Fully analyze the elements of art and unexpected beauty in the William Merritt Chase's Still Life with a Fish. The class will examine the painting very closely, then use photography to express unexpected beauty in still life. This is a...

Students identify ways in which the artist uses color to draw the view's attention to points within the composition and creates a sense of depth. They discuss the effect of color on the tone and mood of an artwork.

An open discussion starts this lesson off. The class takes a critical look at five works of art that demonstrate the impact and purpose of identity through collections or archives. They then write a list or draw 10-15 items found in...

Students explore water as a feature of culture. In this visual arts lesson, students consider the necessity of water in every culture. Students select water symbols and use their artistic skills to create water symbol silhouettes.

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Students explore the art of Keith Haring and examine how it relates to Aboriginal art. In this fundamentals of art lesson, students examine the fundamental elements of art, such as, line, symmetry, contrast, balance, color tints, and...

Albert Bierstadt's painting Wind River Country shows viewers how a reader progresses through a story. Your class studies the light and dark areas, how the eye moves across the painting, and what attracts the audience to the work, and...

Young scholars design various commercial products for the Cincinnati Art Museum using on-line sources, past designs, and creative educational software. This lesson has excellent project ideas for various student levels including: K-2,...

Utilizing computer software, learners demonstrate the color spectrum. They investigate the life of the artist Piet Mondrian and define his style of artwork. Then they use Photoshop to recreate some of his designs while discovering the...

Students study the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Through studying primary source materials from American Memory and other online resources, students of all backgrounds study the relationships between blacks and whites.

Here is a phenomenal language arts lesson plan on media literacy for your middle and high schoolers. In it, learners produce a research product in the form of a public service announcement (PSA). First, they view examples of these PSA's...

Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson introduces young musicians to...

Kids consider the pure abstraction and minimalism found in Mary Heilmann's work. They analyze several of her pieces through critical discussion and then think about her use of a song title as the title of her exhibit. Learners then use a...

Young scholars explore jazz's primary elements. They identify the basic definitions of terms associated with jazz. In addition, they listen to Song for My Father.

Students create miniature portraits of George Washington using a primary source image, watercolor pencils, colored pencils and white drawing paper. This Art lesson can be used as an introductory lesson on George Washington in a U.S....

Students examine how artists use color to create a sense of depth in a two-dimensional space. They view and analyze prints, complete worksheets, and write a paragraph on how color is used to draw the viewer's eye to a central figure.

To better understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression, pupils analyze two primary resources: photographs by Dorothea Lange and a U.S. Map that shows the Dust Bowl. They compare and contrast Lange's images to Steinbeck's...

Show your school spirit! Class members use instruments or sing along and employ what they have learned in the two previous lessons to perform their school's songs.

Students examine the nature journals of Lewis and Clark. In this primary source analysis lesson, students research the journals that the members of the Corps of Discovery kept during the expedition and then conduct further research on...

Students create to pieces of artwork using two primary colors and tessellation techniques. This is an excellent lesson that can be accomplished using standard art techniques or educational software such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft...

Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...

Students examine The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. In this visual arts lesson, students study the historical significance of the event as they examine the Grant Wood painting and primary sources regarding the event.

Students study the origin of the Fibonacci Sequence.  In this investigative lesson students identify works of art where Golden Spiral or Ratio appear. 

Much of Latin American music owes its origins to the slave trade. Peoples from the Yoruban and Dahomean cultures brought with them the distinctive rhythms, time signatures, and eighth note patterns that now characterize Caribbean music....