Arts integration can address social issues and engage students in the positive transformation of society by implementing it at different levels of education. Arts can be used in elementary, middle, and high-school classrooms and address various issues appropriate for each age group (Zhou & Brown, 2018). From my personal experience, I remember that my peers at school, who came from families with social issues like abuse or neglect, were happier in classes that integrated art in the forms of music and drawing. Arts help students make sense of what they learn and, therefore, can stimulate better academic engagement (Zhou & Brown, 2018). Moreover, in a teaching strategy, arts can be integrated with non-arts curricula to enhance students’ outcomes of the learning process (Zhou & Brown, 2018). Arts integration can provide emotional comfort for children who face social issues and improve their academics, thus creating the basis for a better society.
Furthermore, arts integration can promote healing and growth by providing people with more meaning in life. Arts can make students’ learning “visible” and require them to create something original and valuable (Zhou & Brown, 2018, p. 8). For example, as mentioned above, in my school, some children came from abusive families and often were upset or angry. However, for most of them, their art projects, especially those highly estimated by others, made the students happier. They saw value in something that they had created, and they seemed to have more hope of creating something precious outside the school walls. Moreover, art promotes teamwork and purposeful conversation in a classroom (Zhou & Brown, 2018). Arts integration can provide mental support for people and stimulate the development of their social and inventive skills.
Reference
Zhou, M. & Brown, D. (2018). Arts integration in elementary curriculum (2nd Ed.). Education Open Textbooks.