Introduces the symposium that explores the 1997 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) arts assessment. Provides information on NAEP, the arts assessment, and its importance; a discussion on the results of the arts assessment; and interpretations and implications of the results. Offers suggestions for arts advocacy. (CMK)

Investigates whether employing the philosophical inquiry approach specifically in the aesthetics and art criticism component of the visual arts curriculum was beneficial to teacher effectiveness and student understandings. Describes the methodology and data analysis and an intervention program that aimed to assist teachers to engage in…

Describes "the world of the work" as the state of affairs an artist projects, including what is suggested and inferred as well as what is represented directly. Discusses how teaching "the world of the work" concept to preservice art teachers enables them to access the representational content of artworks. (CMK)

Describes how artwork can be a valuable catalyst for discussions in preservice education classes, allowing students to explore how their work as educators relates to their childhood memories and can be shaped by childhood experiences. Examines an art exhibition in which diverse artists depicted autobiographical text in their paintings. Discusses…

Presents an assignment where students write their own word-problems that incorporate parts of the book "The Great Migration: An American Story" by Jacob Lawrence and then illustrate their word-problems in the style of Lawrence. Explains that the book focuses on the Great Migration when African Americans moved to northern U.S. cities.…

Focuses on a video series showing elementary students discovering new approaches to painting. Describes performances and questions that expand children's views on painting, including painting objects, seeing different ideas for the canvas, and exploring new paint brush forms. (CMK)

Focuses on the pointillist painting process offering background information about technique and how it can be used in the art classroom. Explores the appropriateness of the process for elementary through secondary school students. Includes educational objectives. (CMK)

Analyzes the medical discourses of infection, purity, and impurity and how these relate to the manipulation of images and ideas inherent in modern art. Argues that various concepts of purity (both in form and as a metaphorical subject) continue to exert powerful influences on artists in the 20th century. (MJP)

Presents an instructional resource examining artwork by Charles Burchfield, Utagawa Hiroshige, Childe Hassam, and Georgia O'Keeffe that focuses on nature's four seasons. Offers activities to encourage students' observational skills and guide them to depict their personal views of nature in their own artwork (CMK)

Suggests that an inclusive definition of art can lead to more meaningful forms of elementary art education. Discusses who does and should teach art while addressing the reasons why elementary teachers are hindered when it comes to teaching the arts. Discusses different approaches and recommendations for improving U.S. art education. (CMK)

Discusses the life of Benny Andrews, a recognized artist, cultural leader, and storyteller, and the importance of narrative in his artwork. Provides an interdisciplinary project where the students analyze Andrews'"Autobiographical Series," discuss the series as a form of storytelling, and then write their own family story. (CMK)

Describes a sixth grade activity that focuses on cultural watersheds, in which students represent their "personal landscapes." Explains that students list watershed and cultural attributes in lesson one. In lesson two students paint a representation of their cultural watershed. (CMK)

Describes a lesson in which students create collage insects inspired by the work of Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar). Connects art, language arts, and science. Discusses how students make paper to use as the collage material and how students create the insects. (CMK)

U.S. high-school students' enrollment in arts classes is at an 18-year peak. In 1998, 52.7 percent of high-school graduates earned credits in visual arts classes, compared with 44 percent in 1982. For various reasons, technology course enrollments have not kept pace with society's technological transformation. (MLH)

The following is adapted from chapter 2 of "Assessing Expressive Learning: A Practical Guide for Teacher-Directed Authentic Assessment in K-12 Visual Art Education" by Charles Dorn, Stanley Madeja, and Robert Sabol. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ 2003. (Appendices referred to in the following article can be found in the book…