Designing constructive digital media is a process of mapping and remapping our physical and conceptual worlds in order to determine their meaning. When readers become composers, when users become designers, they may construct for themselves both a digital "Wunderkammer" of evidence and the potential associative connections available…

When the glass artist Dale Chihuly exhibited his work at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the author took a class of fourth-grade students to view the artist's extraordinary sculptures. Just as the author predicted, the students were in awe of Chihuly's organic three-dimensional sculptures. Before taking the field trip to the Missouri Botanical…

Mural painting provides an excellent opportunity for students to participate in a collaborative project. To many teachers, class mural projects seem intimidating because of organizational and logistical challenges. Many of these challenges can be mitigated, however, if there is plenty of discussion beforehand to organize ideas, get input from…

Challenging one's brain is the beginning of making great art. Tangrams are a great way to keep students thinking about their latest art project long after leaving the classroom. A tangram is a Chinese puzzle. The earliest known reference to tangrams appears in a Chinese book dated 1813, but the puzzles existed long before that date. The puzzle…

The author was originally inspired by "The Exquisite Snake" exhibit she saw at a local museum. Two hundred contemporary artists contributed to this exhibit, which was an adaptation of the old parlor game called "The Exquisite Corpse" that Surrealist artists used to play in the late 1920s and '30s. The author just loved this idea and decided to…

Performance-based activities and creative projects with technology that focus on Shakespeare's language are powerful developmental tools for students to express and extend thoughts and feelings from their lives. Shakespeare becomes a toy chest and a toolset that allows students to live in situations they never could and to express language they…

Toilet-paper food sculpture is an integral part of the art curriculum at Silver Creek Middle School in Sellersburg, Indiana. The author describes techniques on how to create realistic food sculptures using toilet paper, water, and tempera paint. Students of all ages and skill levels enjoy this project because everyone relates to food and a sense…

In this article, the author describes an art project for second-grade students based on American Regionalist Grant Wood's most famous painting, "American Gothic," which was modeled by his sister, Nan, and his dentist. This well-loved painting depicting a hard-working farmer and his daughter standing in front of their farmhouse is the project's…

In this article, the author relates how she discovered that she was a book and paper artist after she had been kicked out of two high schools, went to art school, had a degree in Political Science and Women's Studies, had another one in Education, and was teaching school full time. After she constructed and stitched her first multisection…

This paper describes a successful writing project with generation 1.5 college freshmen enrolled in a writing class. Generation 1.5 students may experience difficulties at universities when, despite being multilingual, the language they bring with them to college is often framed as a deficit. Students engaged in writing life histories experienced…

Though few students realize it, many things in today's culture exist because of mythology. This article argues that library media specialists and teachers can teach mythology but it must be applied to the 21st century and shown its relevance in today's world. The article demonstrates that mythology studies are alive and well when the new AASL…

Recognizing the increasing popularity of skateboarding, the author has found a project that teaches design and manufacturing concepts--and, of equal importance, really gets his students motivated. He challenges them to design and build a skateboard rack that mounts easily on a bicycle. The project benefits students by teaching creativity, the…

Since the introduction of the reality show "Project Runway" on Bravo, four seasons ago, high school corridors have been buzzing with aspiring fashion designers. Many of these student designers have "ferocious" fashion ideas as well as artistic talent and a gifted eye for design. Yet, in reality, fashion design is a non-entity in the art…

The Profile Project promotes intellectual curiosity, connects concepts, and enhances student visual and information literacy skills. During the past 10 years, we have used the Profile Project as a semester-long student project in a number of undergraduate biology courses, where students produce a one-page profile of an organism. We have guided…

This research builds on the behavior learning theory that suggests a response from a student, followed by a quick feedback and another response from the student will increase student learning. An experiment was performed that allowed students to submit particular homework projects (response) early. The early submissions were graded promptly and…