are Working, (1998), Maine Arts Commission, Maine Alliance for Arts Education, Very Special Arts Maine.

• “Keeping Art's Integrity in the Integrated Curriculum,” Thompson, K. M. (1995), Art Education. National Art Education Association.

• Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Art Activities, Ervin, B. M., (1998), J. Weston Walch.