Arts Enhancement

Multiethnic group of children cutting cardboard during art class making dinosaur figures and learning about Earth history

The Approach

Arts Enhancement uses arts-based strategies to support learning in another subject area. In this approach, the lesson stays focused on academic goals, while the arts help students engage with content in active, creative, and memorable ways.

This approach can be a good fit when the goal is to make academic content more accessible or give students another way to explore and show their understanding. Students might use movement to represent a process, rhythm to practice vocabulary, theatre to respond to a text, or visual art to organize ideas.

Standards

Academic standards guide the lesson, with the arts used to support learning.

Planning

The academic content teacher plans the lesson, with arts input as support.

Instruction

Students use an arts-based strategy to engage with academic content.

Assessment

Student growth is measured in the academic content area.

Arts Learning Framework Enhancement video poster image

Arts Enhancement in Action

“Arts Enhancement brings joy to learning and creates more opportunities for every student to experience success. I love seeing my students engaged and empowered to express themselves through multiple art forms.”

Staci Purvis, Berea Elementary Visual Arts Teacher

Student proudly displaying a colorful geometric butterfly art project with rainbow-colored grid pattern in classroom