Curated OER
From Canterbury to Little Rock: The Struggle for Educational Equality for African Americans
Students explain the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing equal educational opportunities for African Americans. They examine how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing attitude toward educating African Americans
Curated OER
Museum of Computer Technology
Students research the five generations of computing devices and computer inventors, and create a virtual museums.
Art Institute of Chicago
Send a Postcard
Using Claude Monet's On the Bank of the Seine as inspiration, young artists create their own postcards. During the lesson, learners discuss the techniques used in Monet's painting, as well as the woman in the painting, and...
National First Ladies' Library
Designing the Common School: The First Educational Reform
Middle schoolers perform preliminary research to explore education before public (common) education was in place. They design a public educational system of their own. Students construct a report outlining challenges and solutions for...
Curated OER
Fusing Furniture And Asian Art
Students see how French artists used imported lacquer panels in their furniture. They explore Asian lacquer panels and create their own Asian-inspired lacquer panel design. They incorporate their classmates' designs into a new furniture...
Curated OER
Art Criticism for Elementary
Students view various pieces of art and identify their basic elements. Using the art, they present the elements to the class in a presentation. They answer questions and organize them into written form. They also write and reflect on...
Curated OER
Turning Everyday Objects Into Art
Students are introduced to the art of assemblage - which is the process of taking ready-made materials, and ordinary objects and using them to create sculptures. They create a self-portrait by assembling and joining found objects in a...
Curated OER
The Lost Art of Letter Writing
Students discover the art of writing letters. In this writing lesson, students read letters written by President Harry Truman and then write a series of their own letters that would give insight into the times in which they live.
Curated OER
Classifying Plants and Insects
Art and science come together in a activity based on Flower Still Life by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. Learners classify plants and insects in the painting by color, leaf shape, size, reproduction, and season of...
Curated OER
Looking at French Decorative Arts: Symbols in Marquetry
Students study symbols on a French cabinet. In this architectural design instructional activity, students examine the symbolism of the door panel on the "Cabinet on Stand." Students create their own unique design based on a symbol from...
Curated OER
Passport To the Past: A Tour of the Ancient, European and Asian Collections
Students study fourteen images of paintings from the Memorial Art Gallery's tour of culture. They study the paintings for artifacts from other cultures and periods of history.
J. Paul Getty Trust
Ambitious Women Artists at Work
Ambition is the keyword of a lesson that focuses on the contributions made by famous female artists. Specifically looking at European artists, Luisa Roldan and Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun, scholars examine a piece of their work then...
Polk Bros Foundation
American Presidents
Emanuel Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. Alexander Gardner's photograph of Abraham Lincoln. What do these works of art tell us about the character of these American Presidents? After examining the techniques the...
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
Teaching Primary and Secondary Sources
What makes a source primary or secondary? Middle schoolers read a definition of each term before exploring different examples and applying their knowledge to a research project.
J. Paul Getty Trust
Exhibiting Common Threads
Artists working in different media often explore the same themes—to model how these same themes weave their way through different forms of artistic expression, scholars analyze images by Dorothea Lange, identifying key themes in her...
Curated OER
Combating Corrosion
Study corrosion on bronze statues with a hands-on activity. As pupils place a penny in water with salt, they observe the changes in the penny throughout a period of a week. They then analyze the pre-conservation and the...
Curated OER
Dancing with Dionysus
Sixth graders research Ancient Greek culture by acting in a play for the festival of Dionysus. In this Greek culture lesson, 6th graders study an ancient Greek map and the Sarcophagus Dionysus from the Walters Art Museum website....
Curated OER
Spirit Mask Ashira/Bapunu, Ogowe River, Gabon
Explore the concept of beauty as it has been seen through the eyes of various African tribal groups. Learners create masks of beauty as they see it, taking the African concept of inner beauty into consideration. This lesson is great for...
Curated OER
Native American Interdisciplinary Educational Unit
Students research various Native American stories and legends. They participate in reader's theater, write original legends, cook Native American foods, construct dioramas and view Native American art and artifacts.
San Diego Museum of Art
Atmospheric Perspective Watercolor Painting
How do artists create the illusion of depth and distance on a flat surface? Young landscape painters explore techniques like color saturation and detail placement that create atmospheric perspective.
Curated OER
The Lure of The West
Here is a fabulous series of lesson plans on four of the most celebrated artists of the Old Western period in American history. Learners study the works of Charles King, George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, and Thomas Moran. The pack is...
Curated OER
Heroes and Hoplites for a Day
Learners consider the accomplishments of the Greeks. In this ancient Greece lesson, students take a closer look at Greek artifacts, history, and culture as they visit the suggested museums and their websites.
Curated OER
Looking at the World Through the Eyes of Chuck Close
First graders examine and analyze various works of art by Chuck Close. They listen to a book about Chuck Close, discuss images of his artwork, and create original paintings in the style of Chuck Close.
National Woman's History Museum
Martha Hughes Cannon: Doctor, Wife, Mother, Senator
Each state is entitled to two statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C. After reading about Utah's debate over whether or not Martha Hughes Cannon should be represented by one of their statues, individuals...