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Let’s imagine-

* If all flowers had one single colour…….

* If we all are without eyebrows……

* If there is no aroma coming out of kitchen……

* If there are no rainbows in the sky…….

* If there are no emojis/emoticons in our phones…….

How would E[ART]H be if there is no ART?

To me, it would just be an EH!

Art is everywhere. Art gives life and voice to our thoughts and emotions. It moves our learning beyond what we see and read. It can act as a therapy, a medium for self-expression, or simply a way to appreciate life's beauty.

IMPORTANCE OF ARTS INTEGRATION

Research shows that children exposed to arts do better in school, develop greater social, cognitive and emotional skills and are more likely to attain higher degree of education in life.

Incorporating arts into academic education:

• Increases student engagement.
• Improves academic achievement and excellence.
• Develops creative and independent thought process.
• Boosts social and emotional development of a child
• Helps in critical thinking, better problem solving and decision making.
• Deepens conceptual understanding.

If used the right way, it can be an effective way to teach any subject.

CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY IN SCHOOLS

Learning should be holistic, integrated, enjoyable and engaging.

Art is an indispensable part of our life. In a society where the entire education system is based on STEM, arts have often been neglected. Art is generally considered as a hobby and a recreational activity. Teachers are always on a hunt for incorporating ways wherein students can engage with learning and retain information. Arts integration is one such framework which means teaching through arts.

This engages them in a multisensory way and helps them meet dual objectives that include the art form and the content knowledge.

Activities become diverse once we start integrating the core subjects with art and there is no limit to it. My experience is ecstatic when I do arts integrated activities in the class. To name a few from my personal experience:

• Doodle art is an amazing way to integrate arts with History and Geography. Ask the children to go on a virtual trip of a state or country a day or two before the doodle art activity to gather all the important information about its rich culture, heritage, art forms, food, costumes, important places etc. The students are then made to doodle around every possible information they have gathered around the name of the country and state in a creative manner.
• Creating travelogues is another way of integrating arts with History and Geography.
• Making tribal jewellery using clay is one way of knowing the tribes of different states.
• Tangrams is an interesting way to create something new out of the shapes by integrating arts with Mathematics. It increases imagination and creativity skills, enhances precision and accuracy.
• Making handmade tablemats using weaving is another way of integrating arts with Mathematics
• Blackout poetry is one way of integrating arts with English.

 The number is endless!!

THE IMPORTANCE OF STEAM OVER STEM

STEM makes the learners “future-ready” by focusing on the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math. STEAM also equips the learners with these skills, but additionally fosters a love of creativity and imagination by bringing arts into the equation.