The 2020 Revisions to the Colorado Academic Standards in Visual Arts provide an organizational framework acknowledging the importance and the complexities of teaching and learning in the visual arts. This document is written with the following underlying beliefs: (1) The visual arts are an academic and scholarly discipline defined by theoretical…

The principles and techniques of design education have begun to influence art education in the United States, but their effect so far has been modest, primarily because of a gaping divide in beliefs about creativity and how to stimulate it. With K-12 art education on the chopping block of a culture awash with budget cuts and testing fever, this is…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions, roles, practices, and characteristics of a high-performing suburban school district's implementation of a kindergarten through grade 12 visual arts program. Additionally, this study intended to understand how the school district implemented a kindergarten through grade 12 visual arts…

Targeting students in grades K-8, Art in Action's program consists of 12 age-appropriate lessons per year led by parent and teacher volunteers. The curriculum is based on historically significant artists and their works of art. Through semi-structured discussions, students examine a variety of masterpieces, learning about the artist as well as…

What role can district visual art administrators play in articulating an educationally valuable conception of creativity and in establishing a culture that targets creativity as an educational goal? How can art administrators help teachers implement creativity goals? How can they communicate creativity's importance to principals, parents, and…

Targeting students in grades K-8, Art in Action's program consists of 12 age-appropriate lessons per year led by parent and teacher volunteers. The curriculum is based on historically significant artists and their works of art. Through semi-structured discussions, students examine a variety of masterpieces, learning about the artist as well as…

Although goals change and reflect the issues of the time, two primary goals of education in a democracy have remained constant over time. The first goal is to educate for vocational competence and the second is to produce caring, intelligent, and wise citizens. Articulating the connection of design education concepts to the economy and social…

Narrated by actor Howard Hesseman, this videotape presents arguments for promoting art education in the nation's schools. Interviews with art education leaders, industry leaders, teachers, and principals reveal their convictions that adequate training in critical and creative thinking is necesseary for successful participation in the international…

The president of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Ernest L. Boyer, discusses the importance of developing creativity in the classroom. (MD)

Ninety university undergraduate students were tested on a number of tasks assessing their recognition of possible and impossible figures, mental rotation, ideational fluency, and self-report artistic and creative characteristics. Scores on the Impossible Figures Task (IFT-14) and the Mental Rotation Test, and self-ratings on the Artistic…

Changes in concepts of creativity and culture necessitate closer attention to the sociological aspects of creativity. Problems emanate from disregarding the modernization process in our culture, as that process relates to creativity, and from the impact of the contemporary fine arts on creativity research and art education practice. (Author/SR)

A self-taught artist describes the creative process and a technique for developing one's intuitive drawing ability. The article identifies seven basic motifs derived from natural forms and illustrates how these motifs are used in the artist's work. (DB)

Art plays an integral role in civilizing society and its members. Through the visual arts we can directly comment on the human condition and begin to comprehend the complexity of our species and our multicultural and mutlilayered society. This article discusses how the arts' civilizing power can inform the education of all children. (15…

Ohio schools have developed a Balanced Comprehensive Art Curriculum (BCAC) that includes art history, art criticism, and art in society as well as traditional art production. Students in kindergarten through 12th grade receive equitable instruction in all four curriculum areas. Includes a resource list and table. (MD)

This article takes the subject of visual arts in Sweden as the point of departure in a discussion of how, with the help of portfolios, assessments may extend to include both the unpredictable and the ambiguous. The notion that assessments of learning outcomes must be either limited to superficial knowledge or completely arbitrary is shown to be a…