Mona Lisa's smile
About this resource
- Appropriate grades
- 6–8
- Subjects
- arts (fine art), science (general), thinking skills (information literacy, research skills)
- Provider
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
Legal
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In this Science Update, students explore peoples’ fascination with the subject in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting. A neurobiologist at Harvard Medical School explains what she discovered when looking at Mona Lisa’s smile—her countenance changes depending on where the viewer is looking. Science NetLinks provides links to the audio file, a written transcript, and questions that engage students in discussion about spatial frequency, pixels, and techniques that might be used by artists to affect the way the viewer perceives a work of art. This lesson also contains links to an online book about visual perception by Peter Kaiser, “Vision and Art,” by psychology professor John Krantz, and Purdue University’s Visual Perception Online Laboratory, which has a number of online experiments and demonstrations.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
Visual Arts Education (2001)
Grade 6
- Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
- Objective 7.01: Identify connections, similarities and differences between the visual arts and other disciplines.
Grade 7
- Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
- Objective 7.01: Explain connections, similarities and differences between the visual arts and other disciplines.
Grade 8
- 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 3.01: Understand how artists use the elements and principles of design to impact their environment.
- Goal 7: The learner will perceive connections between visual arts and other disciplines.
- Objective 7.01: Interpret and analyze connections, similarities and differences between the visual arts and other disciplines.
Science (2005)
Grade 6
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
Grade 7
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- Explain observations.
- Make inferences and predictions.
- Develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
Grade 8
- Goal 1: The learner will design and conduct investigations to demonstrate an understanding of scientific inquiry.
- Objective 1.01: Identify and create questions and hypotheses that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- Objective 1.05: Analyze evidence to:
- explain observations.
- make inferences and predictions.
- develop the relationship between evidence and explanation.
- Objective 1.08: Use oral and written language to:
- Communicate findings.
- Defend conclusions of scientific investigations.
- Describe strengths and weaknesses of claims, arguments, and/or data.
- Objective 1.09: Use technologies and information systems to:
- Research.
- Gather and analyze data.
- Visualize data.
- Disseminate findings to others.
- Objective 1.10: Analyze and evaluate information from a scientifically literate viewpoint by reading, hearing, and/or viewing:
- Scientific text.
- Articles.
- Events in the popular press.
