National Standards for Arts Education

Ways to integrate the arts to develop and retain historical content knowledge can be combined with arts education. Instead of simply using artistic products to motivate students in the history classroom, teach artistic concepts alongside requiring arts-based assessment of historical content. To learn art concepts appropriate for given grade levels and artistic forms, see the National Standards for Arts Education.

Overview of the National Standards for Arts Education (Grades K-8)
from http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teach/standards.cfm

Dance

• Identifying and demonstrating movement elements and skills in performing dance
• Understanding choreographic principles, processes, and structures
• Understanding dance as a way to create and communicate meaning
• Applying and demonstrating critical and creative thinking skills in dance
• Demonstrating and understanding dance in various cultures and historical periods
• Making connections between dance and healthful living
• Making connections between dance and other disciplines

Music

• Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
• Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
• Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
• Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines
• Reading and notating music
• Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
• Evaluating music and music performances
• Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
• Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Theater

• Script writing by the creation of improvisations and scripted scenes based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history
• Acting by developing basic acting skills to portray characters who interact in improvised and scripted scenes
• Designing by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes
• Directing by organizing rehearsals for improvised and scripted scenes
• Researching by using cultural and historical information to support improvised and scripted scenes
• Comparing and incorporating art forms by analyzing methods of presentation and audience response for theatre, dramatic media (such as film, television, and electronic media), and other art forms
• Analyzing, evaluating, and constructing meanings from improvised and scripted scenes and from theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions
• Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the community and in other cultures

Visual Arts

• Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
• Using knowledge of structures and functions
• Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas
• Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
• Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others
• Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines