EDAR460 - Essay: Cross-cultural perspectives on the arts in the early years referring to current literature and curriculum documents

Essay – Cross-cultural perspectives on the arts in the early years referring to current literature and curriculum documents.
Weighting: 50%
Length and/or format: Essay: 2500 words excluding references
Purpose: This Tutoring is designed to enable students to demonstrate a solid understanding of cross-cultural perspectives on the Arts in the early years, with reference to current research and literature and exploration of Australian Indigenous Perspectives through arts experiences.

Learning outcomes assessed: LO1, LO4
How to submit: Via Canvas
Return of Tutoring: Your annotated rubric will be returned to you via Canvas three weeks from submission date.
Assessment criteria: Rubric with criteria and grade descriptors

Additional Guidelines: With reference to the ways in which young children’s ideas, thoughts, and feelings are created and interpreted through the Arts (visual/ media, dance, drama and music, and with clear and appropriate links to academic literature, theories and research, write a 2500-word essay. Your essay should include the following:

Part 1 - The Arts in young children’s lives: Through a knowledge of national and international perspectives (especially as encountered in this unit’s readings and textbook) critically and reflectively investigate and describe ways in which young children’s ideas, thoughts and feelings are created and interpreted through the Arts (visual art, media, dance/movement, drama and music). This discussion should demonstrate an informed understanding of the nature of the Arts as relevant to young children. (LO1, GC4, GC5) 

Part 2 - Young children’s meaning making through the Arts: Communicating and developing understandings of physical and social worlds through the Arts. Building on (or integrated into) the previous discussion, consider how the Arts provide young children with a range of expressive languages through which they communicate and develop understandings of their physical and social worlds. The critical discussion should consider young children’s engagement in the Arts across various years’ settings such as homes, communities and early childhood settings and appropriate examples
should demonstrate an informed understanding of young children’s artistic expressions through their exchanges, interactions, observations and communication with resources, other children, adults and themselves. (LO1, GC4, GC5)

Part 3 - Refining young children’s artistic knowledge, skill and expression: Articulate the knowledge and skills needed to extend and refine young children’s artistic knowledge, skill and expression through socio-constructivist approaches including emergent curriculum while making links to the Early Years Learning Framework V2 and/or other relevant state/territory curriculum and policy documents Australian Indigenous perspectives: Critically consider the unique contributions of Australian Indigenous Art in context of early childhood and care; explore the ways in which Australian Indigenous perspectives may be authentically and respectfully embodied and promoted through two Arts (e.g. Visual Arts and Music, Music and Dance etc.) in early years education. (LO1, LO4, GC1, GC2, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC11)