Understanding How Interest-Based Art Lessons Affect Student Success

This art-based study explores how an interest-based art lesson can effectively engage urban students, improve creative thinking and artistic development, as well as reduce the occurrence of negative behaviors in the art classroom. Surveys were generated in order to discover students’ creative, academic, and social interests. Results offered valuable data, which established that Art I students were most interested in the art genre of Surrealism and eager to work with their peers. The interest-based assignment reinforced the formal concepts of atmospheric perspective, using a light source, and charcoal as media. Due to the diversity of social interests, student groups were free to choose the subject matter of their artwork. Throughout the course of this study, meticulous observations of student behavior were made to understand if an interest-based art lesson could better engage Art I students. The documentation of student products allowed the researcher to determine if the tailored lesson increased creative ideation and artistic development. Data from this study was applied to a unit plan that employed appropriate teaching strategies and lesson content in an effort to better engage urban adolescents in the artistic and creative process