Historical and Cultural Context

What subject matter is considered essential in today's curriculum?

What is the purpose of education in contemporary society?

Why study the arts?

Is there a place for arts in the curriculum within this standards-based instructional system?

Answers to these questions vary according to the historical and cultural values of a particular time and place in history. The needs of current society dictate educational goals, objectives, and standards. Now that we have high academic performance standards that we expect all students to achieve in all subject matter, the arts often fall to the wayside. Although it would be wonderful to dedicate time to the arts as we have in past eras, the reality is that we often have to slip the arts in through the back door! One way to make sure our students still receive instruction in the arts is to integrate the arts into other parts of the core curriculum. This may not be ideal for those of us who view arts as central to life. But, the reality of classroom with its emphasis on test preparation and limited amount of time for teaching anything but the basics - or what is being tested - presents a real challenge for the elementary teacher! We've discussed the integration of music with literacy, math, and science, but one of the easiest areas in which to integrate the arts is social studies. In fact, the arts are an important part of the national and state social studies and history curriculum standards. The visual and performing arts standards and the history/social science standards overlap throughout each grade level. The areas of the California History Social Science frameworks that emphasize the arts are:

Historical literacy
Cultural literacy
Geographical literacy
National Identity

The olden days...

Below are quotes from philosophers on what was considered "essential" for education during three very different time periods. Plato valued mathematics and "harmonics." Dewey described education as "life" and all that life is, including arts and culture. Howard Gardner, the leader of early multiple intelligences research and part of Project Zero promotes the idea that we must understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels. Howard Gardner's speech is obviously the most timely for us as teachers today. Note that quotes Plato:

"Through education we need to help students find pleasure in what they have to learn."

Plato's Academy - and His Recommended Course of Study

... the exact sciences - arithmetic, plane and solid geometry, astronomy, and harmonics - would first be studied for ten years to familiarise the mind with relations that can only be apprehended by thought. Five years would then be given to the still severer study of 'dialectic'. Dialectic is the art of conversation, of question and answer; and according to Plato, dialectical skill is the ability to pose and answer questions about the essences of things. The dialectician replaces hypotheses with secure knowledge, and his aim is to ground all science, all knowledge, on some 'unhypothetical first principle'.

John Dewey - 1897

If education is life, all life has, from the outset, a scientific aspect, an aspect of art and culture, and an aspect of communication. It cannot, therefore, be true that the proper studies for one grade are mere reading and writing, and that at a later grade, reading, or literature, or science, may be introduced. The progress is not in the succession of studies but in the development of new attitudes towards, and new interests in, experience.

I believe finally, that education must be conceived as a continuing reconstruction of experience; that the process and the goal of education are one and the same thing.

The Arts in Education Today

One of the most rigorous current research projects focusing on the arts in education is Project Zero, begun by Nelson Goodman of Harvard. Howard Gardner has continued to help carry out the Project Zero mission "to understand and enhance learning, thinking, and creativity in the arts, as well as humanistic and scientific disciplines, at the individual and institutional levels. The research programs are based on a detailed understanding of human cognitive development and of the process of learning in the arts and other disciplines. They place the learner at the center of the educational process, respecting the different ways in which an individual learns at various stages of life, as well as differences among individuals in the ways they perceive the world and express their ideas."

From: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/Default.htm

An Education for the Future:
The Foundation of Science and Values

Howard Gardner
Paper presented to
The Royal Symposium
Convened by Her Majesty, Queen Beatrix
Amsterdam, March 13, 2001
http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG_Amsterdam.htm

The first dilemma: What should be taught?

What should be highlighted: facts, information? data? If so, which of the countless facts that exist? Subject matters and disciplines--if so, which ones? Which science, which history? Should we nurture creativity, critical thinking? If there is to be an additional focus, should it be arts, technology, a social focus, a moral focus? If you try to have all of these foci, you would break the backs of students and teachers, even given a demanding elementary and secondary school curriculum. If knowledge doubles every year or two, we certainly cannot multiply the number of hours or teach twice as quickly. Some choice, some decisions about what can be omitted, is essential.

The second value is an appreciation of what is special about human beings.

Human beings have done many terrible things but countless members of our species have done wonderful things as well: works of art, works of music, discoveries of science and technology, heroic acts of courage and sacrifice. One only need walk around the Rijksmuseum or the Stedelijk, or to spend hours in and around the buildings on Dam Square to be reminded of what has been achieved over the centuries in this small but dynamic nation. Our youngsters must learn about these achievements, come to respect them, have time to reflect about them (and what it took to achieve them) and aspire some day to achieve anew in the same tradition…or perhaps even to found a new tradition. Learning about human heroism may be another clue to how to nurture youngsters who embody positive values. We should not be afraid to state our values; but of course it is far more important to embody them, to live them day in and day out. The scholarly disciplines are among the most remarkable of human achievements--and we must remember that they are much easier to destroy than to build up. Totalitarian societies first burn the books; then they humiliate the scholars; then they kill those who do not buckle under. As the events of the last century remind us, a Dark Age can always descend upon us.

We should remember that one of the most magnificent of human inventions is the Invention of Education--no other species educates its young as do we. At this time of great change, we must remember the ancient value of education and preserve it--not just facts, data, information, but Knowledge, Understanding, Judgment, Wisdom. We must use the ancient arts and crafts of education to prepare youngsters for a world that natural evolution could not anticipate and which even we ourselves as conscious beings cannot fully envision either. In the past, we could be satisfied with an education that was based on the literacies; that surveyed the major disciplines; and that taught students about their own national culture. We must maintain these three foci, but we must add two more: preparation for interdisciplinary work and preparation for life in a global civilization. And, speaking in the land of Erasmus and Spinoza, we must keep alive the important values of Responsibility and Humanity.

http://www.pz.harvard.edu/PIs/HG_Amsterdam.htm

What should we teach?

What should students know and be able to do?

What is the impact of the arts on history and culture?

Our standards give us a guide to the content of knowledge we must consider important in our curriculum planning.

The National Standards for the Arts

What students should know and be able to do in the arts....

They should be able to develop and present basic analyses of works of art from structural, historical, and cultural perspectives, and from combinations of those perspectives. This includes the ability to understand and evaluate work in the various arts disciplines.
They should have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods, and a basic understanding of historical development in the arts disciplines, across the arts as a whole, and within cultures.
They should be able to relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines. This includes mixing and matching competencies and understandings in art-making, history and culture, and analysis in any arts-related project.

The Importance of Arts Education

Knowing and practicing the arts disciplines are fundamental to the healthy development of children's minds and spirits. That is why, in any civilization—ours included—the arts are inseparable from the very meaning of the term education. We know from long experience that no one can claim to be truly educated who lacks basic knowledge and skills in the arts. There are many reasons for this assertion:

The arts are worth studying simply because of what they are. Their impact cannot be denied. Throughout history, all the arts have served to connect our imaginations with the deepest questions of human existence: Who am I? What must I do? Where am I going? Studying responses to those questions through time and across cultures—as well as acquiring the tools and knowledge to create one's own responses—is essential not only to understanding life but to living it fully.
The arts are used to achieve a multitude of human purposes: to present issues and ideas, to teach or persuade, to entertain, to decorate or please. Becoming literate in the arts helps students understand and do these things better.
The arts are integral to every person's daily life. Our personal, social, economic, and cultural environments are shaped by the arts at every turn—from the design of the child's breakfast placemat, to the songs on the commuter's car radio, to the family's night-time TV drama, to the teenager's Saturday dance, to the enduring influences of the classics.
The arts offer unique sources of enjoyment and refreshment for the imagination. They explore relationships between ideas and objects and serve as links between thought and action. Their continuing gift is to help us see and grasp life in new ways.
There is ample evidence that the arts help students develop the attitudes, characteristics, and intellectual skills required to participate effectively in today's society and economy. The arts teach self-discipline, reinforce self-esteem, and foster the thinking skills and creativity so valued in the workplace. They teach the importance of teamwork and cooperation. They demonstrate the direct connection between study, hard work, and high levels of achievement.

The Benefits of Arts Education

Arts education benefits the student because it cultivates the whole child, gradually building many kinds of literacy while developing intuition, reasoning, imagination, and dexterity into unique forms of expression and communication. This process requires not merely an active mind but a trained one. An education in the arts benefits society because students of the arts gain powerful tools for understanding human experiences, both past and present. They learn to respect the often very different ways others have of thinking, working, and expressing themselves. They learn to make decisions in situations where there are no standard answers. By studying the arts, students stimulate their natural creativity and learn to develop it to meet the needs of a complex and competitive society. And, as study and competence in the arts reinforce one other, the joy of learning becomes real, tangible, and powerful.

MENC - http://www.menc.org/publication/books/standards.htm

National Standards for Music

8. Content Achievement Standard: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

Students identify similarities and differences in the meanings of common terms (e.g., form, line, contrast) used in the various arts
Students identify ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with those of music (e.g., foreign languages: singing songs in various languages; language arts: using the expressive elements of music in interpretive readings; mathematics: mathematical basis of values of notes, rests, and time signatures; science: vibration of strings, drum heads, or air columns generating sounds used in music; geography: songs associated with various countries or regions)

9. Content Achievement Standard: Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Students identify by genre or style aural examples of music from various historical periods and cultures
Students describe in simple terms how elements of music are used in music examples from various cultures of the world
Students identify various uses of music in their daily experiences and describe characteristics that make certain music suitable for each use
Students identify and describe roles of musicians (e.g., orchestra conductor, folksinger, church organist) in various music settings and cultures
Students demonstrate audience behavior appropriate for the context and style of music performed

California Music Standards

The myths and religions of many cultures depict music as a gift of divine origin. The word music comes from the Greek Muse, any of the nine sister goddesses who reigned over the arts and sciences in Greek mythology. Existing in every culture and generation, music embodies the distinctly human need to organize sounds to express the dimensions of human feeling. Music is a powerful manifestation of cultural heritage. It occurs in a wide variety of styles and types in cultures around the world. Studying music helps students learn about the traditions and modes of thought of their native cultures as well as those of other cultures. Because music can promote harmony between cultures in a pluralistic society, mutual cross-cultural understanding is a goal of music education.

Quotation from the Introduction to Music in the California Visual and Performing Arts Standards

http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/visperfmarts-stnd-comp.pdf

3.0 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT
Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of Music

Students analyze the role of music in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting cultural diversity as it relates to music, musicians, and composers.

4.0 AESTHETIC VALUING
Responding to, Analyzing, and Making Judgments About Works of Music

Students critically assess and derive meaning from works of music and the performance of musicians according to the elements of music, aesthetic qualities, and human responses.

5.0 CONNECTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS, APPLICATIONS
Connecting and Applying What Is Learned in Music to Learning in Other Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers

Students apply what they learn in music across subject areas. They develop competencies and creative skills in problem solving, communication, and management of time and resources that contribute to lifelong learning and career skills. They also learn about careers in and related to music.

Other State Standards for Music Education - http://www.educationworld.com/standards/state/toc/index.shtml#arts

Social Studies and History Standards - Integrating the Arts into Curriculum

California History and Social Science Framework Goals and Curriculum Strands

Historical Literacy

Develop research skills and a sense of historical empathy.
The study of history involves the imaginative reconstruction of the past.
- Ideally, students should have a sense of what it was like to be there, to realize that events hung in the balance, that people living then did not know how things ultimately would turn out.
- Historical empathy is much like entering into the world of a drama, suspending one’s knowledge of “the ending” in order to gain a sense of another era and living with the hopes and fears of the people of the time.
- In every age, knowledge of the humanities helps to develop a keen sense of historical empathy by allowing students to see through the eyes of people who were there.
- Students should understand that each event in the past took place within its own historical context, and they should recognize that civilizations share common features across time and distance, yet also have their own unique aspects.
Understand the meaning of time and chronology.
Analyze cause and effect.
Understand the reasons for continuity and change.
Recognize history as common memory, with political implications.
- Throughout recorded time, societies have used their history as a vehicle for maintaining their identity as a people and a nation.
- The study of history allows people to explain and transmit their ideas and traditions to the younger generation.
- In tightly controlled societies the historical record may be altered to redefine public consciousness of the past and to regulate the public's loyalties; in democratic societies the historical record is open to debate, revision, conflicting interpretations, and acknowledgment of past mistakes.
Understand the importance of religion, philosophy, and other major belief systems in history.

Cultural History

Understand the rich, complex nature of a given culture: its history, geography, politics, literature, art, drama, music, dance, law, religion, philosophy, architecture, technology, science, education, sports, social structure, and economy.
- Cultural literacy includes but is not limited to knowledge of the humanities.
- True cultural literacy takes many years to develop, whether one is a student of a foreign country or a student of one’s own society.
- Students should not be under the illusion that they truly know another society as a result of studying it for a few weeks or even for a year.
- At the very least they should learn how difficult it is to master a culture and should be encouraged to recognize that education is a lifelong process.
Recognize the relationships among the various parts of a nation’s cultural life.
- Mature students should come to appreciate the ways that a nation’s literature and arts react to and comment on events in its political and social development and also should study and appreciate the interactions among a nation’s govern-mental system, economic structure, technology, arts, and press.
- None of the elements of a culture exists in a vacuum, and students will come to an under-stand the connections as they develop a deeper knowledge of the constituent parts.
Learn about the mythology, legends, values, and beliefs of a people. Ideas are important; to understand a society, students must perceive what its members believe about themselves, what stories and tales explain their origins and common bonds, what religious tenets embody their ethical standards of justice and duty, what heroes capture their imagination, what ideals inspire their sense of purpose, and what visual images portray their idea of themselves as a people.
Recognize that literature and art shape and reflect the inner life of a people.
- Artists and writers tend to have sensitive antennae. In their work artists and writers record the hopes, fears, aspirations, and anxieties of their society. A culture cannot be fully understood without knowledge of the poems, plays, dance, visual art, and other works that express its spirit.
Take pride in their own cultural heritages and develop a multicultural perspective that respects the dignity and worth of all people.
- Students should learn from their earliest school years that our nation is composed of people whose backgrounds are rooted in cultures around the world.
- They should take pride in their own cultural heritages, and should develop a multicultural perspective that respects the human dignity of all people and an understanding of different cultures and ways of life.

Geographic Literacy

Develop an awareness of place.
Develop locational skills and understanding.
Understand human and environmental interaction.
Understand human movement.
Understand world regions and their historical, cultural, economic, and political characteristics.

National Identity

"America, as a nation, unites as one people the descendants of many cultures, races, religions, and ethnic groups. The American story is unfinished, and the outcome rests in the students’ hands."

Recognize that American society is and always has been pluralistic and multicultural, a single nation composed of individuals whose heritages encompass many different national and cultural backgrounds.
- From the first encounter between indigenous peoples and exploring Europeans, the inhabitants of the North American continent have represented a variety of races, religions, languages, and ethnic and cultural groups.
- With the passage of time, the United States has grown increasingly diverse in its social and cultural composition.
- Teachers have an obligation to instill in students a sense of pride in their individual heritages.
- Students must recognize that whatever our diverse origins may be, we are all Americans.
Understand the American creed as an ideology extolling equality and freedom.
- The American creed is derived from the language and values found in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
- Its themes are echoed in patriotic songs such as “America the Beautiful” (“ . . . and crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea”) and “America” (“ . . . from every mountainside, let freedom ring”).
- The creed provides the unifying theme of the memorable discourse of Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. . . . This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My Country, 'Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty"....
- Students should learn the radical implications of such phrases as "all men are created equal" and study the historic struggle to extend to all Americans the constitutional guarantees of equality and freedom.
Recognize the status of minorities and women in different times in American history.
- Students should be aware of the history of prejudice and discrimination against minorities and women as well as efforts to establish equality and freedom.
- Students should understand how different minorities were treated historically and should see historical events through a variety of perspectives.
Understand the unique experiences of immigrants from Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Latin America.
- Students should examine the cultural, political, and economic sources of contemporary immigration from these areas to understand the changing demography of California and the United States.
- Attention should be paid to the contributions of immigrants from Asia, the Pacific islands, and Latin America to life and culture in the United States.
Understand the special role of the United States in world history as a nation of immigrants.
- The multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious character of the United States makes it unusual among the nations of the world.
- Few, if any, nations can match the United States when compared on a scale of social heterogeneity; few, if any, have opened their doors so wide to immigration and provided such relatively easy access to full citizenship.
- At the same time students should analyze periodic waves of hostility toward newcomers and recognize that the nation has in different eras restricted immigration on the basis of racial, ethnic, or cultural grounds.
Realize that true patriotism celebrates the moral force of the American idea as a nation that unites as one people the descendants of many cultures, races, religions, and ethnic groups.
- The American story is unfinished, for it is a story of ideals and aspirations that have not yet been realized. It is a story that is in the making; its main characters are today’s students, their parents, and their friends.
- Unlike other historical events that are wholly in the past, this is a story whose beginning can be traced to the nation’s founding and whose outcome rests in the students’ hands.

National Council for the Social Studies

National Standards Thematic Strands in Social Studies

Look for connections to the arts in the National Thematic Strands for the Social Studies.

Ten Thematic Strands in Social Studies

History and Social Studies Websites

California Department of Education Standards and Frameworks - http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/
California Social Studies Standards Online - http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/hstmain.asp
National Council for the Social Studies – http://www.ncss.org/
National Standards for Social Studies - http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/
National Standards for Social Studies – ISTE NETS - http://cnets.iste.org/currstands/index.html
National Standards for History - http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards/
National Center for History in the Schools - http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/

Websites for Arts Integration

ArtsEdge - Kennedy Center - http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/
National Standards - Artsedge: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/professional_resources/standards/natstandards/index.html
Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education - http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/kcaaen/
Arts EdNet - Getty Foundation - http://www.getty.edu/artsednet/
National Art Education Association - http://www.naea-reston.org/
Arts Education Partnership - http://aep-arts.org/
Perpich Center for Arts Education- Minnesota - http://sun-deity.mcae.k12.mn.us/
Arts Education Policies in U.S. - http://www.ncsl.org/programs/arts/artsed/artedhom.htm
National Endowment for the Arts - http://arts.endow.gov/
The Center for Arts Education - http://www.cae-nyc.org/
Project Zero - Harvard University - http://www.pz.harvard.edu

Assignment for Unit Five: Lesson Plan Integrating Arts and Music into Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction

Cultural and Historic Context

Choose from one of the following topics:

Music History
History
Multicultural Music
American Music and National Identity
Arts Integration

See additional course documents in Blackboard for more information, resources, and websites.

Focus on social studies and music for your lesson plan. You may wish to focus on history in general, multiculturalism, or the integration of arts - visual, drama, dance. You can use the lesson plan outline below - or your own lesson planning format. You may want to include lesson activities that meet other multiple intelligence domains as well. In particular, you might focus on visual spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, and verbal linguistic. Drop the lesson plan Word document in the dropbox and share your ideas with the rest of the class in threaded discussion.

Lesson Plan

Title:

Objectives:

Subject Matter and Grade Level

Social Studies Content Standard Met:

Music Content Standard Met:

Multiple Intelligence Domains:

Classroom Environment Needed:

Learning Activities:

Lesson Sequence:

Assessment:

Materials/Resources:

Integrating Music and the Arts into Social Studies

How can you integrate the arts - and music in particular - into your social studies curriculum? What specific musical activities have you found effective in teaching your students about the history of America? In what ways can music from another time or culture help students understand the stories of the past? How can arts activities help students develop historical empathy? What multicultural activities have you used with your students to help them understand and respect multiple perspectives? What music and art activities have you used with your students to help them recognize that "American society is and always has been pluralistic and multicultural, a single nation composed of individuals whose heritages encompass many different national and cultural backgrounds?" Share specific songs, dances, dramatic productions, visual art projects that you have found successful in your classroom for integrating the arts into your curriculum.