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Many non-arts teachers are faced with the challenges of balancing learning standards and engaging students in creative tasks. They craft lessons that nurture risk taking, empower perseverance, and provide opportunities to demonstrate learning in multiple ways. In tandem, they facilitate innovation, creation, and experimentation to keep learners motivated. Yet, academic pressures repeatedly push content isolation in and creativity out, resulting in a one-sided approach to instruction. 

In classrooms, the arts frequently surrender to non-arts disciplines and a cycle of imbalance tends to repeat itself lesson after lesson. This is not an unusual occurrence considering most teachers are trained in a content-specific area and the scope of learning is centered around the primary subject. With high-stakes testing and a mandate to focus on these disciplines, is it possible for non-arts teachers to truly balance rigor and creativity in a primary subject?

The simple answer? Yes! Rigor and creativity are a unified team when lessons are planned and implemented effectively. In fact, research has demonstrated “the arts are not mere window-dressing in the public school setting, but rather that when integrated properly into a curriculum, they can increase learning in key content areas'' (Donovan & Pascale, 2013, p. 18). Teachers approaching a discipline with an arts integration process will see the strength in each of their forms. If you are interested in learning more about the term arts integration, explore the Kennedy Center’s current definition. 

Note: In the description below we’ll explore grade 6-8 examples as a middle ground for understanding arts integration.

Given the range of disciplines in schools—from broad subjects like social studies and science to specific areas like sociology and physics—it’s understandable why teachers are reluctant to integrate the arts when up against a backdrop of inexperience or training to do so. An arts integrated approach is not intended to replace a subject or dilute academic rigor. Rather, it is intended to work alongside complex topics to achieve learning outcomes. For this reason, a fundamental understanding of this relationship is important.

Let’s start with the essentials. Teachers use content area standards to navigate what students are expected to learn. Then learning objectives are designed to reach those goals. When arts standards and objectives are incorporated into the planning process, teachers can expect meaningful learning to occur and the progression of understanding to be transformed. For example, in the visual arts integrated lesson, Balancing Mobiles, there are many organic connections to physical science. The project-based model examines the science of balance through the work of sculptor Alexander Calder’s suspended and standing mobiles. Students dive deep into the functions of a lever, as well as the concepts of potential and kinetic energy, yet the vehicle for learning is through the design and construction of a simplified mobile. The outcomes set forth in the target science objectives are demonstrated in, and experienced by the students, through the art form. 

Grouping an art form with other disciplines engages multiple intelligences, promotes student choice, and presents generous opportunities for problem-solving.  (NCCAS) for dance, media arts, visual arts, theater, and music were constructed with all learners in mind, not just the “gifted and talented,” and not just as arts electives. The structure of these arts standards aims to embrace all cultures, classrooms, and subject areas. They are compatible with  (a hierarchical classification system of verbs used to design learning objectives), reminding teachers that the artistic process of creation is the most advanced level of higher order thinking. Bloom’s hierarchical levels in the arts reinforce the skills and thinking required for effective acquisition of a primary subject.

Students apply higher order thinking when they test a hypothesis, during the writing process, while solving word problems, or debating a topic. They are staples of everyday learning that can be addressed with an arts integrated approach. All art forms embrace complex thought and meaning, while fostering free thought, expression, and a variety of abilities. They can be distinctly multifaceted or straightforward depending on age, grade, or developmental skill level. 

In the history and music/theater-integrated lesson, Sundiata, Mali’s Lion King, students exercise a range of cognitive skills from gathering information, describing the role of ceremonies, creating a puppet, and coordinating a performance. The succession of steps helps build higher order thinking through the expressed art form. Complex thought is illustrated through discussion (explore how the music and dancing set the mood of the ceremony), through creation of an art form (learn African drumming or create a puppet), and through demonstration (perform and share historical and technical facts about traditional Malian drumming or puppetry). 

The lesson demonstrates how learners gain deeper historical and cultural understanding through the arts. This approach is achievable in other disciplines with careful planning, implementation, and evaluation. As a result, teachers will see long-term retention of concepts at an equal or improved rate. Brain magnetic resonance imaging in students has shown “increased thickness of the cortex in the brain areas responsible for cognitive processing…[and] significantly higher [scores] on tests” (Sousa & Pilecki, 2013, p. 21) after an art form was introduced into the learning process. 

Everyday, real-world skills should not be overlooked. They are, after all, the building blocks of thinking and mastery. Effective arts integration planning keeps the end goal in sight, while developing necessary practical skills along the way. High cognitive expectations still require foundational abilities, and for diverse learning needs to be met, appropriate time must be dedicated throughout the stages of child/teen brain development to build those foundations.

In the instructional video, The Drawing Cycle, science illustrator Katherine Hocker explores science through the art of drawing. She presents explicit and repeatable steps called, “the drawing cycle” (observe, plan, practice, draw, and repeat) to create realistic depictions of objects. The cycle of applying practical skills improves a learner's ability to synthesize the concept, a methodology that can be harnessed in many subject areas. In biology, the structure of a cell starts to hold more significance. In geometry, the features of a geometric shape become more defined. In literature, the behavior of an individual illustrates character traits. Holker’s process not only equips learners with a meaningful and practical process but opens opportunities for further investigation. 

It should not be deduced that students enter classrooms with all the practical skills needed to approach new concepts. Every student arrives with highly personal experiences, background knowledge, and talents. Here again Bloom’s structure proves itself to be helpful in arts integration in that it recognizes lower and higher level cognitive processes. No matter the discipline, teachers can scaffold up or down to reinforce practical skills in a wide range of areas. 

Approach aside, teachers are some of the most innovative minds in any space. In real time they draw upon pedagogical, behavioral, technical, and content-specific knowledge to help students reach their academic goals. By developing a repertoire of arts integration teaching practices, they’ll build habits of rigor, foster deep learning, awaken multiple intelligences, increase engagement, and cultivate creative spaces. But like any new concept or approach, it takes time and practice. Once achieved, the process can be as liberating as dancing in the hallway or as rewarding as a choreographed sequence of movements.

To explore more K-12 arts integrated lessons, visit the Related Resources section at the bottom of this page or Lesson & Activities from the Digital Learning Resources Library.

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