Art & Ecology:
Curriculum Integration
Characteristics of Interdisciplinary Art and Ecology Curricula
by Don Krug
Recommendations for organizing an interdisciplinary curriculum incorporating art and ecology include:
- select themes about life-centered issues to coordinate the contributions from several disciplines.
- use the synthesized information from several disciplines to solve real-life problems. Disciplinary boundries provide both possibilities and limits on constructing new knowledge.
- explore perspectives (environmental design, ecological design, social restoration, and ecological restoration) and concepts (location, material, time and change) involved in art and ecology.
- use action-oriented inquiry strategies that involve students in direct experience, observation and reflection, critical thinking, and planned action in their art and ecology projects.
- investigate how art, aesthetics, culture, and ecology are interconnected.
- build ongoing relationships with community artists, scientists, and educators who address ecological issues and promote ecological restoration through art and arts education.
- form a successful interdisciplinary teaching team to help students understand complex ecological systems from the points of view of multiple subject areas.
- study the political, social, cultural, spiritual, economic, and scientific issues that impact the development of a sustainable, healthy ecosystem.
- use inquiry strategies from the disciplines of art history, art criticism, aesthetics, and art production to explore historical and contemporary ecological art and identify perspectives, concepts, and issues that have emerged over time.
- develop a local, community-based component for the curriculum.
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