RENAISSANCE IN THE CLASSROOM: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning - Review

Arts & Activities, Oct, 2001 by Iran E. Johnson, Jerome J. Hausman

RENAISSANCE IN THE CLASSROOM: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning (2000; $29.95), edited by Gail Burnaford, Arnold April and Cynthia Weiss. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ 07430.

Doubtless, historians of arts education will view our current time with some puzzlement. Lately, so much has been written exhorting educators, parents and community members about the importance of the arts in education. Yet, despite the excessive verbiage, there's a sense that there is still much more to be done. Most important, the questions that remain include, "How do we do it?" and "How can communities be convinced of the importance of art in our classrooms?" Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning goes a long way toward answering these questions. Indeed, it should serve as a model and guide for curriculum planning and professional development involving the arts in education.

Edited by Gail Burnaford, Arnold April and Cynthia Weiss, this book reports on six years of work under the aegis of Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE). Over 200 contributors were interviewed, submitting writing, photographs, units and lesson plans. The book's chapter headings tell of its content--Arts Integration: What Is It and Why Do It; Getting Started With Arts Integration: Finding the Elegant Fit; School is Cool: Integrated Arts Programs and the High-Risk Child; Art Is Not A Reward: Pitfalls and Promises of Arts Integration; Moving Through the Curriculum: Doing the Work in Arts Integration; Beyond the Unit: Assessment and the Learning Cycle; Science and Art: Lessons from Leonardo da Vinci; and You Don't Have to Do It Alone: Initiating and Sustaining Collaboration.

Overall, the book serves as a nuts-and-bolts guide to art integration across the curriculum in grades K-12. As is stated in the Foreword by Ken Robinson: "The example of CAPE is now being taken up in a growing number of cities beyond Chicago and beyond the United States and deservedly so." This publication sets in motion a point of view quite different from those who would argue "art as a singular, separate and distinct discipline"; rather, it is more in keeping with orientation in which learning through the arts serves as a powerful mediator for informing and enriching our experience.--J.J.H. For information about this publication, circle No. 391 on the Reader Service Card.