In this study, we investigated whether a colourful design would foster the aesthetic appreciation of Chinese classic poetry, and the role of learners' empathy trait in this process. Middle school students (N = 159) were assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 (Colour Design: Colourful vs. Grayscale) × 2 (Empathy Trait: High vs. Low)…

Designed by the Harvard University Project Zero team, Artful Thinking is basically a program that aims to improve students' awareness of art and increase their critical thinking skills by interpreting works of art and discussing them. In this way, students will acquire twenty-first century skills such as critical thinking and aesthetic…

This study is an aesthetic inquiry, as part of a middle school visual arts class, from the standpoint of Maxine Greene's aesthetic perspective in education. By adopting Maxine Greene's perspective, affective learning comes to the fore along with cognitive learning, and accentuates multiple realities through the imagination through the research…

The study used activity systems analysis to characterize the processes, dynamics, and tensions in the social practices developed by a class of academic low-achievers in a knowledge-building environment augmented by analytics-supported reflective assessment. A class of 37 Grade 9 low-achievers and an experienced teacher participated this study.…

The objective of this research and development was to develop a curriculum for enhancing grade 7 students' aesthetic sense and substantial art learning. There were 2 phases of the study consisting of: (i) the study of basic information about art aesthetics, including the attributes, approaches, theories, problems, and needs, (ii) the development…

The fear of embarrassment in middle- and high-school students often inhibits their attempts at drawing realistically. Many find it difficult to reproduce what they see accurately, and as a result, complain, act out or refuse to do the task in order to save face. In this article, the author describes a lesson that does three things: (1) it attempts…

Color wheels are a traditional project for many teachers. The author has used them in art appreciation classes for many years, but one problem she found when her pre-service art education students created colored wheels was that they were boring: simple circles, with pie-shaped pieces, which students either painted or colored in. This article…

Creating an appreciation of art history in her junior-high students has always been one of the author's greatest challenges as an art teacher. In this article, the author describes how her eighth-grade students re-created a famous work of art--piece by piece, like a puzzle or a stained-glass window--out of construction paper. (Contains 1 resource.)

This report presents the results of the 2008 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the arts, which was given to a nationally representative sample of 7,900 eighth-grade public and private school students. Approximately one-half of these students were assessed in music, and the other half were assessed in visual arts. The Music…

Art education in the United States has never been on a firmer footing than at the present time. It faces a future secure in the knowledge that during the past 10 years its social, economic, and educational values have been demonstrated and acknowledged and generally put into practice. Educational leaders no longer ignore it; rather one finds an…