LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Images at war

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=273

A lesson plan for Grades 9–12 Visual Arts Electives and United States History

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

About this resource

Appropriate grades
9–12
Provider
National Endowment for the Humanities

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Visual materials can speak of the past with such immediacy that we feel ourselves in the presence of those times, drawn to knowledge by the power of emotion. Yet, like all documentary materials, images of the past carry contextual information which, after careful analysis, may reveal as much about the past as the evidence presented to our eyes.

The goals of this lesson plan are:

  • to examine American attitudes toward war as revealed in Civil War photographs and World War II homefront posters
  • to explore ways in which the experience of war has helped shape the American social and cultural identity
  • to gain experience interpreting archival images
  • to organize a statement of findings

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Visual Arts Education (2001)

Grades 9–12 — Visual Arts Electives

  • Goal 1: The learner will develop critical and creative thinking skills and perceptual awareness necessary for understanding and producing art.
    • Objective 1.06: Develop perceptual awareness through the use of all senses.
  • Goal 3: The learner will organize the components of a work into a cohesive whole through knowledge of organizational principles of design and art elements.
    • Objective 3.04: Recognize the value of intuitive perceptions in the problem-solving process.
  • Goal 4: The learner will choose and evaluate a range of subject matter and ideas to communicate intended meaning in artworks.
    • Objective 4.01: Demonstrate the use of life surroundings and personal experiences to express ideas and feelings visually.
    • Objective 4.02: Interpret the environment through art.
  • Goal 5: The learner will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
    • Objective 5.01: Know that the visual arts have a history, purpose and function in all cultures.
    • Objective 5.02: Identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times and places.
    • Objective 5.03: Compare relationships of works of art to one another in terms of history, aesthetics, and cultural/ethnic groups.
    • Objective 5.04: Recognize the existence of art movements, periods, and styles.
    • Objective 5.05: Recognize the existence of universal theme in art throughout history.
  • Goal 6: The learner will reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
    • Objective 6.02: Describe how people's experiences influence the development of specific artworks.
    • Objective 6.03: Accept other's work and ideas as unique expression of themselves.
    • Objective 6.05: Critique artwork through the use of: proper vocabulary, art elements and design principles, meaning, feeling, mood and ideas, oral and written expression.
    • Objective 6.06: Understand there are varied responses to specific artworks.

Social Studies (2003)

Grades 11–12 — United States History

  • Goal 10: World War II and the Beginning of the Cold War (1930s-1963) - The learner will analyze United States involvement in World War II and the war's influence on international affairs in following decades.
    • Objective 10.03: Describe and analyze the effects of the war on American economic, social, political, and cultural life.