Our Melting Pot
Teaching resources
The Arts: Justification
Why are the Arts important in education and, more broadly, in society?
Through a rich arts education children are able to become innovative, “confident and creative individuals, nurturing and challenging active and informed citizens” (ACARA, 2015). Research shows that children who engage in the Arts have improved attendance, motivation, wellbeing and life skills (CMC & MCEETYA, 2005, p.4). Burton, Horowitz and Abeles (1999) comment how the competencies and dispositions including risk-taking, collaboration, cooperation and curiosity developed in Arts learning “emerge in other learning areas” (Burton et al.,1999. p. 36) therefore improving academic outcomes across the curriculum. Furthermore, teachers in Arts-rich schools are more likely to be innovative in their teaching practice, have more interest in their work and completing professional development and have better relationships with their students (Burton et al., 1999, p. 41).
According to creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson (Robinson and Azzam, 2009, p.23), we are living in a time where “technological advances [and] unprecedented strain on our natural resources” (Robinson and Azzam, 2009, p.23) are presenting new challenges and unpredictability. For this reason, children need to develop creativity and critical thinking skills to be “capable of fostering the ingenuity, imagination and creativity necessary to confront these new challenges” (Azzam, 2009, p.22). This is supported by Ewing (2010, pp.2-3) who states “the need for creativity and flexibility, coupled with the ability to solve problems, are ‘must-haves’ for those who wish to make sense of 21st century living” (Ewing, 2010, p. 2).
Through students learning in The Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA, 2015), students will “use arts knowledge and understanding to make sense of their world”. Despite individuals coming to the arts with different backgrounds and experiences, a review by Ewing (2010) demonstrates that as the Arts offer both a lens into historical and contemporary social issues, as well as simultaneously challenging them (Ewing, 2010, p. 3), it can “act as a catalyst for personal and social transformation in schools and the community” (Ewing, 2010, p. 13).
Our Melting Pot will develop the capabilities (outlined above) required for students to reach their creative and expressive potential through the five learning areas of The Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA, 2015): dance, drama, media arts, music and visual arts. Additionally, in-line with the understanding that “the Arts play a major role in the development and expression of culture and communities” the learning materials provided in the resource will require students to develop an understanding of Australia’s diversity through analysis and appraisal of artworks before creating their own artworks which express their community and its culture.
Our Melting Pot Exhibition
Our Melting Pot is an excellent opportunity to showcase student work in a class arts exhibition that friends, family and even the community can attend. In contributing to the exhibition students are becoming a part of their community’s ‘Melting Pot’. From the class collection of art produced throughout this topic, students can nominate which pieces they would like to include in the ‘Our Melting Pot’ exhibition. They may even choose to fuse art forms together into a combined performance piece. For example, students could use a piece of visual art as a prop or set background for a drama or dance performance, or a piece of music you’ve created in a media arts presentation.
Integrated Learning
Our Melting Pot arts resource package, provides opportunities for the integration of learning across several learning areas of the Australian Curriculum. According to The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (2011) “all the Arts are relevant to history and geography studies, because the Arts embody some of the most significant and recognisable products and records of all cultures”. The resources and aligned activities in this package provide opportunities to maximise arts learning time, through the obvious connection to the History strand of the Humanities and Social Science curriculum. The integrated study focuses on the common inquiry question -
“What is the nature of the contribution made by different groups and individuals in the community?”
The exploration of real life topic, issues and experiences provide stimulus for creative works across the arts disciplines, whilst developing knowledge and understanding aligned with content descriptors of the History strand -
How the community has changed and remained the same over time and the role that people of diverse backgrounds have played in the development and character of the local community (ACHASSK063)
In addition, this resource package provides opportunities for learning across other areas of the curriculum through the integration of the English in Drama, Music and Media; Health and Physical Education in Dance; and Mathematics in Visual Arts.