design process in art class

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Dwellings Around the Globe

In this activity students will explore dwellings across the globe. They will conduct collaborative research on cliff dwellings, igloos, longhouses, and yurts.

›› Full lesson

	Coast-to-Coast B...
	60-30-10
	Turn Off the Tub...
	Tour + Workshop ...
	Tour + Workshop ...

›› Take the Tangent and Run

›› Working on my 1st design

›› CHAD & C-H SDI

›› Mural Project

›› Navigating through 'Conve

4/8/2007 6:01:08 PM Posted By Nancy Katz So many of you have shared so many rich ideas and plans incorporating the design process in lessons across many disciplines. The one I think is so often really ignored in schools is art, which so often is paired with design. Many of the art teachers I observe so often have a lesson and project which has a completed work as the end point. Students are shown the completed project as the place they are striving toward. Their rubric and evaluation is tied into that fore set conclusion. So many times I hear the catch phrases of how art class teaches problem solving skills and provides a place where students can take risks. Quite honestly, I think in many art classes, students that truly take risks would be graded as not following directions. Is it that these art teachers do not trust students to think and strategize for themselves with other students and the teacher? I know this is by no means across the board but it seems to be the way many think. May the teachers want all students to be successful and feel they can accomplish something that looks like it is supposed to look like. Are they mixing up learning specific skills with making specific projects or types of things. Isn't is possible to teach students a particular skill without them having to all make the same picture? I have seen more design thinking in advanced art studio classes that includes planning, extensive sketchbook- idea book work and research. Students in grade 11 and 12 are doing great work , more personal and interesting and thoughtful. Why do we have entire classes of younger kids making the same lion or winter scene. Sometimes it is crucial to see what the students do on their own- in their own sketchbooks or journals or the doodles in the margins of their math and social studies notebook.
4/12/2007 7:38:29 PM Posted By Carolyne Kellner Well those kids are making cookie cutter art because they have to build fundamentals and have success. For example, learning how to hold scissors and use them properly. How to cut a straight line. And also you have to think where the child is developmentally, they also love lions and water scenes!! It gives them a feeling of success....
4/12/2007 10:34:57 PM Posted By Louis Mazza I think younger (elementary) learners need more structure and examples to work from when it comes to making "art". However, I agree that many art educators teach lessons that imitate "the masters". They often create units around the major art movements (impressionism, fauvism, pop art, minimalism) and then show learners what the famous artists have done, then tell them to make their version of the same thing. I've seen this over and over. "Let's make a painting like Matisse." or "Create your own version of 16 Jackies by Andy Warhol." To me, this does nothing to nurture risk-taking. A more effective strategy might be to emphasize "big ideas". Have learners zero in on issues that matter to them then give them the tools to interpret their points of view, whether that's paint, photography, or video. However, this also presents problems because they need to be comfortable with the different media and processes to effectively express themselves with them. As I've posed the question in a previous post, can learners master the tools as they create original works, or do they need rigorous practice of technique before jumping into a project?
4/15/2007 6:01:17 PM Posted By Leslie Lami-Reed I think most elementary art teachers keep their lessons open ended...if kids are designing 2-D cars out of construction paper (with paper wheels that spin using paper fasteners) then they will get the fundamentals from the teacher and the materials and then be encouraged to design a car that they would like to drive...a car of the future, a race car...a camper...a solar car, etc! That is where the fun and the individuality is. AND, when my kindergarteners make lions, though they may be the same size or color they NEVER look the same...due to the individual interpretation and skill of the student...there are so many variables in ability and concentration.
4/30/2007 6:37:58 PM Posted By Lisa Verrilli Well, where do I begin? I might guess that some art teachers focus on an end result rather than exploration because that is what they are comfortable with. To them, it is a measurable product. Safe. When I was studying art in college, I could not understand these teachers. They gave what seemed like open-ended assignments, but when I didn't produce what was envisioned by them, I got a lower grade. For this reason, I am constantly reminding myself or my goal. If the goal of the lesson is to teach straight lines are used to create calm, then no matter what the artwork looks like, if the child uses straight lines, the goal has been met. In every other class, children must produce the correct answer - 2 plus 2 is always 4. A sentence always starts with a capital....Some children struggle through their entire day. I strive to make art someplace where they can learn, and their work does not have to look like anyone else's. It is sometimes difficult to make the children understand this, because of the demands of their other classes, but through constant reinforcement and encouragement, I think they fell more comfortable. This is the fourth year I am instructing these children, so, to my delight, I am beginning to hear them encouraging each other with the words I repeat to them so much "There are no mistakes in Art" "Every artist has their own style." I do teach the children about famous artists. And I do have them create work in the artist's style. But my purpose is to show them that even the great artists learn from other artists, and that they experimented with different mediums and techniques before chosing their style. Through this, I hope the children see that they are learning the way the great artists learned. The childre have the same struggles - of people not accepting them, and of not always knowing the proper use of medium - and have the same opportunity to become great.
6/21/2007 4:04:06 PM Posted By Catherine Perry Oftentimes, with very young kids, their work looks like the others because perhaps the shapes that made up the 'lion' or what have you, had to be pre cut. If students are creating those cars, and their cutting skills aren't necessarily what the focus is, then there will be 4 black circles, a rectangle, perhaps small yellow circles for headlights, etc. But if that isn't the case, and students are making their lions from scratch, it could be smply because students look intently at others' work. When I taught early childhood I avoided presenting a final project as much as I could. But it never failed: students sitting in groups all ended up with similar work. It's part of what they do at that age. Later on, they get really upset when other people make art that looks like thiers!
6/26/2007 10:29:28 AM Posted By Maxine Feldman-Cohen After teaching for 25 years, I still feel that it works to start a class with a motivation and then see where children go with their work. By having a brief discussion about ideas, those children who are stuck might get motivated by what others have to share. Once they start working, there is room for everyone to branch off in their own direction while still keeping the original idea in mind. I think there also needs to be time for kids to explore with materials without any product as the goal. I enjoy using the children's work as a learning tool. While they are working, I will point out something that I think others would benefit from. I also agree that a teacher's example at the beginning of a lesson should be brief and then put out of site.

4/8/2007 6:01:08 PM

Posted By Nancy Katz

So many of you have shared so many rich ideas and plans incorporating the design process in lessons across many disciplines. The one I think is so often really ignored in schools is art, which so often is paired with design. Many of the art teachers I observe so often have a lesson and project which has a completed work as the end point. Students are shown the completed project as the place they are striving toward. Their rubric and evaluation is tied into that fore set conclusion. So many times I hear the catch phrases of how art class teaches problem solving skills and provides a place where students can take risks. Quite honestly, I think in many art classes, students that truly take risks would be graded as not following directions. Is it that these art teachers do not trust students to think and strategize for themselves with other students and the teacher? I know this is by no means across the board but it seems to be the way many think. May the teachers want all students to be successful and feel they can accomplish something that looks like it is supposed to look like. Are they mixing up learning specific skills with making specific projects or types of things. Isn't is possible to teach students a particular skill without them having to all make the same picture? I have seen more design thinking in advanced art studio classes that includes planning, extensive sketchbook- idea book work and research. Students in grade 11 and 12 are doing great work , more personal and interesting and thoughtful. Why do we have entire classes of younger kids making the same lion or winter scene. Sometimes it is crucial to see what the students do on their own- in their own sketchbooks or journals or the doodles in the margins of their math and social studies notebook.

4/12/2007 7:38:29 PM

Posted By Carolyne Kellner

Well those kids are making cookie cutter art because they have to build fundamentals and have success. For example, learning how to hold scissors and use them properly. How to cut a straight line. And also you have to think where the child is developmentally, they also love lions and water scenes!! It gives them a feeling of success....

4/12/2007 10:34:57 PM

Posted By Louis Mazza

I think younger (elementary) learners need more structure and examples to work from when it comes to making "art". However, I agree that many art educators teach lessons that imitate "the masters". They often create units around the major art movements (impressionism, fauvism, pop art, minimalism) and then show learners what the famous artists have done, then tell them to make their version of the same thing. I've seen this over and over. "Let's make a painting like Matisse." or "Create your own version of 16 Jackies by Andy Warhol." To me, this does nothing to nurture risk-taking. A more effective strategy might be to emphasize "big ideas". Have learners zero in on issues that matter to them then give them the tools to interpret their points of view, whether that's paint, photography, or video. However, this also presents problems because they need to be comfortable with the different media and processes to effectively express themselves with them. As I've posed the question in a previous post, can learners master the tools as they create original works, or do they need rigorous practice of technique before jumping into a project?

4/15/2007 6:01:17 PM

Posted By Leslie Lami-Reed

I think most elementary art teachers keep their lessons open ended...if kids are designing 2-D cars out of construction paper (with paper wheels that spin using paper fasteners) then they will get the fundamentals from the teacher and the materials and then be encouraged to design a car that they would like to drive...a car of the future, a race car...a camper...a solar car, etc! That is where the fun and the individuality is. AND, when my kindergarteners make lions, though they may be the same size or color they NEVER look the same...due to the individual interpretation and skill of the student...there are so many variables in ability and concentration.

4/30/2007 6:37:58 PM

Posted By Lisa Verrilli

Well, where do I begin? I might guess that some art teachers focus on an end result rather than exploration because that is what they are comfortable with. To them, it is a measurable product. Safe. When I was studying art in college, I could not understand these teachers. They gave what seemed like open-ended assignments, but when I didn't produce what was envisioned by them, I got a lower grade. For this reason, I am constantly reminding myself or my goal. If the goal of the lesson is to teach straight lines are used to create calm, then no matter what the artwork looks like, if the child uses straight lines, the goal has been met. In every other class, children must produce the correct answer - 2 plus 2 is always 4. A sentence always starts with a capital....Some children struggle through their entire day. I strive to make art someplace where they can learn, and their work does not have to look like anyone else's. It is sometimes difficult to make the children understand this, because of the demands of their other classes, but through constant reinforcement and encouragement, I think they fell more comfortable. This is the fourth year I am instructing these children, so, to my delight, I am beginning to hear them encouraging each other with the words I repeat to them so much "There are no mistakes in Art" "Every artist has their own style." I do teach the children about famous artists. And I do have them create work in the artist's style. But my purpose is to show them that even the great artists learn from other artists, and that they experimented with different mediums and techniques before chosing their style. Through this, I hope the children see that they are learning the way the great artists learned. The childre have the same struggles - of people not accepting them, and of not always knowing the proper use of medium - and have the same opportunity to become great.

6/21/2007 4:04:06 PM

Posted By Catherine Perry

Oftentimes, with very young kids, their work looks like the others because perhaps the shapes that made up the 'lion' or what have you, had to be pre cut. If students are creating those cars, and their cutting skills aren't necessarily what the focus is, then there will be 4 black circles, a rectangle, perhaps small yellow circles for headlights, etc. But if that isn't the case, and students are making their lions from scratch, it could be smply because students look intently at others' work. When I taught early childhood I avoided presenting a final project as much as I could. But it never failed: students sitting in groups all ended up with similar work. It's part of what they do at that age. Later on, they get really upset when other people make art that looks like thiers!

6/26/2007 10:29:28 AM

Posted By Maxine Feldman-Cohen

After teaching for 25 years, I still feel that it works to start a class with a motivation and then see where children go with their work. By having a brief discussion about ideas, those children who are stuck might get motivated by what others have to share. Once they start working, there is room for everyone to branch off in their own direction while still keeping the original idea in mind. I think there also needs to be time for kids to explore with materials without any product as the goal. I enjoy using the children's work as a learning tool. While they are working, I will point out something that I think others would benefit from. I also agree that a teacher's example at the beginning of a lesson should be brief and then put out of site.

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