Bicol University

College of Education
Daraga, Albay

_____________________________________________________________________________

Joey M. Perez BEED 3-5 August 23, 2021

EEd 14: Teaching Arts in the Elementary Grades

Module 1: Philosophy and Objectives of Art Education

What do you already know?

1. Is Art Education taught for appreciation alone or should it be seen as a means to

enhance learning in other subjects?
For me, it should be a combination of giving appreciation and enhancing learning in other
subjects. Students must learn how to appreciate arts and taking this as a part of their daily
lives because that’s the fact, and also art education must be multi-interdisciplinary in terms
of applying skills should not only focus on one and single field but also applied in other
areas. In this subject, students taught to develop their creativity and boost their confidence
and this is something that they really need in other fields of learning and also to become
competent in the making.
2. Should art be taught as a discipline for its own sake or for the body of knowledge, skills and
values to be derived from it (or both)?
I consider myself as someone who support arts locally and internationally and someone
who also supports local artist and one thing that I learned from these artists is that to taught
art discipline is a must take part in every aspect and in all forms of it whether it is for its
own sake or for body of knowledge, skills and values to be derived just like us teachers. If
we can connect it in the field of teaching, we are facilitating learners not just for their own
sake or for our own benefit but also for their holistic growth and development for them to
become primed and ready for the next stage.
3. Is Arts Education for a gifted few in selected disciplines or is Arts Education for all?”
Arts education should benefit all type of learners because I believe that each learners has
unique capabilities and skills to showcase. Arts education should be for everyone because
we have different appreciation of arts, we have different arts to showcase and we are all
 talented to showcase what art really is and for them to be able to hone their fullest potential
we must give them the type of learning environment that that will boost their confidence.

Let’s Study and Discuss!

1. What is the focus of K-12 Art Curriculum?

The focus of the K-12 Art curriculum is PHILIPPINE ART, CULTURE and HERITAGE,
appreciating the diversity of our local artists, our arts, crafts, and indigenous materials to
strengthen the student’s identity of being Filipino, before he/she is introduced to the art of
other countries.

2. What are the philosophical foundations of Art Education? Explain each.

A process of education (Jerome Bruner)

The Process of Education, published in 1960, was a seminal work. It affected the thinking and
direction of a large group of teachers and researchers in the United States. Its vision of children as
active problem-solvers who are willing to investigate ‘difficult' things, while at odds with the
mainstream paradigm in education at the time, struck a chord with many.
There are four key themes emerged around the process of education . The first one is “the role
of structure in learning and how it may be made central in teaching”. The approach taken
should be a practical one. ‘The teaching and learning of structure, rather than simply the mastery
of facts and techniques, is at the center of the classic problem of transfer. If earlier learning is to
render later learning easier, it must do so by providing a general picture in terms of which the
relations between things encountered earlier and later are made as clear as possible.

The next is the “readiness for learning”. This employs to start with the assumption that any
subject may be effectively taught in some intellectually honest form to any child at any
developmental stage. This principle underscores the spiral curriculum concept: ‘A curriculum
should return these basic ideas continually as it evolves, building upon them until the student has
comprehended the entire formal apparatus that goes with them.' The third one is the “intuitive and
analytical thinking”. Intuition (‘the intellectual technique of arriving and plausible but tentative
formulations without going through the analytical steps by which such formulations would be
found to be valid or invalid conclusions), is a much neglected but essential feature of productive
thinking. Here Bruner notes how experts in different fields appear ‘to leap intuitively into a
decision or to a solution to a problem. The last one is the “motives for learning”. ‘Ideally’, Jerome
Bruner writes, interest in the material to be learned is the best stimulus to learning, rather than such
external goals as grades or later competitive advantage. In an age of increasing spectatorship,
‘motives for learning must be kept from going passive they must be based as much as possible
upon the arousal of interest in what there is be learned, and they must be kept broad and diverse in
expression.

Performance-Based Learning PBL (Cleve Miller)

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching style in which students are taught concepts and
principles through the use of challenging real-world issues rather than the direct presentation of
facts and concepts. In PBL, student learning centers on a complex problem that does not have a
single correct answer. Students work in collaborative groups to identify what they need to learn in
order to solve a problem. They engage in self-directed learning (SDL) and then apply their new
knowledge to the problem and reflect on what they learned and the effectiveness of the strategies
employed.

Aesthetic Education (Bennett Reimer)

Aesthetic education is a method of teaching and learning that involves students in hands-on
inquiry, questioning, writing, and art production to learn about works of art. When we talk about
aesthetic education in schools, we see the potential to develop ways of seeing and knowing that
influence the ways in which all disciplines are taught. This technique teaches us and learners to
become keen observers of the world around us/them. Beginning with studies of works of art, we
develop habits of mind that influence the way we approach all learning.

Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner)

Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that people are not born with all
of the intelligence they will ever have. This theory challenged the traditional notion that there is
one single type of intelligence, sometimes known as “g” for general intelligence, that only focuses
on cognitive abilities. To broaden this notion of intelligence, Gardner introduced eight different
types of intelligences consisting of: Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-
Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist. Gardner notes that the linguistic
and logical-mathematical modalities are most typed valued in school and society.

Gardner also suggests that there may other “candidate” intelligences—such as spiritual
intelligence, existential intelligence, and moral intelligence—but does not believe these meet his
original inclusion criteria. (Gardner, 2011).

Howard Gardner is a psychologist and Professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of

Education. Based on his study of many people from many different walks of life in everyday
circumstances and professions, Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. He
performed interviews with and brain research on hundreds of people, including stroke victims,
prodigies, autistic individuals, and so-called "idiot savants." Gardner defined the first seven
intelligences in Frames of Mind in 1983. He added the last two in Intelligence Reframed in 1999.

A structure for music education (Ronal Thomas)

Structure usually refers to the organization of smaller musical building blocks to create larger
pieces of music. Music necessitates the repetition and contrast of musical concepts. According
Ronald Thomas in his book MMCP; “A Structure for Music Education” Scholars, performers,
concert halls, and every other aspect of the business of professional music have long cast a shadow
on music education. Too frequently, it has been viewed as a conditioning exercise designed to
prepare the masses to serve the status quo in the workplace. Its goals have been to fill concert halls,
generate respectful and appreciative fans, and sustain existing musical conditions and hierarchies
on a social and cultural level.

Gongs and Bamboo (Jose Maceda)

The first release outside of Japan of music by one of current music's most original and
unappreciated composers. Maceda, who was born in the Philippines in 1900, has been composing
outstanding music for over fifty years, typically for vast ensembles of the same instrument. This
CD collects three extremely diverse pieces from his vast discography. Colors Without Rhythm is
one of his most powerful orchestral creations, played beautifully by the Manila Symphony
Orchestra under the guidance of the composer. The mesmerizing Suling-Suling is written for an
ensemble of forty bamboo flutes. Pagsamba is one of the oddest masses ever written for gongs,
voices, and bamboos, and it was recorded live at a Philippine open-air temple. A really interesting
release of rarely heard music by a composer who is rarely heard from.

Discipline-Based Art Education (Elliot Eisner)

The J. Paul Getty Trust developed the discipline-based art education (DBAE) curriculum in
the early 1980s. Disciplined-Based Art Education advocates for a shift away from studio
instruction and toward education in four areas of the arts: aesthetics, art criticism, art history,
and art production. DBAE is also a method of teaching art as a subject that incorporates
content from the four fundamental art disciplines: art creation, art history, art criticism, and
aesthetics. DBAE may be tailored to the specific needs and systems of individual schools and
districts because it is a theoretical method rather than a curriculum.

Let’s Think About This!

1. Why do we need to teach art to children?

Every child deserves art because they were born with art around them.
Bright, creative, and socially involved students are nurtured via arts education, and these
students will grow up to be our next leaders, parents, teachers, artists, engineers and
whoever they want to become in the future. Their creative thinking will create out-of-the-
box solutions for a global society, and their unique ideas will give pupils with a way to
understand themselves and feel a sense of belonging and that’s why art education is also
important subject for students as we are shaping them to become creative in solving
problem, to always think outside the box and to be globally competent because that’s what
the 21st century learners are.

2. How will we teach art to children?

There are several methods and strategies to be used by teachers in teaching art to children.
However, in general, if I will teach art to children I will make their learning atmosphere
more learner- friendly, more collaborative and a learning environment that interplays the
 heart, mind, and hand. A learning environment in which students have the opportunity and
freedom to showcase their talents and their fullest potential for them to boost their
confidence. A learning environment that encourages everyone to help each other in honing
one another because if they are comfortable as one social circle then there is no hesitation
that will hinder them from expressing their creativity and widest imagination.

How much have you learned?

1. How does art develop the child’s “spatial, intrapersonal, linguistic, and
kinesthetic intelligences?

Children's motor skills, linguistic skills, social skills, decision-making, risk-taking, and
originality are all aided by art development. The arts present challenges to learners of all ages.
Students benefit from art education since it ties them to their own culture as well as the rest of the
world. One of the advantages of the multiple intelligence theory is that it provides both the teachers
and parents with a variety of options if their child isn't responding to a certain activity in identifying
what skill/s learner or child has. Once we’ve figured out our child's learning style, assess how
effectively your home environment and routine support her/his learning type because I do believe
that it should start from their home. Like for example if you see that your child is drawn to music,
make sure s/he has you have the support to your child. If she appears to have a strong physical
intelligence, or bodily-kinesthetic intelligence encourage her to be active to some activities that
can help him/her grow and develop. Remember that for learners or child to develop their multi-
intelligences skills they must start developing at home through support by their parents and elders
to the things that they are good at.

2. What philosophy in teaching art would have a big impact to you in planning your art lessons?

All of the presented philosophy in teaching arts makes a huge impact in planning our art
lesson as it is effective in some areas of learning of our students. I couldn’t say a specific
philosophy to what I prefer to use in the field of teaching because I feel like I there is no
specific philosophy in teaching to be used to become teaching and learning effective. It is
 always depends on to what content you are able to give students, however as teachers in
this era, we should always promote learner-centered atmosphere in this subject.

3. How will you achieve the objectives in teaching arts in the elementary grades?

Let’s Apply!

Give samples of art activity that will help or enhance child’s “spatial,
intrapersonal, linguistic, and kinesthetic intelligences.

Let’s Reflect!

How is art important in education and teaching?

There are so many reasons why it is important both in education and in the field of
teaching. First is that we were able to learn about those who lived before us, our ancestors
who were artists and bring value to art in our country. It also helps and teaches students to
become well- rounded, having likeness or interest in so many things around them. Art
would also give students a room in developing their creativity, observational, critical
thinking ability and be able to get attention to details in a way that they bring them forth in
the future because this is who they are. That is why, responsibility lies in our hands as a
facilitator to facilitate the individual growth of the mind and heart of young minds–
teaching a them how to learn.