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he Importance of Fine Arts in the Classroom

The fine arts can be a powerful teaching tool in the education system. Although powerful, the arts can be viewed as less important than other subject areas, such as language arts, mathematics and science. The arts subject areas are often overlooked by some students and parents as not being “important enough” for a child’s education. Fine arts education can be enriching and leave creative impact on a student’s development and journey through education.

Elliot Eisner’s work in arts education, curriculum study and qualitative work have also impacted how teachers and educators view the arts. In his article “ What the Arts Teach and How it Shows”, he examines how “students both learn more or less than that they are taught” (Eisner, 2002, p.70). Eisner believes that students’ own individual background brings to their education. He argues how the concept of learning does not always take into consideration what the student has been exposed to or ways that he or she will be exposed to in the future (pg. 70), however educators need to identity “the ways in which the arts influence the experience students have in working with them and thereby the cognitive abilities that are likely to develop” (p.71). Touching ever so briefly on his work, he expands to explain that the curriculum as it is used in the classroom is a “series of activities that students will engage. Each of these activities takes shape within the constraints and affordances of some material; if the class in an English class, tasks related to the uses of language are likely to define the activities provided” (pg. 71). Eisner discusses the idea of “scaffolding” and how it “optimizes what students are able to learn in particular circumstances… such learning culminates the child’s achieving mastery, a form of learning that promotes independence” (pg.73). Eisner’s work continues to discuss how the arts give students independence to problem solve and development as individuals, as he describes in the arts the individual can use materials to confer upon forms whatever suits his or her purposes” (pg. 83).

Examples of “Learning through the Arts” in the Classroom The work of Katharine Smithrim and Rena Upitis explores their Canadian school -wide arts education approach, Learning Through the Arts (LTTA). In their research, they looked closely at student achievement after three years of involvement in the LTTA, and the increased test scores (Smithrim and Upitis, 2005, p.109). Smithrim and Upitis reference scholar Elliot Eisner’s “call for the evaluation of arts programs in the mid 1970’s, and as a result growing evidence suggests that arts education positively affects aspects of living and learning beyond intrinsic values” (Smithrim and Upitis, 2005, p.110). Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, they gained data from students, parents, teachers, artists and administrators. Quantitative tools included “standardized achievement tests, holistically scored writing samples and surveys regarding attitudes and practices” (p.113). They also focused on three factors: core subjects, the arts, and computers/gym and friends. Their analysis found that there were “strong indications that involvement in the arts went hand in hand with engagement learning at school” (pg.120). Through their surveys they discovered that there was talk about “how the arts engaged children in learning, referring to the cognitive, physical, emotional and social benefits of learning in and through the arts” (p.120). This went as far as one parent talking about the improvement in their daughter’s success at school: “ She is more diligent about doing homework and remembering important information. She is more excited about school and her subjects, even the ones she isn’t particularly fond of” (p.120). This research allowed Smithrim and Upitis to further explore the effects that the arts had with academic achievement, which provides recognition of an advantage culture of knowledge and skills used.

Eisner, E. (2002). What the arts teach and how it shows. The arts and the creation of the mind (p.70-92). Harrisonburg, Virginia: R.R. Donnelley & Sons. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?isbn=0300105118

Smithrim, K & Upitis, R. (2005). Learning through the arts: lessons of engagement. Canadian Journal of Education, 28(1 & 2), 109-127. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1602156