Arts Integration and Student Achievement

Chapter Two: The Literature Review

Introduction

The arts is not a new idea in the field of education. For the purposes of this paper, the sources used have found methods in which the integration of the Arts have benefited their students through increased comprehension of the material, student responsiveness, as well as student satisfaction with their class(to make your paper concrete, give a list of them here AuthorA, 2004; AuthorB, 2010, AuthorC, 2009 ). In this literature review, the Researcher will be answering the questions that were posed in the Introductory Chapter as well as examine current studies on the topic of inclusion of the Arts in schools. Several scholarly articles were consulted for the purposes of this Action Research Project and all articles show support for Arts Inclusion in Elementary schools . The Ontario Ministry of Education has made the Arts a required component of school curriculum and the emphasis has led to a variety of programs at schools that are primarily teacher led, such as choir, drama clubs and dance teams. In this Action Research project, the researcher will include supporting research from other experts in the field of education, particularly Arts Education as well as steps to integrate successfully in a classroom setting. The research questions that were addressed in chapter one will be further developed in this chapter to explain the reasoning and basis for the Researcher’s choice of this topic .

Research Questions

The research questions that were introduced in the last chapter reflect the concerns that may arise when attempting to establish an integrated arts program in schools. Where not all schools and teachers are set up for an Arts program and some teachers may lack the trai...

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...nment (Jensen, 2008).

Conclusion

Overall, the literature consulted in this section shows a shift towards the integration of the arts in schools. Individual schools and teachers that integrated the Arts all went about it in different approaches but came to similar findings in that the Arts improved the overall learning of their students. The next section, Chapter three: The Methodology, the Researcher will further establish the Action Research connection to this work and the purpose and benefits of its use in the classroom setting. Where Action Research is an ongoing process in the Education field, this study of action research will continue on after the conclusion of this written body of work as themes and techniques in Arts Education can change frequently and techniques need to be adapted to the students that the teacher has that year as they are variable.