A Learning Cycle Lesson Plan: Learning from the Paintings and Drawings of Artists

Abstract

Student-created pictures are commonly used to assess students’ remembrances of experiences they are unable to verbalize. Artists, too, frequently select events as the subject of their works and in so doing, use their talents to express remembrances and opinions. While works of art supplement knowledge of society, some knowledge of past societies is available only through works of art. This learning cycle illustrates how artists use their skills and available resources to record history and encourage students to appreciate, examine, and create works of art for the stories they tell. With its use of paintings that illustrate a life experience of various groups of people often omitted in history texts, the learning cycle illustrates one way to add a multicultural dimension to the study of history.