Describes a project for middle-school students where they create self-portraits. Explains that the teacher photographs each student who is asked to make an exaggerated facial expression for the picture. To complete the self-portraits, students select an art postcard and "borrow" ideas from the artist's style. (CMK)

This article considers the pedagogical theory of constructivism in the integration of curricular content areas and the infusion of the arts in the context of the recent terrorist attacks. It uses products created by third-grade students to illustrate how drawing and discussion can be used as precursors to narrative composition. (Contains…

Discusses the artwork of Chuck Close, who is well known for his over-sized portraits of fellow artists and anonymous sitters, and the exhibition of his work that premiered at New York's Museum of Modern Art before traveling to other cities in the United States. (CMK)

Offers a lesson for sixth-grade students where they study crystals in a science class; after looking at different types of crystals through a magnifying glass and microscope, the students sketch crystal formations in their science logs. Focuses on different repeating patterns enabling students to draw a repeated design of crystals from their logs.…

Believes that curriculum integration is the key to successful teaching for the future. Describes an Action Research Project where four teachers made connections across the disciplines of science, music, and art as part of a grant project called "Connecting the Curriculum." Summarizes the art project in which the students created flip…

Discusses an art project in which students created drawings of mop heads. Explains that the approach of drawing was more important than the subject. States that the students used the chiaroscuro technique, used by Rembrandt and Caravaggio, in which light appears out of the darkness. (CMK)

Presents an activity for beginning drawing classes in which students design and draw a composition of at least three candy wrappers. Explains that the project addresses form, techniques for overlapping, folding, and crinkling the candy wrappers, and adding proportion to give the illusion of three-dimensional space. (CMK)

Describes an art project using crayon resist that emphasizes both line and color, focusing on images of the fall season and rural community. Discusses how to create the pictures. Includes ideas for activities for working with older students and mainstreamed students. (CMK)

Present a writing workshop incorporating drawing into the creative process. Finds that children become more focused when they add art as part of the process in a writing workshop. Notes that throughout the workshop, the author constantly pays attention to her students, asking them questions and posing problems to encourage growth in rigor and…

This research was conducted to examine the conditions under which learner-generated illustrations serve as an instructional strategy promoting conceptual change. Specifically, the nature of students' misconceptions and the effects of student-generated descriptive drawings on conceptual understanding of scientific principles associated with the law…

This article features energizing and surprising activities for children at group time. In the drawing activity, children are asked to give instructions on how to draw a picture using vocabulary and descriptive language. In the mailbox activity, children will be surprised to discover that they have mail at group time. Mailboxes can be used for…

Despite the developing infusion of three-dimensional, technological imagery, little has been done to explain the effects of two-dimensional versus three-dimensional imagery on the learning process. This study examined the effects of two-dimensional stimuli and three-dimensional stereoptic stimuli on spatial representation in drawings. A scene was…

This article presents the results of qualitative research into how middle school students experience school reading. Students from grades 4 through 8 from four different schools were asked individually to draw and then to talk about specific times of their choice when they were and were not engaged in learning. The combined method of drawing and…

Describes a project that was inspired by a previous article in "Arts and Activities" entitled "The Same Old Contour Drawing...Not!" Explains that students learn basic drawing skills by drawing shoes while learning about contour shapes. Lists the needed art materials. (CMK)

Describes an art project where beginning drawing students used values and chiaroscuro techniques to draw bird nests. Explains how the students observed the nest that was displayed in the art classroom. Discusses the steps involved in creating the artworks. (CMK)