Asserts that introducing educational technology into the K-12 curriculum is a major trend. Presents a set of questions that educators should answer as they increase the use of technology in the classroom. Maintains educators need to resist the temptation to use technology to replace important educational activities rather than to enhance them.…

Presents a collection of questions that fifth-grade students asked about African artwork and answers provided by staff from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. Observes that students' interest in important visual aspects of the art creates lead-ins to more detailed discussions of West African art and culture. (DSK)

Justifies examining still-life pictures of flowers to provide students with an opportunity to learn how one distinguishes between deeply artistic pictures full of emotion and pictures lacking this quality. Claims that students will develop their own artistic expression. Offers pictures by Diego Rivera, Watanabe Shiko, Consuelo Kanaga, and Rachel…

Identifies the essential features of critical inquiry and shows how it differs from the critical procedures often recommended by educators. Explains the implications of the inquiry process for teaching criticism. Provides a model of critical-inquiry instruction by suggesting three basic instructional strategies for teachers and describing an…

Describes Project ARTS (Arts for Rural Teachers and Students), a 3-year community-based research and development program for students with high interest and abilities in the performing and visual arts. Focuses on the project's curriculum and assessment. Addresses the applicability of the program to other rural areas. (CMK)

Describes how to make tunnel books, which are viewed by looking into a "tunnel" created by accordion-folded expanding sides. Suggests possible themes. Describes how to create a walk-through tunnel book for first grade students. (CMK)

Addresses Edward Hopper's painting "Light at Two Lights" and the painting's real life subject, Cape Elizabeth Light (Maine). Discusses the fate of lighthouses; includes lessons in visual arts, mathematics and science, language arts, geography, and social studies; and lists internet sites for Edward Hopper and lighthouses. (CMK)

Considers the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1997 Arts Report Card. The NAEP assessment provides data on what eighth-graders know and can do in music, visual arts, and theater. Evaluates the assessment, discusses the results, and addresses a call for action. (CMK)

Presents an instructional resource appropriate for fourth- to eight-graders focusing on four artworks that depict the story of U.S. landscape painting and the influences of technological change. Includes background information about the authors and artworks, discussion questions, an exercise that allows students to study the artwork, and suggested…

Presents a lesson plan that enabled students to create their own portraits in the style of Pablo Picasso; students utilized their initial collages/drawings, enlarging them with an overhead projector, to paint their final products using oil pastels. Indicates the students also learned about the different "periods" of Picasso's artistic…

Introduces articles from a symposium about arts education in three Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark). Explains that the articles portray the relevant contexts for arts education, including the prevailing movements in arts education over the past century, general contents of the educational system, and the values and traditions…

Attempts to explain Claude Monet's obsession with water lilies in the last 25 years of his life through an interdisciplinary approach combining ideas from the history of landscape design, social history, and anthropology. Offers Monet's gardens at Giverny (France), his series paintings, and the railroad as some possible influences on his painting.…

Presents a workbook extract from the teaching resource kit entitled "Land and Landscapes: Views of America's History and Culture" that examines landscape paintings and photographs from the 19th century to the present. Explains that the main focus of this extract is to question how European American views about landownership affected…

Describes the objectives, methodology, and resources for a college German course, taught in English, that examines the concept of "outsider" and is aimed at fostering critical thinking, ethical relations, and understanding of contexts. It traces representations of cultural groups in literature and the visual arts. Students learn to question…

Describes an honors-level fine arts seminar that culminates in the creation of an 'unnamed' object. Stresses direct manipulation of materials leading to works free of conceptual pre-determination. Argues that naming follows creation; leaving a work unnamed allows artists to experience the dynamic of creation. (NB)