An integrated curriculum for the arts and the language arts in grades K-3.

• Main Author: Mashack-McCant, Bettye Jean.
• Other Authors: Paul, Alice
• Language: en
• Published: The University of Arizona. 1988
• Subjects: Language arts > Correlation with content subjects.; Language arts (Primary) > Arizona > Tucson.; Arts > Study and teaching (Primary) > Arizona > Tucson.; Interdisciplinary approach in education > Arizona > Tucson.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/184390

The purposes of the study were to design an Arts Based/Language Arts curriculum in one elementary school at the K-3 level, and (1) determine whether this curriculum was effective in improving academic achievement, (2) determine whether teachers would be comfortable teaching such a curriculum, and (3) determine whether parents perceived their children as successful in learning arts and language arts. Samples of K-3 children were selected in one elementary school during 1986 and treated with an exploratory Arts Based/Language Arts curriculum for the 1986-87 school year. Pretest and posttest achievement data were collected with the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and a Student Achievement Survey instrument constructed especially for the study. Pretest and posttest cognitive and creative skills data were collected with the Silver Test of Cognitive and Creative Skills. Teacher and parent perceptions of the curriculum were measured with instruments constructed especially for the study. Analysis consisted of testing for differences in pretest and posttest measures of cognitive and creative skills, ITBS test scores, and teacher's ratings on the Arts Based/Language Arts Survey. Comparisons were made on pretest to posttest differences with the Wilcoxon T-statistic, and comparisons of the differences for male and female groups were made with the Mann-Whitney U-statistic. Statistics were tested for significance at the 0.05 level. As a result Arts Based/Language Arts curriculum student cognitive and creative skills and student achievement in language arts did not improve, however teachers perceived improvement in motivation, language arts, and the arts. Findings and conclusions support the continuance of the Arts Based/Language Arts curriculum for a longer duration during which the instrument for measuring teacher perceptions could be revised and scores correlated with standardized test scores.