Evolving methodologies for curriculum and instruction are essential to improving how we educate. McMillian positions that essential to this is understanding the value of scientific inquiry. He explains, “the principles of scientific inquiry provide the foundation for conducting studies…analyzing educational problems, making decisions, and designing, conducting, reporting, and evaluating” (McMillian, 2016, p. 7) to provide significant benefits for engaging students and affecting achievement. Among the changing methodologies is the consensus that the use of STEM-education concepts are necessary to prepare students for 21st century skill-building. Subsequently, this has led to an instructional methodology that highlights math-centered curriculum, and the instruction of science and technology as independent of core content. However, as many schools have experienced, neglecting to provide students with a contextually relevant and interdisciplinary approach to STEM that includes the arts (performing and visual) fails to yield the desired effect on student performance and achievement. …show more content…
For years, Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) struggled to reform Bates Middle School’s, a highly diverse and largely minority populated school, performance as indicated by state standardized testing scores, which were 14-27% behind the county average. “Bates was marked for Corrective Action (the third and highest tier of school improvement) by AACPS” (Snyder, Klos & Grey-Hawkins, 2014, p. 3). To improve student engagement and achievement the school decided to apply a different curricular approach that focused on “the integration of art into the academic content curricula [to provide] a logical approach to address the variety of students’ intelligences that are reflected in their different learning