Efforts to renew cultural literacy and reform arts education sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Getty Center for Education in the Arts suggest fundamental changes relating to the scope of art curricula. The single greatest drawback of existing art curricula and the guides that teachers use is the emphasis on skill development…

Over 150 resources on women's history are arranged under the following headings: author/title, collective biographies, reference materials, and individual biographies. Within the biography categories, publications are arranged alphabetically by author (collective biographies) or subject (individual biographies). Within the remaining categories,…

The character of art criticism, both how it naturally occurs and how it is academically constructed, is reflective of social and aesthetic value orientations--much as the art object itself has been found to be a clue to the values of the society in which it is practiced, used, and appreciated. The belief that the art object possesses…

The unit is designed for presentation to gifted junior and senior high students interested in aesthetics. The orientation is to familiarize students with a variety of arts pieces while exploring related philosophical ideas. Information provided includes a listing of objectives, materials, and ideas for presentation for the following nine subjects:…

Brief course descriptions and educational objectives of the art program in grades 9-12, Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Maryland, are provided. Courses are elective and may be grouped into two sequences. Students with broad interests may elect Fundamentals of Art and continue with a series of studio art classes. Students interested in…

This guide is designed to help teachers develop sequential and creative art education programs in elementary and secondary classrooms. Specific goals focus on enabling students to perceive, describe, and respond to the aesthetic qualities of the natural and man-made environment; to analyze, judge and value works of art; to acquire a knowledge of…

Describes a German course for archeologists and art historians, given in the Louvre by the Paris Goethe Institute. Reliance is placed on the students' visual memory, with schematic presentation of pronoun and article declension. This approach sometimes fosters errors and misunderstandings. The verb system is emphasized. (Text is in German.)…

Reviews various curriculum materials and approaches to art instruction considered to be the antecedents of discipline-based art education (DBAE). Focuses on the recent history of art education in the United States, reviewing the principal curriculum projects and ideas of influential art educators. Concludes with recommendations for furthering…

Historical background concerning the nature and function of museums is provided, and the aesthetic functions of museums are discussed. The first major aesthetic function of museums is to preserve the artistic heritage of mankind and to make it widely available. The second major function is patronage. (RM)

A unit of study, designed for a general humanities course at the community college level, illustrates the relevance of aesthetics, art history, and art criticism to art education. The unit is predicated on the belief that the visual arts possess potential for contributing to humanistic education. (Author/RM)

Critiqued is the article, "Teacher as Shaman: An Educational Criticism," (Studies in Art Education, v25 n1), containing a case study of an art teacher who employs performance-based ritual to stimulate thinking about art's meaning and history. The problem that ethnographic researchers have conveying credibility when summarizing…

Teaching art at the elementary level provides the student and the teacher with the opportunity to develop artistic skills and enhance awareness of the world and its varied cultures. Art provides the chance to gain an appreciation of the various styles of art and artists. Art education allows for students' individual growth; unique, valuable…

The Fall 2003 Idea Book features: "Save Our History Study Guide: Our Documents"; "History International Study Guide: Pyramids"; "The History Channel Study Guide: Lewis and Clark" (Ideas from Our Teachers Contest Rules; Ideas from Our Teachers Context Winners); "A&E Classroom Study Guide: Post…

Experiencing artworks in the Web aggravates the problem of the absence of any historical, cultural and social context, because the Web is a veritable nowhere. This paper stresses the importance of a social and narrative access to art, and presents an interactive group of virtual characters as an alleviation of this problem. The benefits and…

A nationwide survey of college students taking studio and art history courses indicated that students prefer intensive study of one course to pursuing several unrelated courses during a semester, for reasons of time structure effectiveness; meeting personal needs, goals, and educational standards; ability to arouse interest and motivation; and…