Wellbeing education (WE) is increasingly offered among secondary schools internationally to promote the physical, social, emotional and mental health of young people. Current and emerging evidence proposes that scope exists for the enhancement of universal WE, and that arts-based approaches have significant potential for school programmes in…

The United States has a visually stunning history of documenting its natural lands. In the late 1800s, Hudson River School painters captured national parks in the west (National Park Service, 2017). Ansel Adams is famously known for his rich black-and-white photographs of Yosemite and other national parks from the 1920s. In the 1930s, the Works…

There is growing recognition of the value of the Arts in helping shape understandings and capabilities for life essential for meeting the challenges of the 21st century. Consequently, in Australia, the Arts are now mandated for all students from kindergarten to year 9. In the lower secondary setting, this has led to a high demand for educators…

Scientific reasoning and aesthetics are not mutually exclusive disciplines, as scientists' achievements are based not only on cognitive ability, but also on creativity, imagination, and embodied thought through various experiences. With the aim of investigating the role of aesthetic experience in the learning processes involved in the integration…

In this article, the authors discuss how incorporating traveling sketchbooks into their preservice art education and high school classrooms allowed students' situated knowledge to cross the boundaries of age and location. They begin with an overview of the evolution of sketchbook use in art education and the emergence of traveling sketchbooks.…

This case study reviews the impact of the design and implementation of Arts projects in secondary teacher training that aim to introduce a gender perspective. Students work as an artistic group where each individual contributes from his/her field of knowledge. The teachers of the course propose an initial challenge and provide a follow-up during…

In this article Matthew Etherington shares his experiences, successes, and challenges in implementing a 7th-grade fashion design unit in which he attempts to realize his curricular vision through critical visual culture pedagogy and role-playing. During the 4-week lesson period, Etherington's instructional checkpoints were broken into three main…

Before high school students step outside of the classroom and bring their work into the world, educators can help them understand that art is not solely for self-expression and beauty. Art and design can enable a voice to be heard, address social issues, engage the public, and evoke critical thought. This instructional resource introduces four…

Author Jaqueline McElhany, reflects upon her experiences, flawed teaching method, and lessons learned during her first year as a middle school art teacher, with a project that involved making West African ceremonial face masks. The article focuses on the changes she made to shift her teaching methods and classroom environment from discipline-based…

The demands of art projects in public schools may not fit with reality for many exceptional students because the project outcomes are often too specific (Henley, 1992). One strong motivator for students is looking at and discussing visual culture, involving all the images they see and all the visual experiences they have every day. This pedagogy…

An artist-educator examines her experience through the lens of constructivism. The author realized she needed to develop a plan for the art program at her school that would permeate the community, school culture, and the lives of students. Students needed skills, instruction, and a reason to make and appreciate art. The author developed a plan…

This article is an account of a national project established to support secondary school art teachers to re-engage with their own artistic practice. It draws extensively upon the experiences of the participants and examines the value of teachers making time for their own practical work, both personally and professionally. Beginning in January…

A student's lack of belief in his or her own ability to do well in school can be a driving component of disengagement. In response, the author created art activities aimed to build students' confidence in their ability to learn, carry out a given art task, and identify a competence; such asset-based thinking approaches encourage students to reach…

The practice of mixing grade levels in school settings is increasing (Nishida, 2009) and one third of classrooms worldwide already combine two or more grade levels (Cornish, 2006a). However, many teachers are assigned such mixed-grade groupings without training, and there is some evidence that this may be particularly true for art teachers…

Having an answer to "When are we ever going to use this in real life?" is important to middle school mathematics teachers. The activity described in this article awakened sixth graders' understanding of how artists use mathematics. By exploring ratio and proportionality in different paintings, students realized the use of proportional…