Using Art To Enhance Student Learning

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Using Art To Enhance Student Learning

• P.o.o.t Style
• Created by Nicholas A. Lange - 2005

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Table of Contents

• Research Results
• Procedure
• Drawing Hints
• Additional Drawing Hints
• Assessment
• Example 1
• Example 2
• Getting Images
• Supplemental Information

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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The Art

• My first drawing represents what his job was.

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The Art

• My next drawing is something I used daily and
  its name is known around the world.

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The Art

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

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Example 2

• My secret identity is Albert Einstein.
• I do the research and am ready to present

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The Art

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

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The Art

• This is something I was credited with creating.

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The Art

• This is where I was born.

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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 students 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

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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!!