A portrait of environmental integration in United States K-12 art education

Abstract

In recent years, scholars have increasingly recognized the value of the arts for furthering the aims of environmental education (EE). Likewise, art education scholars have noted the affinity between visual art and EE. Despite a long-standing environmentally oriented thread in art education literature, the extent to which United States K-12 art educators have embraced these pedagogies is unclear. We conducted survey research to examine how K-12 art educators in the US engage in environmental integration, including the extent, forms, importance of and preparedness for integration. While art educators’ overall levels of environmental integration were fair, their valuing of environmental art pedagogies was moderate, suggesting a need for additional resources and professional development. Given K-12 art teachers’ interest in environmental art pedagogies and acknowledged dearth of knowledge, we argue EE capacity-building efforts might target this field, aiming for comprehensive art teacher education experiences to sustained professional development opportunities.