Questor is a curious little bird whose four broad questions are helpful to anyone interested in making art or understanding the art of others. He was designed as a character in an online video for children, "Building on a River: Questor's Tale." The video is narrated by Questor, who relates the 2000 year history of architecture along the Salt…

Most art teachers would agree that architecture is an important form of visual art, but they do not always include it in their curriculums. In this article, the authors share core ideas from "Architecture and Environment," a teaching resource that they developed out of a long-term interest in teaching architecture and their fascination with the…

This curriculum unit consists of four lessons that are designed to broaden students' understanding of art and culture; each lesson can stand alone or be used in conjunction with the others. The introduction offers a conceptual framework of the Artworlds unit, which takes an inquiry-based approach. The unit's first lesson, "Worlds within…

This curriculum unit helps teachers and students explore important murals by Mexican American artists in Los Angeles (California), examine murals from the past, and work together to make their own murals. The unit suggests questions to be considered in the classroom: Why do people make murals? Why does Los Angeles have more murals than any other…

Questions the traditional assumption that primary age children are not capable of historical understanding. Study discovers a wide range of responses that validates some of Parsons' Theory of Aesthetic Development and calls other aspects into question. Concludes with a suggestion for more study. (MJP)

This is an exploratory, design-based study of the development and implementation of an online art unit designed to teach for transfer. Secondary art teachers implemented a traditional and then a revised Web version of the unit. Four kinds of knowledge (content, procedural, strategic, and dispositional) provide the structure for reporting: a)…

Provides evidence that sixth-grade students are capable of considerable art historical understanding. Suggests that second-grade students are able to incorporate knowledge of individual artists, and some limited historical perspective, in their consideration of artworks. Includes assessment instrument and statistical tables. (MJP)

Postulates a broad, interdisciplinary art education curriculum. The curriculum is built around nine increasingly cognitively challenging understandings expressed as instructional objectives. These objectives incorporate a series of questions examining art's functional, cultural, historic, and social contexts. Includes a discussion of the project's…