Steiner might be considered the prototypic pioneer from a previous century, whose alternative education vision continues to have huge international appeal and status. Yet Steiner's 'pioneering' views of education are open to interpretation via the creation of an ironic visual collage work, 'pioneer' is examined as a paradox in itself, like a…

This article provides a snapshot of assessment for learning in action. It introduces the drawings made by children who had been studying "Planet Earth and Beyond"--Matariki as a context in science in a New Zealand primary school. The visual data are drawn from the Te Ao Hurihuri project (The Changing World) in which students were offered…

Traditional collaborations between schools and teacher preparation programs provide real-world experiences for teacher candidates and contribute to their professional learning. However, when preparing candidates to work with the whole child, one must also consider things outside the typical classroom. Preparing candidates to work with families,…

This article presents an adaptation of an arts-based research method usually reserved for child-focused research to examine organizational processes. We developed Draw, Write, Reflect (DWR), advancing a known method, Draw and Write, for investigating phenomena relating to child participants, to explore a new context: adults engaging in academic…

The development of a workshop using the language, techniques, and processes of visual art to introduce particle physics concepts is described. Innovative delivery methods committed to the interaction and collaboration of different specialist areas are utilised, which--in curriculum terms-- encourages connections to be made between separate…

In this article from 1936, author Marion Richardson begins by discussing how teachers have changed their approach to teaching drawing--from teaching students to draw still life and copy from objects to allowing children to use their own technique. She explains, "We have changed our methods, partly because we no longer think of art as…

This article brings together and compares my own artistic practice of drawing/painting and the eighteenth-century novel "Tristram Shandy." In both cases, there is a free play of lines, textual or graphic, which sets "all things out of rule". A whole typology of lines is woven throughout Sterne's text and reappears,…

Using visual ethnography as a participatory method that places children's and young people's everyday experiences at the centre of research is discussed in this paper. The strengths and challenges of using participatory visual methods as a way of eliciting the thoughts, feelings and identities of young people within various education and training…

The demands of art projects in public schools may not fit with reality for many exceptional students because the project outcomes are often too specific (Henley, 1992). One strong motivator for students is looking at and discussing visual culture, involving all the images they see and all the visual experiences they have every day. This pedagogy…

This article describes an arts-based research project for which my purpose was to investigate how older women develop their skills as visual artists through the medium of drawing in a small group setting. The social construction of artist identities among the group and my teaching of drawing formed the basis of my study in this informal,…

This article describes an art-based inquiry that explored two contemplative strategies--the conceptual strategy and the awareness strategy--through observation of art images and processes of creation, conceptual understanding, assessment, and the inner movements of self-awareness. Art media and directives were used to subjectively test key…

Teaching elementary-level art in the Pacific Northwest makes it natural for the author to develop a lesson based on Native American art of the area. The designs of the Northwest Indians can sometimes be a bit too sophisticated for the students to grasp, however, and it can be frustrating when developing such a project. Over a Labor Day weekend,…

In the Puerto Rican Carnivale, a traditional figure seen in many parades is the "vejigante," a clown-like character who wears a colorful mask. The author's kindergarteners were learning about Carnivale in Spanish class, so making vejigante masks of their own in art class was a great idea--and an opportunity to teach them papier-mache…

In this article, the author discusses the different two- and three-dimensional art forms. She also describes the different media that can be used in these art forms.

The economy is often the feature story in our daily news. Synthesizing life is an essential skill for teenagers. The visual arts are a wonderful tool for students to process their situations and explore future aspirations. In this article, the author describes a lesson plan he developed to help students better understand their own situations, as…