Searchable Databases

What the data says

Study: An Analysis of Creative Effect on Interdisciplinary Practices in Art Education- Hyungsook Kim, 2018
Participants: 41 sixth-grade students (5 male, 36 female)
Duration: 100 hours (Aug 2013–Jan 2014)
Test Used: Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT Type A – Language and Shape)
Objective Does teaching art in connection with other subjects (science, language, environment, humanities) make students more creative?

Results:
-Creativity improved overall after the art-based interdisciplinary program.
-Students became better at generating new and original ideas (fluency + originality).
-Students also showed more open-mindedness and persistence in creative tasks.
-Some traits (like abstract thinking and fine detail) did not change, which suggests creativity improved mostly in idea generation rather than refinement.
-The program proved that art integrated with other subjects can be an effective way to teach creativity and assess it scientifically using TTCT.

Study: The Effects of Arts-Integrated Instruction on Students’ Memory for Science Content: Results from a Randomized Control Trial Study- Mariale M. Hardiman, EdD, Ranjini Mahinda JohnBull, PhD, Deborah Carran, PhD (2017)
Participants: 350 fifth-grade students across 16 classrooms.
Duration: two 3-4 week sessions, fall 2013
Method: two groups- control (traditional curriculum) and variable (art-integrated curriculum)
Test Used: ANOVA- Analysis of Variance
Objective The study aimed to determine whether arts-integrated instruction led to better retention of science content compared to traditional instruction.

Results: Using arts-integrated instruction to teach science content was as effective as or better than conventional science instruction in increasing long-term memory for students’ science content knowledge.

Two addition significant findings:
1- Students who were in the arts-integrated class for the first session performed better in the second, traditionally taught session. The researchers hypothesized that students, “may have transferred some creative insights and arts competencies to their learning strategies within the conventional science lessons in the second session.”

2- data suggests “that students who perform at lower levels of reading achievement may benefit more from arts-integrated methods than their higher performing peers.”

Study: Positive Impact of Arts Integration on Student Academic Achievement in English Language Arts - Kylie A. Peppler, Christy Wessel Powell, and Naomi Thompson, James Catterall (2014)
Participants: Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)- 3 treatment schools, 3 control schools. K-5. All with large percentages of low-performing ELLs.
Duration: Over three academic years, with students and teachers participating in on-campus arts classes two days per week. 2010-2013
Method: Quasi-experimental design with matched comparison schools.
Test Used: California Standards Test (CST) in English Language Arts, chi-square tests
Objective: Explore the effects of intensive art integration on English Language Arts proficiency with focus on English Language Learners.

Results: Treatment School- There was an 11% increase in CST-ELA Standardized Test for ELA Whole School, and 15% increase in CST-ELAStandardized Test for ELL Students suggesting a positive impact of Arts integretation on English Language Arts profeciancy.

Study: The Benefits of Fine Art Integration into Mathematics in Primary School - Anja Brezovnik (2015)
Participants: 210 students total: 105 in a control group and 105 in an experimental group. 5th grade.
Duration: Undefined- 4 math units
Method: two groups- control (traditional curriculum) and variable (art-integrated curriculum)
Test Used: T-test, MANOVA, ANOVA
Objective: “research the effects of the integration of fine art content into mathematics on students at the primary school level.”

Results:
-The experimental group (with art integration) scored significantly higher on all four math tests compared to the control group.
-Statistical analysis showed that the difference was significant across all topics (equations, inequations, powers, perimeter).
-Within the experimental group, students who were better at art ( had higher “fine art” grades) tended to do even better on the math tests than their counterparts in the control group.

Study: The Long-Term Retention Effects of Arts Integration -Hardiman, Rinne & Yarmolinskaya (2014). 
Participants: 82 students in 5th grade. Urban school district
Duration: Two 3-week science units (Astronomy & Ecology). Each unit included 15 instructional days + 1 review day. Delayed posttests were given 8 weeks after the unit to measure long-term retention.
Method: two science units- control: Standard reading, writing, worksheets, teacher-led explanations. Variable: art-integrated curriculum - drawing instead of worksheets, acting out scripts instead of reading passages, dance movements to represent science concepts, story-based readings instead of informational text, doodles for vocabulary, performance/tableaux instead of oral presentations
Test Used: ANCOVA. 3 tests- pretest, posttest, delay posttest.
Objective: To test whether arts integration improves long-term retention of science content compared to traditional instruction, especially for students with lower reading skills. 

Results:

  • Art integration did not improve initial learning.

  • Art integration did have a significant positive impact on long term retention with 91.2% retention with art integration versus 86.6% retention without.

  • Students with lower reading scores were impacting more with 97.6% retention with art integration versus 72.0% retention without.