Making art is messy, unpredictable, and divergent. Teaching art can empower students to embrace the messy, unpredictable, and divergent in life. The Bachelor of Art Education, Elementary (BAE, Elementary) major integrates art-making and art-looking to explore the powerful intersection of material and process exploration, visual and cultural literacy, and personal meaning-making in art. Art education theory comingles with practice as we teach and learn with one another, drawing on current, interrelated art education pedagogies so that each student develops their own, unique teaching philosophy in the process.
The BAE, Elementary major satisfies the academic major requirement for teacher certification with an endorsement in elementary education and must be accompanied by the professional program in elementary education. See the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Multilingual Education section of this catalog for program admission, completion, and teacher certification requirements.
Why Consider an Art-Elementary Major?
The BAE, Elementary major prepares students to teach art within a general elementary classroom (K-5). The program includes foundational studio art courses, art history survey courses, and two art education courses, including topics such as artistic development in childhood and adolescence, curriculum design and assessment, diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in art education spaces, and art education advocacy, equipping majors with an array of artistic practices to integrate into their future classrooms.