The content of many school lessons is increasingly determined by the requirement to "cover" what is laid down in England's National Curriculum. In this situation transmission or "delivery" models of teaching all too often become the norm. This article records aspects of a very different kind of teaching and learning, and…

Images can be and have been used in various ways, and by their man-made nature they cannot be considered independent of their providers' intentions. Yet, identifying such intentions is complex, and requires a critical look supported by relevant information on what is being represented, how, and why. In this article, the author illustrates some of…

From papier mache to plaster and paper to moulage, making masks is a popular activity for both art educators and students around the world. Masks have been and are currently used by many cultures/societies for specific cultural rituals and spiritual, metaphorical, role-playing, and theatrical reasons. In short, their use and their creation are…

The importance of multicultural art education has been addressed by art educators over the past 15 years. Art educators maintain that art is capable of empowering mutual respect and appreciation for people, objects, and ideas among diverse groups. Although many educators/teachers use non-Western artworks or artifacts to enrich their art programs,…

This article examines the process of graphic representational development in paint in the context of the theoretical assumptions of traditional developmental stage theory. Consistent with current theory and research in art education and cognitive psychology, a model of painting development is proposed that is multidimensional rather than unitary,…

In this article, the author describes how she conducts her art classes. She relates that she begins all of her classes by asking prompting questions and presenting basic information such as a definitions of art terminologies to her students. The author believes in brainstorming with her students, an effective way for creating a dialog with her…

In this essay, the author furthers the argument that critical commentary on the Rajput and Muslim miniatures of India has focused on a rather odd use of labels and categories, perhaps to an even greater extent than has been the case with much of the rest of the criticism of the art of South Asia. She first examines the use of the term…

During its own time, French Impressionism was viewed as a sweeping revolution in painting, a radical departure from the existing traditions of European art. Today, Impressionism is recognized as a major frontier in art history and the threshold of the modern art movement. In this article, the author discusses the development of the Impressionism…

This article explores the way young people's responses to an image evolve when they engage with it repeatedly. An analysis of the sequential encounters of six adolescents with a Renaissance painting reveals that, as they gained experience with the picture, the youngsters probed for increasingly deeper layers of meaning in the work. Specifically,…

The author of this article, an art teacher, describes a lesson in which her elementary school students used acrylics to paint a cityscape of Bombay, India. After seeing huge canvas paintings at an art gallery, the students wanted to paint their own. They performed an exercise in which they closed their eyes, thought about the city, and listed all…

Learning to write well often proves to be one of the most difficult areas in the English language arts for young children. However, in these fourth- and fifth-grade language arts classrooms, children are offered opportunities to explore, think through, and express meaning across and within sign systems--in particular, using art, drama, and…

This article looks at the use of art in developing students' prewriting ability. The activities, strategies, and objects used provide students with the background knowledge, motivation, vocabulary, structure, and fluency they need to compose and rehearse written pieces. The article describes research conducted on the effects of combining art with…

Incorporate inquiry-based practices into the early childhood classroom or family child care home. Inspired by an approach to teaching and learning born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, this book emphasizes investigation anchored by drawing, painting, and other art activities. It provides advice on setting up a studio space for art and inquiry and fifteen…

Spatial ability based on measures of mental rotation, and spatial experience based on self-reported participation in visual-arts as well as spatial-orientation activities were assessed in a sample of 337 Chinese, gifted students. Consistent with past findings for the general population, there were gender differences in spatial ability favoring…

In 1990, the Settlement Music School Kaleidoscope Preschool Arts Enrichment Program, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, created a preschool program to teach music and other creative arts to three- to five-year-olds. This article describes how the program works: how music teaches language and math, how dance teaches action words and spatial concepts,…