With its ambient, interesting and dynamic use of materials, alternative views of materials and objects, with its playfulness and affecting different senses contemporary fine art can be very interesting for art-educational work. Due to its complexity, however, it suffers from misunderstanding, retreat, and last but not least also fears both among…

The purpose of this research is to measure how effective the use of art activities is at achieving the goals of social studies program and to introduce a model practice that social studies teachers can follow. Accordingly, certain objectives were selected from among the main objectives of social studies program and the activities prepared for a…

Children and burgeoning adolescents' creativity blossom in play-based environments. Likewise, students as active social agents have the opportunity to examine the structures and processes that shape them. The photographic image intimates an aura of credibility, providing the students pause to reflect upon their socialized interactions. These…

In this article, the authors describe how mathematics teachers and art teachers were able to enthusiastically engage seventh- and eighth-grade students in an interdisciplinary activity focused on scaling, proportional reasoning, and measurement by recreating artwork on a famous private collection. Using the artwork from The Barnes Foundation in…

The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of an online-learning component incorporating peer discussion groups on art achievement, digital literacy practice, student engagement, and student attitude of an eighth-grade visual arts classroom. Participants included 30 students in two 8th-grade art classes. Students in one class received…

This research has begun to examine how teachers in Maine meaningfully infuse art and Native American epistemologies through visual arts and writing across curricula to enhance student learning and engagement. Teachers explored a perceived new space of pedagogical possibility within visual arts and American Indian curricula as cross-disciplinary…

In this article, the author describes 8 Tags, a project that she used with her eighth-grade studio art students to encourage them to come up with original and creative solutions to an assignment. She also wanted to incorporate their knowledge of the elements of art and principles of design. In this project, students were challenged to create an…

As part of a Professional Learning Community (PLC), the author is asked to focus on the four essential questions of learning when developing projects: (1) What is it teachers want their students to learn?; (2) How will teachers know if each student has learned it?; (3) How will teachers respond when some students do not learn it?; and (4) How can…

Middle grades teachers should create meaningful learning activities involving stimulating literature and interesting composition prompts. This article describes a unit in which eighth graders read short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Using multiple learning and teaching approaches, they expanded their vocabularies, responded artistically to "The…

The content of many school lessons is increasingly determined by the requirement to "cover" what is laid down in England's National Curriculum. In this situation transmission or "delivery" models of teaching all too often become the norm. This article records aspects of a very different kind of teaching and learning, and…

Instructional strategies make a difference in whether students are engaged in learning and are profiting from their time in class. High schools, technology centers and middle grades schools are encouraging teachers to adopt new teaching techniques and are providing opportunities for teachers to work together to improve their instructional skills…

In this article, the author relates how he and his class outlined a plan for a public artwork project to be displayed in their community. The author discusses how he asked his students during the course of making the project to reflect on the following: (1) Who am I?; (2) Who are middle-school students?; and (3) What does collaboration look like?…