Incline Education Fund (IEF) is proudly funding a weekly, interdisciplinary art program at Incline Elementary School (IES) that seamlessly integrates with the school’s K-5 STEM curriculum. The IES Art Program is designed to foster collaboration between classroom and enrichment teachers, enabling students to explore the intersection of the arts and sciences. Through this program, students not only enhance their creativity and critical thinking abilities but also gain a deeper understanding of how these two fields work together.
Research consistently highlights the positive impact of arts education on student cognitive development and academic achievement. By providing students with an arts curriculum, key STEM principles—creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication—skills that are essential for problem-solving and innovation in any discipline are reinforced.
Research also indicates that students involved in the arts tend to perform better on standardized tests, watch less television, and report feeling less boredom at school. Art education also promotes self-awareness and a sense of community, strengthening the bond between home and school.
Blending art and science to understand Natural Disasters
Linking a unit on Natural Disasters in Science class, students studied famous pieces of art that depict natural disasters in their Art class (using Hokusai’s The Great Wave as a focal point). Since The Great Wave was created from a woodblock print, students experimented with relief printmaking using Legos in the Makerspace class, and created a “great wave” as a basic mode, which they used in Art class to learn how block printmaking works. Critical thinking, math and engineering skills were all necessary to complete the project.
Annual Holiday Robotics Parade
Students create “floats” for the Holiday Parade by integrating themes from their grade-level English Language Arts (ELA) and/or science classrooms into projects in their Art and MakerSpace and classes.
Students must design their robots to reflect their interpretation of the class theme and then code the robots to “walk through the parade route”.