Overview

Arts education was a significant and critical part of the National Youth Literacy Demonstration study. Students spent at least three hours a week studying visual arts. To the extent possible, arts activities paralleled the current focus of literacy studies. For example, when students were doing novel studies, reviewing plot, characterization, etc., in the art class they built environments illustrating an important event in their lives which also included key elements of a written story's plot development. Literacy learning in art activities took place on a number of levels. Written exercises were often used at the inception of a project to concretized ideas and organize thought sequences. Vocabulary lists of art terms were recorded in sketchbooks at the beginning of a lesson. Storyboards, combining text and drawing, were used as a layout tool for narrative projects. Students recorded process steps for complicated sequences of activities. Visual literacy was taught as part of the art curriculum. This included being able to name specific studio techniques, the elements of art, and the principles of design.

When the study and demonstration project were conceived, researchers felt that students would need a non-text-based means for engaging ideas about themselves and their world. Moreover it was felt that the arts and literacy activities could be designed to enhance rather than compete with one another. Based on attendance (most attended day of the week) and teacher and student responses, this proved to be correct. When the research team expressed concern that perhaps too much time was being spent in the art class, both the teachers and students objected strenuously.

The arts component focused almost exclusively on visual arts. The curriculum focuses on photography, drawing, and painting, but students were also involved in film-making, digital image creation, and sculpture. Part-time professional artists were hired as teachers, but many of the arts activities could have been conducted by regular teachers with an interest in doing so. Additional art forms (music, dance, theatre) may have been just as effective but were not explored during the course of the study.

The visual arts program was largely hands-on and few materials were used with the students. The included Art Education for Youth Literacy Curriculum is an extensive 97-page outline of the art lessons taught at the demonstration project. The reading on Leonardo da Vinci provides a look at the man, his time, and his accomplishments. It can be read in sections and can be used as a focus of discussion related to the nature of creativity. A few sample PowerPoint presentations are also available to use as a starting point for discussions about art and artists. One short PowerPoint shows a series of self-portraits painted by a student over a six month time, illustrating not only the student's increased engagement with art but his own self make-over in the process.

This highly illustrated document explores the myriad talents and accomplishments of Leonardo da Vinci in one-page chapters relating to his activities and the Renaissance.