Practices such as making connections between topics, prioritizing content, and identifying broad themes are essential to learning mathematics. This paper describes a project designed to integrate these synthesizing activities into an abstract algebra class. Students used a classroom wall to record and organize their collective learning and…

The educational needs of young adolescents require that curricula include a more expanded set of multiple integrative approaches, including new literacies, and that it be "challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant" (National Middle School Association, 2010). Although educators are now focusing on the addition of digital formats…

Written from the perspective of a Grade 5/6 French Immersion teacher, this paper examines the role of music, poetry, and the visual arts in enhancing learner identity, in the context of the elementary school classroom. It begins with a focus on artistic metaphors that represent cultural and linguistic hyphenation. It then addresses practical…

Artists today draw on a range of sources--newspapers, magazines, photographs, film, audio, and of course the Internet--to create artworks that serve as visual "texts" of a specific place and moment in time. Using artworks as sources and understanding how to decode them in the service of "drilling down" into difficult topics can create powerful…

Art-viewing experiences are an important part of the knowledge-building process and require careful planning and unique teaching strategies. One teaching strategy involves an activity most young children enjoy--playing games. In this article, the author explains ways to use games and conversations to introduce visual artworks to young children.…

Visual art, music and literature, are part of the culture. Thus Art shows the interactions between different cultures. The aim of the article is to present some activities to include intercultural issues in Art and Mother Language classes. Art classes also give the opportunity to do Media Education.

In this article, the author discusses how students create their arts projects by responding to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." In creating their arts projects, students incorporate film, painting, performance, and other arts in their imaginative and innovative responses to Coleridge's classic work. The author discusses…

Uses Durand's "An Old Man's Reminiscences" to introduce students in grades 4-6 to the effective use of nostalgia and memories in artwork. Presents lesson objectives, instructional strategies, evaluation criteria, and background information about the artist and the painting. (GEA)

Uses Goya's "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters" to acquaint students in grades 10-12 with the artist's highly personal imagery and innovative printmaking techniques. Includes lesson objectives, instructional strategies, follow-up procedures, and background information about the artist and the painting. (GEA)

Presents a lesson plan introducing K-3 grade students to visual elements in art and the idea that artists use dreams and fantasies as subjects for their art using Max Ernst's "Tree of Life." Outlines instructional strategies and lesson objectives. (GEA)

Presents classroom lessons based on four self-portraits found in the Art Institute of Chicago. Provides background information, discussion questions, and activities for each portrait. Includes full-page color reproductions of the paintings. (CFR)

Argues that student creative writing is stimulated by painting and other visual art. Describes a seven-step process in which students view painting and other visual arts and then write poetry. Includes suggested artworks and excerpts of poetry written by students. (CFR)

In 1994, the National Arts Education Association created a research agenda to address major research issues in the field of visual arts education for the purpose of examining, negotiating, and modifying commonly held beliefs in the field of art education. Research by arts educators has done much to inform visual arts education theory and practice,…

How to introduce batik into a grade seven art program. Suggests methods and materials to use. (RB)

The article presents ideas for using Van Gogh's painting, "Irises," to teach elementary students about floral still lifes and the use of space, light, and other aspects of composition. It includes a poster of "Irises" along with suggestions and activities for using it to explore the elements of art. (SM)