The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative assessment of what our nation's students know and can do in subjects such as the arts, mathematics, reading, and writing. NAEP collects and reports information on student trends and performance at the national, state, and district levels. NAEP releases…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what the nation's students know and can do in various subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, and writing, as well as civics, geography, U.S. history, and technology and engineering literacy. The results of NAEP are…

In a recent article, Russell and Hutzel, two of the authors of this article, proposed a framework for teaching social and emotional learning (SEL) in art education through collaborative service-learning. As defined in that article, SEL is a "process through which children and adults develop the skills, attitudes, and values necessary to…

Many of the skills and talents required to be a successful scientist, such as analysis, experimentation, and creativity, can be developed and reinforced through art. Both science and art challenge students to make observations, experiment with different techniques, and use both traditional and nontraditional methods to express their ideas. The…

The goal of every school district is to help students succeed academically and personally. But does every district leverage its most valuable resource, its teachers, to meet that goal? At the Valley Stream Central High School District in Nassau County, New York, these authors know how important teacher commitment is to student success, so they…

In this art activity, eighth grade students use charcoal to draw space art. This versatile medium helps the students see and use dark and light in their forms to show real space and depth. (RM)

In this paper, the author offers lesson plan ideas that are designed to guide teachers of art and science to encourage their students to see connections between art images and physics principles. The four works of art discussed are examples that can be linked visually and conceptually to physics properties in mathematics, space, energy, and light.…

Eighth-grade students were asked to produce two faces as a sculptural self-portrait series. The faces were to show a change in mood through modifications of expression. After construction, the facial shells were to be painted with a design which would both enhance and unite the expressions. (RM)

This curriculum guide for grades 7-9 describes a sequential course focusing on: (1) drawings (the ways of recording visual information and discoveries), (2) composition (the way images are put together to create meaning), and (3) encounters with art (where people find art and how they respond to it). In drawing, students acquire a repertoire of…

Discusses teaching eighth-grade students about the Middle Ages at St. John's School in St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. Explores a lesson in Montreal history offered to third- and fourth-grade students at the city's Hampstead School. Describes an environmental education unit for kindergarteners at Montreal's Edinburgh School. (DK)

Introduces students in grades seven-nine to the sometimes ambiguous differences between abstract and realistic art. Explores ways in which the same idea can be expressed in both formats, using Cy Twombly's "Synopsis of a Battle" as an example. Students research a war and create both abstract and realistic pictures of the battlefield…

This teacher's guide begins with sample unit plans for junior high school art teachers. Unit plans cover specific themes, approaches, objectives, concepts, motivation, resources, study approaches, evaluation, and related activities. A description of how the units relate to the objectives and concepts of the art program's curriculum guide is also…

Provides a lesson plan that introduces students in grades seven-nine to artistic depiction of a specific time and place. Explores Joseph Mallord William Turner's "Burning of the Houses of Parliament" as both visual record and emotional interpretation. Lists instructional strategies for description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment.…

In the spring of 2003, the author worked with a team of eighth grade teachers at Asheville Middle School in North Carolina on a project that combined fine art, music, the history of the railroads, and the African American experience in the state and nation. In her classroom, students interviewed a retired train conductor, who was African American,…

This syllabus outlines art instruction in grades seven and eight and focuses on the visual arts concepts of space and structure, movement, and color and light. The publication is organized under the following sections: (l) Goals and Objectives; (2) Focus: Grades 7 and 8; (3) Scope and Sequence; (4) Developing a Curriculum from This Syllabus; (5)…