ART EDUCATION AS NATURAL SCIENCE: AN INTEGRATED CURRICULUM APPROACH TO THE TEACHING OF VISUAL ART AND NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL (DESCRIPTIVE)

This study was undertaken to test an interdisciplinary approach to teaching art integrated with natural science in the high school. A field test was conducted to determine if this approach affected student ability in the cognitive, performance and affective domains. Specifically, the study attempted to determine the effect of the Integrated Art/Science Curriculum on the student's: (1) attitude toward science, (2) attitude toward art, (3) science information, (4) art information, (5) artistic performance.;The experimental design deemed most appropriate to test the curriculum was the equivalent control group design. Two groups whose members were assigned at random were utilized. The control group received instruction based on the New York State Education Department's publication, Studio in Art: A Comprehensive Foundation Course. The treatment group received instruction in the Integrated Art/Science Curriculum.;Data concerning attitudes toward art and science and the recall of art and science information were generated by the administration of written tests. The instruments used to measure these variables were The Scientific Attitude Inventory (Moore and Sutman, 1970), The Art Attitude Inventory (Eisner, 1966), and The Integrated Art/Science Inventory (Weigand, 1983). Data concerning student performance in art were generated from judged scores of student art work. The independent variables of age and sex were considered during data analysis.;The results revealed that boys in the treatment group consistently developed more positive attitudes toward science than boys and girls studying the standard studio art curriculum. The study also showed that the treatment had a positive effect on the attitude toward art and the ability to recall art related information for all subjects tested. The study further demonstrated that the treatment had no negative effect on the art performance of all test subjects.