Arts Integration

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Why it works

Research on arts integration, teaching academic content through art forms (drama, visual art, music, movement), finds it can increase engagement, support understanding and retention, and reach diverse learners, when it is done with genuine learning objectives in both the art and the content, not as a decorative add-on. The arts offer additional modes (as in dual coding) to represent and process ideas, which can deepen learning across subjects.

The research: Research on arts integration and learning.

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

The core activity: integrate the arts into one lesson

Teachers leave with one lesson where an art form deepens the content learning.

Pick content that could be represented or explored through an art form (drama, visual art, movement, music).
Plan the integration with real learning objectives in both the content and the art.
Make sure the art deepens the content learning, not just decorates it.
Keep it simple to start.

Art that deepens content, not decorates itArts integration works when the art form genuinely helps students understand and remember the content. Design for real learning in both, and start simply.

Facilitator notes

Integrate with genuine objectives in content and art.
Use art as a mode to deepen learning, with content central.
Start simple.

Decorative arts add fun, not learningAn art activity tacked on for fun does not deepen content. Integrate so the art form genuinely helps students understand the content.

Adapt it

Elementary: drama, drawing, movement to explore content.
Secondary: arts as a mode for complex content.
All settings: real objectives in content and art.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Arts Integration: deepen, don't decorate

Art that teaches: content explored through an art form, with real objectives in both, content central.

The content that could be explored through an art form:
The art form and the integration:
The learning objectives in both content and art:
How the art deepens the content learning:
How I keep it simple to start:

Make it stick

Deepen, not decorate:

Integrate arts for real learning.
Keep content central.
Bring an arts-integrated lesson that deepened learning to the next PLC.

Common questions

Isn't integrating arts just a fun add-on?

Done well, it is a genuine learning strategy: representing and processing content through an art form deepens understanding and memory. Done as decoration, it is just fun. Design for real learning in both.

I'm not an art teacher. Can I do this?

Yes. Arts integration is about using art forms (drama, drawing, movement, music) to teach your content, not teaching art expertly. Start simply.

How does it help learning?

It offers additional modes to represent ideas (like dual coding), increases engagement, and reaches learners that text-only teaching misses. Keep the content learning central.