Cultural Heritage Studies Through Art Education: An Instructional Application in the Ancient City of Aizanoi

Children express themselves freely with the help of art education and have the opportunity to learn thanks to richer content and experience. The purpose of this study was to help elementary school students recognize and learn about cultural heritage in their environment through various art activities. Research Methods: The study, which was designed with the art-based research method, was carried out in the ancient city of Aizanoi in Çavdarhisar, a district of the city of Kütahya in Turkey. Art activities in each session of the study, which was conducted with 11 elementary school students living in the district, focused on different civilizations that lived in Çavdarhisar in the past. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and an open-ended information form, and were analyzed by descriptive analysis method. Results: The results revealed that art education applications could be an effective method in order for students to learn the history of their own environment and to get to know the related cultural heritage. Implications forResearch and Practice: In this respect, it could be suggested that art education can be used not only in art-related courses but also in the teaching of all other disciplines; that elementary school teachers could be trained accordingly; and that educational applications could be carried out as out-of-class activities.