When the author stepped into the lead specials teacher role at a private elementary school in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was convinced that early childhood educational experiences could shape students' later cognition. He asked himself the question: What novel task might he set for the students that did not rely on rote learning, logic, or…

Picture book illustrations can provide the opportunity for critical examination of a work of art. There is a growing body of research focusing on how we can respond creatively to the illustrations in picture books as art objects. This study aimed to reveal how children interpret art elements based on various artistic techniques within picture…

Diagrams have been used for instructional purposes for many years and recent advancements permit the design of an idea by a wider range of diagrams for easy understanding. The study employed an experimental design to examine the effectiveness of computer-based concept maps (CBCM) on students' cognitive learning of colours. A quasi-experimental…

The purpose of this research was to carry out an interdisciplinary art education activity with Turkish coffee and to evaluate the views of prospective teachers. For this aim, an integrated single case study design with a qualitative research approach was used. The study group consisted of twenty prospective social studies teachers. A questionnaire…

Shades of Pink study describes how six preschoolers and their teacher engaged in a collaborative learning project through which they learned about the shades of a color--in this case, pink. As the children learned through experimenting and discussing their theories, they represented ideas using art as a tool for discovery and learning. The study…

For centuries, Swiss firms manufactured and sold precision watches and were the undisputed leaders in timekeeping. All this came to an abrupt end when, in the mid-1970s, the Japanese began to make reliable digital watches at a fraction of the cost of the expensive, labor-intensive Swiss product. In 1983, Switzerland answered with the introduction…

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was a very prolific Impressionist/Post-Impressionist artist whose longevity allowed him to produce many wonderful, brightly colored pieces of art that spanned different styles, movements and media. Elementary-school children love color and appreciate any project that does not require their work to be exact or totally…

The author's fifth-graders are usually easy to motivate, especially with an assignment as exciting as dragons and mythical beasts! Since many of the author's projects are "typical" subjects such as flowers, animals, still life and so on, the idea of creating mythical creatures really caused a stir in her classroom. In this article, the author…

As a university-based art educator inspired by the efforts of environmental artists, the author has been working to share their achievements with students and teachers through eco-art education. She aims to continue this work through this article by sharing recent developments in this emerging field of inquiry. In hopes of encouraging art…

This article presents an art project designed for upper-elementary students to (1) imagine visual differences in the sun's appearance during the four seasons; (2) develop ideas for visually translating their personal experiences regarding the seasons to their sun drawings; (3) create four distinctive seasonal suns using colors and imagery to…

If there is a truly magic moment in art class, it must be when a student--of any age--attains a working knowledge of color's core principles. At that point, she or he becomes able to consistently create color harmony in any painting, regardless of the subject matter. From then on, that student gains greater confidence, can paint better pictures…

The seventh- and eight-grade students in the author's art program sharpened up their eyesight and their use of color charts in preparation for an op art project. Op art is short for "optical patterns and designs." The goal of the project is to create and organize line and color into shapes, patterns, and design in symmetrical and asymmetrical…

Color, texture, line, shape, and form are just some of the words the author's students learn as they study the environment around them. In this article, the author describes an art lesson wherein her fifth grade students look at the richness of form, pattern, and color in different animals. This lesson on close-up views helps her students see the…

One of the author's earliest recollections is going with her mother up into her grandmother's bedroom to look in a very old chest. The chest contains quilts that have been in the family for generations. Fascinated by quilt colors, designs, and tiny stitches, the author shares this with her fifth-grade classes by making a paper quilt at school.…

Students love the colors of Monet prints. The sunny yellows, misty blues, soft lavenders, and outrageous oranges. Using this as inspiration, Michelle Maroni wanted her students to discover new painting techniques and ways of planning a composition with more spontaneity. In this article, she describes how she introduced Claude Monet to her students…