Silver medals played an important role in American Indian policy for more than a century. Following a practice of the French, Spanish, and British in the New World, the United States government presented Indian peace medals to important chiefs and warriors as symbols of attachment to the new nation. In addition, the medals were marks of rank…

Twenty articles describing innovative courses and teaching methods are included in this first annual collection. Techniques for English courses are described in four articles covering the uses of media, the tutorial approach, teaching the art of questioning, and using the steps of film production as analogy in writing instruction. Two articles…

Formats for testing students in art production, aesthetic perception, art criticism, and art history are discussed in terms of historical precedents, underlying philosophy, reliability, and relevance to instruction. Problems in the measurement of higher-order cognitive and affective expectations of art instruction are presented. (Author/RM)

This paper describes the development of a World Wide Web site in an art history class at the University of Tennessee. The first section of the paper discusses digital technology in the art history classroom, including a comparison of the quality of digital images with slide projection. The second section describes a Web site created for a history…

Outlines an issue-centered approach to teaching aesthetics, where students identify and analyze possible solutions before learning an aesthetician's viewpoint. Suggests that teachers acquire basic aesthetic knowledge but also be willing to accept planned uncertainty as an educational principle. Presents a fictional art forgery scenario to…

Explains how a veil control method allows secondary students to use oil paints in the classroom without difficulties of control, manageability, and clean up. Outlines how to prepare and apply oil glazes. Maintains that this method enhances students' studio skills and helps them appreciate the works of the great masters. (KM)

Discusses the psychological context of aesthetic literacy in relation to E. D. Hirsch's ideas on cultural literacy. Argues adults should not interpret artworks for children and notes the implications for curriculum planners. Provides examples of childrens' understanding of art works. Maintains that any curriculum is the interaction of content and…

Discusses three types of distance in art education that should be bridged: (1) between studio art and art criticism/history; (2) between thinking in images and thinking in words; and (3) between art and culture in cognition. Recommends a curriculum to integrate studio work with criticism and teach art along with culture. (CFR)

Discusses the dilemmas posed by limited financial support for art education programs. Recommends four strategies for dealing with these problems. Suggests that discipline-based art education, which includes lessons on art criticism and art history, can be employed to provide quality art education. (CFR)

As members of the faculty of the same college, the State University of New York at Potsdam, the fifteen contributors to this book have the unique experience of working from the same pool of students in order to explore how to improve teaching, enhance learning, and make the classroom more interesting. Together professors from thirteen different…

This book is a compilation of year-long thematic curriculum units developed and taught by teachers participating in the third Indiana University Artistically Talented Program (ATP). Units for artistically gifted and talented students, grade 4-12, are developed along guidelines which require that they: focus on complex ideas; use themes as…

Designed to supplement textbook study, this guide provides secondary school teachers with a compilation of recent scholarship on China. Eleven sections offer information, analysis, activities, and resources on Chinese geography, language, literature, art, and history to 1983. Sections 1 through 3 provide the following introductory information:…

As an alternative to the research paper for a course on Sexism in Literature, the idea of looking at feminine beauty through time and space was borrowed from Kenneth Clark's book, "Feminine Beauty." After a field trip to the Honolulu Academy of Arts and a background survey of library materials, each student chose a reproduction about…

This issue of "Basic Education" is devoted to the arts in education as a concern that should be addressed in a time of new priorities for the curriculum. Five articles and a book review are included. The opening article, "The State of the Arts in Education: Envisioning Active Participation By All" (Virginia Robinson),…

One of three handbooks dealing with pottery traditions from around the world, this packet draws together information about historical, ethnographic, and pottery traditions of Peru. The first of 13 brief subsections focuses on Peru's land and people. A presentation of a potter's history of Peru is followed by a discussion of the Chavin Cult (800…