Implementation of Cross-Curricular Instruction: An Evaluation of Julia Marshall’s Five Strategies of Integration Used by Contemporary Artists

Abstract

In the contemporary education climate, art is viewed as extra-curricular, and art teachers are urged to incorporate core academic subjects into their curriculum. In many cases this integration comes with the sacrifice of an authentic arts education. One researcher, Julia Marshall, suggests using strategies such as depiction, extension/projection, reformatting, mimicry, and metaphor from contemporary art to integrate non-art topics into the art classroom. This case study provides insight into the effectiveness of those strategies among a small group of upper level high school art students. Though the sample size was small there are some promising results that suggest that these strategies may have an impact on student performance in both their art and non-art course.