Elementary+Art+Appreciation

F. Valentine Fiesta 7: Desktop Learning Spaces Art Appreciation for Elementary Students

For this assignment, I created a template for elementary school club, or art class. The template includes a title and artist section, an image of the artwork being discussed and three slides divided into sections. The first section is called Inquiry. It gives an overview of the paintin and points out an item of interest. The second section is called Describe. It asks more detailed questions, giving the viewer an opportuntity to think more deeply about the details of the painting. The third section includes a higher level thinking activity related to the artwork. I used my two school aged children for market research and tweaked the language based on questions they asked.

Here is the template

The first example I gave used Edvard Munch's famous painting, //The Scream//. I really enjoyed reserching age appropriate activities and questions for art appreciation classes. I have an art history undergrad and this was fun for me! Citations can be found in the slides.

I used the template a second time for Norman Rockwell's painting, //The Problem We All Live With.// I found a great video that I included in the Activity section of President Obama and Ruby Bridges looking at the actual painting in the White.House.

Overall, I think the applications given as examples for creating desktop learning spaces as highly useful for educators. These seem to be easy to create once a template is in place and the possiblities are endless! I see a lot of value in using webquests to promote higher level learning, creativity and enhanced group participation in a classroom setting.