Overview:
This class will lay the foundation for integrating music in the elementary classroom. Students will explore the purpose of music in the classroom and the teacher’s role in creating and implementing music lessons.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Define arts integration.
- Identify and describe the rationale for integrating music in the elementary classroom.
- Identify the challenges involved when integrating music in the elementary classroom.
- Identify and describe the three common approaches to integrating music into the elementary classroom.
Introduction
Curriculum integration is currently one of the most important issues in American public education. Intuitively, parents and teachers know that students who study music perform better in school and in life. Supported by more than thirty years of research, the integration of music into the classroom has many benefits that not only provide and extend meaning but also promote learning in all areas of the curriculum.
Arts integration, and specifically music integration, teaches many types of literacy while developing intuition, sensitivity, reasoning, imagination, and dexterity. As a result, students may perceive and think in new ways. Learning in the arts "nurtures active engagement, disciplined and sustained attention, persistence, and risk-taking." [1]Deasy, Richard J., Ed. (2002) <em>Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development</em>. Arts Education Partnership, Washington DC, Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts. Washington DC and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The study of, and participation in, music is important in its own right, but music study can impact other areas of children’s development as it:
- Is a significant part of life
- Can be used as a learning/problem-solving vehicle
- Unites affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains
- Increases creativity, sensitivity, and self-discipline
- Provides aesthetic enjoyment
- Promotes brain development
The movement toward integration and an interdisciplinary curriculum has been advanced by research on the brain and learning. Howard Gardner suggested in his book, Theory of Multiple Intelligences, that all aspects of intelligence are necessary for complete human development and that education in the arts is an absolute necessity. His research and similar findings challenge the traditional models of curriculum.
