Many researchers, teacher educators, teachers and students view graphics in text as an aspect of student learning (e.g. engagement, comprehension). However, as a field we have not addressed teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and decision-making associated with the use of graphics, student learning and issues of access. This mixed methods…

Describes some of Norman Rockwell's best known works, along with questions teachers can use to stimulate class discussions. Includes descriptions and discussion questions related to Rockwell's paintings of American people depicting freedom, tolerance, and patriotism. (PKP)

Recently an outstanding cross-section of works from Van Gogh's Arlesian period was on exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His works are discussed; some samples are included. (RM)

Vincent Van Gogh's painting "The Starry Night" is discussed, and ways that an art teacher can use this painting as a resource for learning are suggested. Specific activities to use with elementary and secondary students are included. (RM)

There are five categories of titles of paintings: descriptive, narrative, directive, poetic, and arbitrary. When children title their work they give clues to its intent and challenge the presuppositions that adults may bring to children's art. Titling can expand students' ideas for painting and provide a greater variety of approaches. (CS)

While Henri Rousseau's work was not easily classified into any definitive artistic style of the time--impressionism, post-impressionism, fauvism, or cubism--it has been considered a forerunner of surrealism because of its dreamlike sensibility. This teaching guide provides information about Rousseau and his work, focusing on "Tropical Forest…

Presents two art lessons, the first of which introduces elementary students to Dutch still life painting and to the Dutch painter Claesz. The second lesson introduces intermediate grade students to still life as a subject for painting and to the possibility of personal interpretation by an artist, as shown in an O'Keefe painting. (RM)

Describes a study which examined how subject matter, color, and degree of realism influence preferences for paintings of subjects in grades 3, 5, 7, 11, and college. Realism is the most important factor in shaping untrained subjects' responses to paintings. Color and subject matter have less influence on these judgments. (Author/AM)

Five articles describe techniques of mural making and mural projects which have been accomplished by elementary and secondary students, including a class of blind and partially sighted children. (SJL)

John Singleton Copley was virtually self-taught yet became the greatest painter in eighteenth-century America. By the age of eighteen he had become a highly sought portrait painter. His paintings held a good likeness and a pleasing reflection of his sitters' wealth and social aspirations. Copley's dazzling technique and his knowledge of the latest…

The drawings and paintings of Franz Kline are discussed. The schedule of a traveling exhibit of Kline's work is provided. (RM)

Five K-12 art activities are described. Elementary students study the paintings of Paul Klee. Junior high students do tempera paintings of flowers. High school students make black and clear glue drawings, learn about the cup paper art of Henri Matisse, and study and interpret leaf forms of the magnolia trees. (RM)

Mary Cassatt's paintings and graphics depict the world of 19th-century women, mothers, and children. Her exploration of intimate domestic life is informed by an unsurpassed ability to capture the natural, sometimes awkward poses of her figures and her refusal to "prettify" her subjects. This teaching guide gives an overview of Cassatt's…

The Peale family could be termed the "first family" of U.S. art. The patriarch, Charles Willson Peale, was an accomplished painter, scientist, inventor, founder of museums and art societies; his dynasty included his nine children and his younger brother, James Peale. This teaching guide discusses their diverse contributions to U.S. art…

Analyzes John Trumbull's documentary painting, "The Declaration of Independence," for its didactic importance. The painting actually represents the moment in which the declaration is presented to the Second Continental Congress, rather than the signing of the document. The historic and visual importance of the work for educators is…