This paper describes a process for negotiating aspects of flexible learning through the consideration of flexibility from student, teacher and institutional perspectives. The process aimed to reconcile, in an Australian school of architecture, the competing demands of learner's increasing flexibility demands, teacher's attributes and pedagogical…

This is the first study to use self-reported ratings of student learning, instructor recommendations, and course recommendations as the outcome measure to estimate class size effects, doing so across 24 disciplines. Fixed-effects models controlling for heterogeneous courses and instructors reveal that increasing enrollment has negative and…

Children's theatre in the UK is thriving. Debates about why children should watch theatre and what educational, emotional and expressive benefits it can provide inform cultural policy on education. Children aged 4-11 are increasingly taken to watch tailored theatre performances, yet there has been virtually no reflective research on what theatre…

Just as the economic downturn and narrowing of the curriculum have prompted school districts to cut art classes, a nonprofit organization in Baltimore gives disadvantaged youth the opportunity to create art, earn a stipend, and learn valuable job skills. Each summer, Art with a Heart hires about 40 young people to make marketable art--tables and…

An art room should be a garden of visual stimulation, born of creativity, inquiry, critical thinking and intellectual conversation--and a little collaboration is not a bad thing either! When the author unpacked the new stools for her art room at the high school, she envisioned something more beautiful than the brown masonite circles that…

Many artists visit national parks to draw, paint and take photographs of some of the most amazing scenery on earth. Raw nature is one of the greatest inspirations to an artist, and artists can be credited for helping inspire the government to create the National Park System. This article features Thomas Moran (1837-1926), one of the artists who…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the visual arts beliefs and practices of eight K-1 teachers in four schools and in two different school districts in a southern state. Using a phenomenological framework (Creswell, 2007; Leedy & Ormrod, 2005), the research revealed the teachers' understandings of beliefs and how…

The purpose of this study is to examine the assessment practices of teachers in the visual arts. This examination was not limited to the rubrics, tests, and grading systems present in the classes, but included observations of teacher conversations with students, questioning strategies of both teacher and student, and daily art room activities. The…

Winthrop Middle School's cafeteria had three paintings on the wall in which the paint was fading and the plaster was falling off. Many students wanted a change since the paintings had been there for over 15 years. This situation seemed appropriate for a service learning project for this Winthrop, Maine middle school. After the students reviewed…

Most first-graders are interested in insects. In this article, the author describes a lesson, "Dragonflies and Fireflies," which is a first-grade lesson showing drawing, symmetry, neighboring colors (analogous) and watercolor techniques.

In considering issues of "representation" and "realism," the visual is inevitably invoked, yet in the current Western episteme, the relationship between the visible and the readable constitutes an enduring problem in which the image is generally subordinate to the text. In this article, the author examines what would happen if the usual…

It's funny to think of the way an idea for an art lesson begins and how it has a way of changing into something completely different. That is what happened with this lesson, which was originally going to be about a springtime garden. In this article, the author describes an art lesson on collograph printmaking inspired by the poem "A Vampire's…

In order to facilitate young clients' verbal and nonverbal expression of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, it is necessary to consider therapeutic approaches designed especially for children and adolescents that combine the use of talking and playing (Orton, 1997). This article shares an overview of a creative application of solution-focused…

This article describes how to make a clay camera. This idea of creating functional cameras from clay allows students to experience ceramics, photography, and painting all in one unit. (Contains 1 resource and 3 online resources.)

Learning about the kimono is a great way to explore pattern design and Japanese culture at the same time. The kimono is the traditional clothing commonly associated with Japan, and is still worn today by both men and women, although generally only for celebrations and wedding ceremonies. In this article, the author describes a kimono painting…