Integrated Arts in Education- Week 1

The topic of this week’s learning was the importance of visual arts and music in the Scottish curriculum and how it can help with children’s cognitive development. During today’s sessions, it was highlighted that many teachers are anxious and nervous about teaching visual arts and music. It is also believed that other subjects within the curriculum are regarded more highly.

During today’s visual arts workshop, we discussed the stages of visual arts.

  • Age two to four – the scribbling stage
  • Age four to seven – the pre-schematic stage
  • Age seven to nine – schematic stage
  • Age nine to twelve – gang stage

(McAullife, 2007)

We were then shown different pieces of artwork from children throughout all stages. Firstly, I looked at artwork from the scribbling stage, in particular a picture of art that was described as being a ‘floating house’. We discussed that children in the scribbling stage have a lot of imagination and create their own artwork. We then moved on to look at children’s artwork from the gang stage. From this, I was able to see that these pieces of artwork were mostly copied from other artwork. This was most likely to be displayed by the teacher and the pupils were to copy the displayed piece of artwork. This reduces individualism and does not allow learners to use their imagination. Thus, meaning that children are losing their imagination and uniqueness throughout their education.

In our second session, we discussed music in the curriculum and some of the benefits of teaching music to children. Some of the benefits we discussed included:

  • Music develops individuals confidence
  • Music sparks creativity
  • Can help to relieve stress
  • Can help to improve hand and eye co-ordination
  • Helps learners to understand instruction and direction

It is clear that music can be beneficial to young learners in many ways and it is vital that is taught to them continually throughout their education. We also discussed “The Mozart Effect”. This is when the practitioner plays classical music for the children in their class ten minutes before they study mathematics. Research suggests that the children perform better in mathematics after hearing classical music than they would without it.

Lastly, we explored rhythm and beats through an online resource. We were given beaters or drumsticks and we had to play along to the rhythm or beats in front of us. We used the words “circle” or “square” at first to understand fully what we were doing. I will definitely be taking this part of today’s session into my teaching practice as it was clear to visualise children taking part in an activity similar to this.

References

McAuliffe, D. (2007)Foundation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11. London: Continuum.

 

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