For children who will be living in a multifaceted and multi cultural era, the weight of art education is increasing daily in order for them to develop a worldly outlook and the ability to correctly differentiate and decide what they want within a floo...
For children who will be living in a multifaceted and multi cultural era, the weight of art education is increasing daily in order for them to develop a worldly outlook and the ability to correctly differentiate and decide what they want within a flood of information. At the scenes of education, however, expressive skills are strongly emphasized and standardized learning distant from individual creativity or interests is common due to restrictive curriculums. As the future society approaches, such teacher-centered and uniform learning is not fit to cultivate personnel with abilities to adapt, survive, and be creative. Art classes must be a time to develop an artistic eye to enjoy a beautiful life, and to understand elements and principles of visual form and to think and express them in one’s own way.
According to Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, human beings have nine kinds of intelligences, and everyone has different talents and interests as well as different processes of learning. Therefore, given the right conditions (encouragement, good content, good education), anyone can attain a relatively high level of accomplishment. He also proposed that the nine categories of intelligence work in cooperation, develop coordinately, act together in many complex ways, and communicate with each other. In this present study, two of the nine categories intelligences, spatial intelligence and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, were related respectively to the subjects of art and physical education, and by integrating the education of the two subject matters, the study aimed to create a learning environment that expands on an individual’s many different types of intelligences and helps develop a unique and well rounded person.
With the purpose to make art classes more active and interesting, this study devised a plan to integrate the arts and physical education containing much bodily activity and thereby make art class a more interesting learning experience.
To do this, the theory of multiple intelligences and theory of integrated curriculum were first observed and the significance of the two subjects’ integration was explored. Then the curriculum and textbook contents of art and physical education were analyzed, and the areas and themes of physical activities that can be applied to an art class were selected. Based on these selected themes, an integrated lesson plan targeted to third and fourth grade students were developed and executed on third grade students, and afterwards, a survey regarding the students’ level of interest was given. Based on an analysis of the lesson plan, its results, and the survey, the following conclusions were made.
First, contents which integrated art and physical education showed higher levels of student interest and enjoyment. By satisfying both the need for expression and the need for physical activity, students were able to participate in the art class more happily.
Second, the lesson integrating art and physical education helped students understand the content of the art class.
Third, lively physical activity helped in creating an optimistic and active learning environment.
Fourth, the integration of art and physical education was different in nature than the integration of the core subjects, showing potential of integrating courses in the arts and physical education department.
However, art-physical education integration is not possible in all areas and topics, so in order to effectively integrate physical education into art lessons, the two subject matters’ curriculums and contents must be carefully analyzed and the integration must be done within a boundary that does not damage the original purpose of the art curriculum. Additionally, further studies must be done regarding the effect physical activity has on artistic learning such as artistic expression, expressive skills, and design ability. Also, if fifth and sixth grade students who feel pressured in artwork production, lose confidence, and thereby lose interest are selected and the cause of such changes are analyzed, physical activities related to the topic of learning can be incorporated to help reduce the pressure of artwork production and provide an atmosphere which allows them to open their minds.