Turner 1

Megan Turner
Ms. Ward
Art 133

8 September 2016

Unit Paper 1

The purpose of a Big Idea is to provoke thought and provide significance to something
such as art (Walker, 2001). This concept behind a Big Idea in art makes it the perfect candidate
to integrate into the modern American Education system, given that Common Cores purpose is
to prepare students for the future by making them think more critically. However, there remains
a superficial appreciation of art and visual design as it is generally not viewed to connect to
literacy (Franco, Ward, & Unrath, 2015). One possible solution, as proposed by Franco, would
be a paradigm shift to a constructivist standpoint, which states that students [are] active builders
of their own understanding (Franco, Ward, Unrath, p. 44, 2015). This would encourage students
to employ the learning tools they learn with art to various other subjects. Parsons even argues
that education needs to keep up with the ever-changing problems faced by Americans today, and
integrating art and Big Ideas into the curriculum will produce the type of thinkers needed to
evolve our society.
Big Ideas are important in the classroom because they provide a way for students to think
critically about something. The different answers given, as art is open to interpretation, will
provide students with insight on themselves by provoking questions like Why did I answer that
way? Why does this stand out to me? This will provide a means to self-discovery which is
intrinsically important for any individual. Knowing oneself provides a sense of pride and
individualism. With an array of critical thinking occurring in a classroom, a problem may be

Turner 2
solved many different ways. This will also translate to life and give students a sense of identity,
whiles simultaneously changing the way society deals with problems for the better.
References

Franco, M., Ward, A., &Unrath, K. (2015). Artmaking as Meaning-Making: A New Model for
Preservice Elementary Generalists. Art Education (pp. 28-33).
Parsons, M. (2004). Art and Integrated Cirriculum. In E.W. Eisner & M.D. Day (Eds.),
Handbook of research and policy in education (pp. 775-794). Yaweh, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Walker, S. (2001). Teaching Meaning in Artmaking. Worcester, MA: Davis.