Study Finds Folk Art Teaches Children History, Diversity

Newswise — A study in the Spring issue of Social Studies Research and Practice finds that lessons about folk art can be an effective tool for teaching young children about community, history and diversity.

The study, co-authored by Lois Christensen, Ph.D., an associate professor of education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), examined how kindergarten and first grade teachers at a local school taught social studies through the introduction of folk art as part of the lessons about community and community history.

The 38 kindergarten and first grade students read books about various communities, with an emphasis on Harlem, making comparisons between the Harlem Renaissance period and their own community.

The first graders, as part of their study about communities, later visited a museum to see an exhibit of Alabama Folk Art, comparing the features of the art work, including texture, colors, styles and themes. "Some themes have diversity or social issues as a focus of which the young children were able to identify," the study's authors said.

The children then went online and examined folk art by African American artist Romare Bearden and his depictions of Harlem's Renaissance period. They examined the rich colors and shapes found in the folk art work and later created collages to replicate their favorite pieces of art.

The teachers also had the students to read other books about the historical figures of the Harlem Renaissance. The kindergarten and first graders later held an exhibition to share what they had learned with other students and their parents. The children created invitation brochures and panels which documented what they had learned about folk art and the history of the Harlem Renaissance as a part of their study about community.

"As the young social studies students engaged in detailed observations and were led in critical discussion, they experienced a depth of learning," the study's authors said. "They [students] began to construct a historical context about how art, music, geography and historical figures and events were connected. They taught others of all ages about what they learned and certainly learned more about diversity and themselves in the process. We saw that young children can, with an active 'learning/research approach,' begin historical understanding."

Ellen Stubblefield, Ed.S., and Glenda Watson, M.Ed., teachers at Gwin Elementary School in Hoover, co-authored the study.