Integrated Curriculum and Our Paradigm of Cognition in the Arts

The growing interest in integrating the arts across the curriculum represents an important change from previous concerns about teaching the structure of individual disciplines. It will require a change in the concept of cognition in the arts that is currently dominant in our psychology. This concept-the 'symbol systems' account-restricts thinking to one medium or symbol system at a time, whether the medium is a medium of perception-as in 'visual thinking'-or of expression-as with drawing. The restriction delegitimizes the kind of cross-media connections in thought that integrated learning requires, including connections with culture and student purposes. The new interest will require of art educators a more equal balance between epistemological and psychological considerations and a more generous view of the role of language in learning.