Inquiry-based. Experiential. Collaborative. Personally connected.

These are the defining characteristics of strong arts-integrated units of study that get to the core of that’s important across curricula, that unite arts with other subject areas, that generate excitement in students, teachers and artists.

Inquiry-based: Well-designed arts-integrated units of study are built around a BIG idea, a question that students, teachers and artists all seek to answer in individual ways. All sessions of the unit are designed to help students answer the question in new and deeper ways.

Experiential: Well-designed arts-integrated units of study are highly experiential. These units are characterized by doing rather than listening. Teachers and artists work together to create experiences for students that are grounded in the standards, representative of the art form, and help students gain understanding in both areas. Students are called to create their own movements, images, poems, characters, and rhythms as they explore the standards through the inquiry question. In creating, students reach the highest levels of thinking and learning.

Collaborative: Well-designed arts-integrated units of study are designed and implemented by the teacher and artist in partnership. This collaboration yields rich units that result in high levels of learning in the content area and in the art form. Teachers offer expertise that helps ensure that units are appropriate for the particular population of students given their age, prior knowledge and interests. Artists offer expertise that helps ensure that units provide new access points for students to explore content and for teachers to learn new skills and strategies for use in the classroom.

Personally Connected: Well-designed arts-integrated units of study are designed to connect with students’ lives. The BIG idea explored by the inquiry question helps students understand themselves and the world around them in new ways.

Over the past eight years, teachers and artists involved in the SmartARTS project have developed, planned and implemented over 500 arts-integrated units of study. These units represent all five art forms: theatre, dance, creative writing, music and visual art. They weave across the curricula, including math, science, social studies, English/language arts, special education, physical education and related arts. What you’ll find here are the best of the best, culled from thousands of hours of experience.