Art Integrated Learning - Introduction

What is Art?

Art denotes the diverse range of activities that we do using creative imagination to express skill, beauty, emotions, or concepts. Simply put, Art is our creative expression in various visual, verbal, movement, written or other experiential forms.

Art is the way we express ourselves, our deepest feelings and ideas. Through times immemorial, people have used Art to express their creativity in the form of poetry, music, sculptures, drawings and paintings, dance, drama and writing. Even when civilizations end, art survives, to be passed on, interpreted, enjoyed and cherished.

What is CBSE's new Art-integrated education

Art-integrated education is a cross-curricular approach to learning where artistic training and expression is used in conjunction with the teaching of another subject. Art provides a path and a method to learn a subject or topic, and leads to a deeper, enriched understanding of the topic, and a learning of the art form as well.

The benefits of Art-Integrated Learning (AIL) are:

1. Art-integrated learning allows the child to perform art-based enquiry and exploration of the topic. It allows a more enhanced creative thinking and develops critical problem solving skills.

2. Integration of Art leads to more joyful learning in an experiential way.

3. Art integrated education promotes out-of-the-box thinking, communication skills, curiosity, self-esteem and aesthetic appreciation.

4. The integration of different subjects with art leads to broadening of cross-disciplinary thinking and skills, and facilitates a holistic educational process.

What forms of Art are included?

The new directive for Art-integrated education focuses mainly on the integration of music, dance, visual arts (including writing, drawing, painting, crafts, sculpture), culinary arts, and theatre using interactive approaches into school education. The art forms include written, graphics and cinematic forms. The children as supposed to be trained at school in visual and performance arts, and be introduced to India's rich artistic heritage. Art education at school must be a tool as well as a subject of school based learning.

Suggestions for AIL Projects

1. Drawings and paintings

2. Craft and art activities which may include cutting, pasting, thumb printing, leaf rubbings, movement and rhythm.

3. Videos of role play, dramatization, puppetry, presentations, performances, etc.

4. Maintain worksheets, workbooks, observation records of field visits and excursions

5. Stories, poetry, letters, posters, and story-illustrations based on a theme.

Most schools are not yet providing any additional art teaching to kids, and the onus of the Art-integrated project has landed on the shoulders of parents. In this section, we will post ideas on how play-based learning lays the foundation for art-integrated learning. We hope these will help you to generate ideas from play-based learning, which can be expanded to topics of your child's curriculum.