Looking at Art in the Classroom

This book details the Guggenheim Museum’s classroom-tested, inquiry-based approach to learning. This user-friendly guide provides teachers (grades 2–8) with strategies and resources for investigating art to enhance student learning across the curriculum. For the classroom teacher, Art Investigation provides an exciting way to study contemporary and historical cultures while also improving critical thinking and literacy skills. For the art teacher, Art Investigation offers students the tools to engage meaningfully with the world of art and artists. This unique text features the experiences of the Guggenheim Museum’s 40-year-old Learning Through Art program, as well as reproductions from the museum’s vast art collection.

Book features:

• Easy-to-follow instructions for leading an Art Investigation in the classroom.
• Full-color reproductions of masterpieces including Edgar Degas’s Dancers in Green and Yellow, Vasily Kandinsky’s Composition 8, and Vincent van Gogh’s Mountains at Saint-Rémy.
• Adaptable lessons, including questions that teachers can use to guide a conversation about a specific work of art.
• Guidance for finding and choosing age-appropriate images.
• Links to resources on the Guggenheim Museum’s website and others.

Rebecca Shulman Herz is Senior Education Manager at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

“It is rare in education for a book to delight, provoke, and help the reader all at once. This text does all three with clarity, style, and purpose—like a good work of art…. The text contains all a teacher needs to know about how to develop thematic, in-depth, and engaging work for students.”
—From the Foreword by Grant Wiggins, President, Authentic Education

“Art Investigation is a gift. Now all the techniques for teaching critical thinking skills are available in one effective and inspiring text. Every classroom should have one and every teacher should read it”.
—Nancy Ring, author of Walking on Walnuts, visual artist, and art teacher, NJ

“I am always looking for fresh and creative approaches for improving my fifth-grade students' observation, evaluation, and interpretation skills. Art Investigation is a must-have tool for teachers.”
—Maureen Wolf, fifth-grade teacher, Queens, NY

“Art Investigation has reinvigorated my teaching. The cross-curricular links that I can make through art truly enliven my curriculum.”
—Melissa Browning, third-grade teacher, Brooklyn, NY

“In my experience of teaching art to children, I have found investigative inquiry engages even those children who are reticent to share their thoughts in a group setting.”
—Teresa Kravitz, art teacher, Brooklyn, NY