This article demonstrates how Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) art discussions and subsequent, inspired artmaking can help reach the goals of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects (CCSS-ELA). The authors describe how this was achieved in a remedial…

This is an experimental textbook for teaching about the visual arts at the elementary level. The content answers five questions about art: what is art; who makes art; what are the sources for art; why is art important to you; and why is art important to society. At the end of each section of the text is a set of questions and suggestions for…

A playful series of activities using the "Yellow Pages" as a resource. (Editor)

In an interview, designer and filmmaker Saul Bass discusses the nature of creativity and the creative process and his work in the visual arts and their implications for education. (HTH)

Considers that in order to be successful offering visual art lessons in the classroom, pre- and inservice teachers must develop a deeper more conceptual understanding of the power of art to communicate meanings, beliefs, ideologies, and experiences. Suggests teacher enroll in a high-quality arts course, create some authentic works of art, use…

Harvard Project Zero provides a series of technical research reports which study artistic creation and comprehension as a means toward better art education. The emphasis of the research is to improve art education through a better psychological understanding of symbol systems and media of art and through better understanding of the perceptual,…

Presents advice on how Montessori elementary teachers can create a vital arts program in the classroom. Promotes literacy in artistic language, the importance of visual observation, and the importance of teachers educating themselves. Provides a materials list and artwork suggestions for teachers, including creating a visual journal, drawing,…

The first step in learning to appreciate art is learning to classify a work according to its primary purpose. The artist creates art for one of three reasons: to recreate the physical world (Imitationalism); to express an idea or feeling (Emotionalism); or to create an interesting design (Formalism). A classified work may then be critiqued by: (1)…

Describes nine consequences for children who are given the opportunity to work with art teachers. Some of these are that making images provides intrinsic satisfaction; children learn that the images they create can function as symbols; and children's power to conceptualize visual ideas and to use effective means of expressing them increases. (KC)

Visual and verbal literacy skills are crucial to children because of their relationship to reading, and to adults because of their social utility. Such skills are, paradoxically, among those least often developed in a systematic fashion in elementary schools. One reason for this is that component subskills of visual and verbal literacy are…

This research indicates that art education can help develop visual perceptual abilities which can be applied to all areas of learning. Skills in visual perception developed through the study of art will help integrate subject areas. The study organized research and information that emphasized the redefinition of art in the elementary school…

Although there is unanimity among educators that art and art education exert a positive influence on children, diverse philosophical, social, and psychological views and values have inhibited the formation of teaching goals and strategies that acknowledge the emotional and cognitive significance of visual art. The general aims of art education…

Since small children are more sophisticated readers of images than of words, pictorial reproductions represent an important means of bringing the visual thinking of the world's best artists to the attention of children. The use of pictorial images represents a solution to the teaching problems of gaining students' attention, interest, and…

This handbook, written for teachers, art teachers, and parents of young children, describes actual elementary school classroom experiences. Each anecdote is juxtaposed with a simple explanation of its philosophical and psychological rationale. Symbolic representation of the environment through art making is seen as a natural language, a…

Educators should be encouraged to develop elementary school students' knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the visual arts in an integrated approach to curriculum development in the schools. Instruction in the visual arts is frequently presented in isolation from other subjects, but resources are available to support reinforcement in…