Arts and Learning

Arts and Learning is an excellent introduction to the field of arts and education, particularly for teachers who want to make the arts — drama, dance, music, visual arts, and poetry, for example — a part of teaching and learning in their classrooms. First, Goldberg sets a framework for understanding the relationship between arts and learning, making a distinction among three different manifestations of this relationship: “learning about the arts” (i.e., the arts are taught as subjects separate and apart from the other academic subjects), “learning with the arts” (e.g., students study the songs of a particular time to learn about that period in history), and “learning through the arts,” in which students use art forms to both communicate and deepen what they know about a particular content area. In succeeding chapters, Goldberg explores specifically how learning can take place with and through the arts in various subject areas: literacy, history and social studies, geography, science, and math. The final chapter focuses on ways that teachers can connect with and develop the arts in their local communities.