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Login Create AccountAs you prepare students to become lifelong learners, it’s important to equip students with a variety of skills. 21st-century skills are those students need to navigate an ever-changing, global society. Many schools districts are asking teachers to use these skills in their curriculum. The good news for art teachers is that we teach a unique subject where students can creatively apply what they have learned in other classes.
What are they?
Communication is a necessary skill we use every day. In art class, students can communicate verbally, as well as writing, and most often, visually. They decipher meaning from contemporary and historical artworks while creating a message in their own unique projects.
Collaboration is the ability to work together effectively with others. In the art classroom, collaboration is incorporated through group projects.
In The Art Room:
One way to encourage communication in the art room is to show students how artists have communicated throughout history. Introduce examples of cave paintings, Egyptian art, Greek pottery, etc. Students can see how art allows us to communicate information visually. Then, they can apply this knowledge of a visual narrative to inspire their own artwork.
Try having your students work in groups or pairs to create an altered photograph. Explain to students that their altered photograph should convey a snapshot of a story. Students will need to be able to act as designers and photographers to complete this project.
Partners or groups can create scenes of battle, friendship, or celebration. Show them examples from Greek pottery depicting scenes from mythology. The whole story isn’t necessarily featured, only a key moment or scene. Each student should begin the project with an initial idea for their story, also called a narrative. Some of these ideas may evolve through the collaboration process as their peers offer helpful suggestions. Allow students time to communicate and feel comfortable making changes as they work.
What are they?
As art educators, we know innovation and creativity go hand in hand. Innovation and creativity will solve the problems of today and the future. Our students need to be prepared with new solutions to both old and new problems. In the art classroom, we encourage our students to think creatively with every single project. Their ideas inspire us as educators to keep innovating and creating!
Thinking creatively comes naturally to some students, while others struggle to generate new ideas. Try to inspire creativity by providing a variety of examples, resources, and processes. Students may develop ideas better through brainstorming, collaboration, and the application of personal experiences.
In The Art Room:
Consider giving students a simple project with a few parameters and lots of opportunity for creative additions. Use the inspiration of a famous artwork or tradition. For example, introduce students to The Nian Monster for Chinese New Year. While students won’t be making replicas of Chinese parade decorations, each student can make an original paper dragon based on their own creative legend.
What are they?
Critical thinking and problem-solving might sound like topics for a scientist or an engineer, but they can also easily be found in the art room! Critical thinking and problem-solving use both the right and left sides of the brain.
In The Art Room:
Try giving your students a sculpture project with fewer instructions and added challenges.
This project can be extremely messy, wild, and at times, overwhelming. You could easily eliminate some of the issues by being more hands-on and giving specific demonstrations, but the point of this project is to encourage your students to do some of that learning on their own through the process. As their teacher, you do not always have to solve the problems for them. Instead, encourage students to explore, think critically, and problem solve collaboratively.
What are they?
The abilities to safely and effectively navigate online and use technology for the greater good are essential to today’s students. Technology and informational literacy have become more and more integrated into the arts. Through internet research, software programs, and social media, students can connect with art content like never before.
In The Art Room:
Use artists affiliated with the Harlem Renaissance to inspire a research-based art project:
21st-century skills are essential for students to succeed in the Information Age. The National Art Education Association agrees, “the visual arts provide opportunities for all students to build their skills and capacity in what the Partnership for 21st-Century Skills calls ‘Learning and Innovation Skills,’ specifically Creativity and Innovation; Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving; and Communication and Collaboration.”
As art educators, we already promote many of these 21st-century skills every day, as we focus on individual student needs and project-based learning. In doing so, we can best prepare students for today’s global society.
How do you promote 21st-century skills in the art room?
What projects are encouraging your students to think critically and problem solve?
How are students collaborating in your art room?