ABSTRACT
The term 'arts education' in primary schools generally refers to music, dance, drama and visual art. More importantly, the arts have the capacity to offer hope and inspiration to children at a time when messages of hopelessness, doom and gloom are widespread. This chapter focuses on the potential of the arts for teaching powerful primary geography. While creativity in teaching and learning is not the preserve of the arts or arts education, there is nevertheless a special role for the arts within the exploration of geographical issues in the classroom. It integrates knowledge, skills, values and pedagogy from the visual arts, art education and environmental education as a means of developing awareness of and engagement with environmental concepts and issues such as place, interdependence, systems-thinking, biodiversity and conservation.
