This lesson explores geometry and patterns in quilts. How have quiltmakers used geometry in patchwork quilts? How do shapes fit together to create new shapes and form patterns? What are some different ways of creating designs?

In this lesson plan, we will be learning about railroad transportation by taking a closer look at Locomotive Briar Cliff, a painting made around 1860 by W. L. Bresse, and connecting it with learning experiences to explore how a train works and transports people and materials.

While biographers and historians are guided by actual events, artists and writers can select those details that suit their purposes, specifically to develop character, tone, conflict, and theme.

In 1970, 20 million people celebrated the first Earth Day. At that time, only about a third of the nation’s streams were safe for fishing or swimming, and major cities across the U.S. were often hidden under clouds of smoke. Since then, the successes and challenges represented by Earth Day have centered on one question: Do we control Nature, or does Nature control us?

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Constantine tapestries represent thirteen iconic scenes from the life of the Roman Emperor Constantine (around 270–337 CE). Each tapestry is filled with detail and drama, and offers an opportunity to witness the ability of art to tell a story. This lesson, designed for a Language Arts classroom, grades 4–8, uses a structured poem (the diamante) to examine contrasting story elements in narrative art.

Over the centuries, many different formulae have been created to describe the proportions of the human figure. To prepare for this lesson, ask students to bring in full-length magazine photos of people. Do people follow a "design pattern"? Is there a formula that can describe a how a human should appear?

While universities, most K-12 schools, and probably most people see a logical division of knowledge into the Arts and the Sciences, does this separation allow us to better understand our world – or does it get in the way of understanding? This lesson, designed for use in a science classroom but with clear applications to the humanities, examines and challenges the sometimes artificial lines we have drawn between the Arts and the Sciences.

In this lesson plan we will uncover medical history by comparing Thomas Eakins’s The Gross Clinic, begun in 1875—which shows Dr. Samuel Gross, a surgeon at Jefferson Medical School, operating on a young boy suffering from osteomyelitis—with images of modern-day surgery.

Artists often invite us into their paintings so that we might imagine ourselves stepping inside the picture frame and experiencing it firsthand. Some painters take this invitation to another level by painting details with such precision that viewers are tricked into believing the objects, people, and setting are real. These highly realistic paintings, known as trompe l’oeil, provide an ideal opportunity for students to respond to art by assuming the roles and voices of the painted figures.

Of the many connections between mathematics and art, none is stronger than the shared concept of symmetry. Mathematicians find symmetry pleasing in geometry, physicists find it pleasing in the study of motion, poets appreciate it in the play of words, and artists employ it in the creation of beauty.

It's never too early to introduce children to art images and activities – as you can see as this portrait lesson allows pre-K children to connect with literacy through speaking and listening skills. Portraits and the activities which they suggest both introduce and reinforce early learning of cultural differences and lifestyles. Understanding Differences: Using Portraits to Explore Diversity connects art with a variety of Pre-K and Kindergarten PA and NJ academic standards.

Using primary sources encourages the researcher to form his/her own conclusions, rather than relying on the conclusions expressed by others in secondary sources.