The Effects of Visual Arts on Reading Comprehension of 3rd Grade Learners

The purpose of this research paper was to determine the effect of visual arts on comprehension skills of 3rd grade students. The research study was implemented in a 3rd grade classroom with the inclusion of an art teacher for a time period of 8 weeks during the months of April and May. We collected data to assess whether a visual arts project would affect comprehension scores on a quiz. We also collected pre and post attitude surveys and met with 2 focus groups. The results of this research indicated there was a slight increase of comprehension scores when a visual arts project was completed before the assessment. We plan to continue to monitor the success of our students’ comprehension when we add a visual arts project to the curriculum