Using Art To Enhance Student Learning

1. Using Art To Enhance Student Learning P.o.o.t Style Created by Nicholas A. Lange - 2005

2. Table of Contents • Research Results • Procedure • Drawing Hints • Additional Drawing Hints • Assessment • Example #1 • Example #2 • Getting Images • Supplemental Information

3. Research – Why Involve Art? • Current research has shown that students who participate and enjoy the arts are four times more likely to have academic success in schools. • The arts teach self-discipline, reinforce self-esteem, and foster thinking skills and creativity that are valued in the workplace.

4. Procedure • Students are assigned their characters – they must keep their identities secret. • Students do research for their biography. • Before biographies are posted the students are to come up with three drawings that portray the character they were assigned. • With each picture the student will need one sentence describing the importance of their item to their character.

5. Drawing Hints • Remind students to think of things that reflect their character and not actually draw the character. • It could be where the character is from, symbols for what the character stood for, time period relics that would be specific to that type of character. • Remind them others are suppose to be able to guess who it is, not fool them.

6. Additional Drawing Hints For Struggling Artists • Keep it simple, yet reflective of the person. • Use pictures of things your character used everyday. A gavel would represent a judge or justice. Or a test tube would tell your audience your character is in the science field. • Sports equipment for athletes. A tennis racket would obviously be a tennis player. • Articles of clothing or accessories work great if someone is known for that item. A pair of thick black glasses would work well for Drew Carrey. Or a Nazi armband for Hitler. • Think of buildings or landmarks associated with your character. Monticello for Jefferson, a castle for a King or Queen, or a pyramid for King Tut. • Be careful on your depiction of an item. You do not want to be too vague. For the Wright Brothers you would not draw a 747, their original plane would be much easier to understand. Or for Sir Issac Newton an apple would be too generic whereas a drawn model of the solar system might be more telling.

7. Assessment • After the drawing are completed the students will be responsible for standing up and showing everyone the pictures and reading the description. • Then those students try to guess which character that person is. • One the students all have a chance to show their pieces their biographies would be posted along with their pictures.

8. Example # 1 • My secret identity is King Arthur, after I do some initial research for my biography I have a good idea of who he was and what he stood for. • When it is my turn to present, I stand up and read my first descriptive sentence and show the artwork…

9. The Art • My first drawing represents what his job was.

10. The Art • My next drawing is something I used daily and it’s name is known around the world.

11. The Art • My third drawing is where I was born and lived my life.

12. Example #2 • My secret identity is Albert Einstein. • I do the research and am ready to present…

13. The Art • This is what my hair looked like most of my life.

14. The Art • This is something I was credited with creating.

15. The Art • This is where I was born.

16. Getting Images to Help Struggling Students. • The best source for finding images on the Internet is www.google.com. Here a student can google their character and then click the “image” link at the top and see hundreds of pictures. • This works especially well for location maps, for example an outline of Germany or the German flag. • Caution- Google is allowed in most schools but if a student’s character is someone such as Marilyn Monroe you may want to be careful about what images are returned from the search. There is however, a “safe search” option under the “Advanced Image Search” link. This will help filter out pictures your middle/high schoolers should not be seeing. • Other image sites that work well: • www.altavista.com/image/ • www.picsearch.com/ • www.ditto.com/default.aspx

17. Supplemental Information • There are many additional teaching strategies you could use with this art game. • For example: • Give positive reinforcements to students who guess someones identity correctly. • Have each child write a descriptive paragraph for each piece of art. • Have students guess what each drawing represents and what that particular item could mean for a character. (i.e a crown so he must be a king or noble man) • The possibilities are endless!!