California University of Pennsylvania
Guidelines for New Course Proposals
University Course Syllabus
Approved: 2/4/13
Department of Art and Design
A.

Protocol
Course Name:
Teaching Visual Art in Pre-K through Grade 8
Course Number:
ART 410
Credits:
3
Prerequisites:
Art and Design Declared Majors
Maximum Class Size (face-to-face): 40
Maximum Class Size (online):
(Choose which one is appropriate or both if applicable)

B.

Objectives of the Course:
To prepare teachers who will be lifelong learners and professional
facilitators of visual thinking and learning at the Pre-K-8 levels who will
be able to:
- Teach visual art at all developmental levels in ways that clearly
demonstrate a student-centered teaching philosophy.
- Design and execute developmentally appropriate lesson plans driven by
the PA State and National Standards for visual art Education, and that
support ‘no child left behind (special needs and gifted).’
- Design from scratch, re-engineer and retro-fit a set of lessons within a
visual art unit plan that is: sequential, logically unfolding, and built from
developmentally appropriate lesson plan components: clear objectives,
proper material selection, educationally sound motivational strategies,
timely procedures, with objective-driven multiple and diverse
assessments.
- Plan strategies for teaching students at Pre-K through Grade 8 levels to
describe, analyze, interpret and make judgements about Art Production,
Art Criticism, Aesthetic Perception and Art History.
- Plan lessons within the units that will that logically incorporate and

develop the most comprehensive use of each child’s “multiple
intelligences”, and most complete array of types of thinking and
learning (cognitive, affective, social, etc.).
- Plan for lessons that can directly or indirectly incorporate intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary connections.
- Design and maintain a well-organized, properly lit, clean, safe, learning
environment in the classroom.
- Teach students simple strategies to develop their own creativity and
imagination.
- Develop skills in safely and properly working with tools, materials,
processes, storage of art, presentation, and exhibition.
- Develop transferable behavior skills in: leadership, sharing, positive/
constructive criticism, and working in groups.
- Articulate, build and use in class an accurate and appropriate set of visual
art vocabularies and grammar that develop a strong and solid visual
language.
- Humanize technology as a tool, medium, process, product, and
communication resource.
- Build a set of appropriate diverse visual content experiences derived
from sources of different times, places and cultures.
- Learn how to enhance classroom content and experiences by developing
relationships with ‘outside’ cultural and community sources and
resources (museums, artists in residence, galleries, institutes, art leagues,
state art agencies, etc.) even when the connections might not be
immediately apparent (i.e. science institute, history museum, etc.).
- Find, cultivate, and exploit sources and resources of art education
funding as cash, services, and in-kind materials support at the local,
state, and federal levels.
- Be an articulate advocate for the visual arts in education at all levels to
students, colleagues, administrators, parents, community, and politicians
in ways that help define and support the necessity of art education’s
current and future role as a practical, research-founded, developmentally

appropriate, educationally sound, and creative visual education.
C.

Catalog Description:
This course is designed to prepare beginning teachers of visual art to effectively
meet the diverse challenges of teaching at the Pre-K through grade 8 levels of
learning. There is a distinct emphasis upon directing teachers of visual art to
establish a safe, efficient, creative, classroom driven by a student-centered/
developmentally sound / standards-based curriculum that accounts for no child
being left behind. Ways of finding and exploiting traditional and nontraditional techniques and technologies in the visual arts will be exposed if not
explored. Students will be required to work in the classroom, visit and use
community resources, and develop an art education portfolio.

D.

Outline of the Course:

1.

General introduction to responsibilities and performance benchmarks
of art teachers in Pre-K through grade 8:
A.
B.

C.

D.

E.

Setting a priority of student-centered planning and teaching and
design for learning by a logically unfolding sequence of related
visual art lessons.
Providing foundation of developmentally appropriate education
in visual thinking and learning with references to major
contributors such as V. Lowenfeld, R. Kellogg, and
R. Arnheim.
Planning by state and national standards and their influences:
1. Discipline Based Art Education
2. Howard Gardner’s Project Zero model of Multiple
Intelligences.
3. Standards of “inclusion” from “No Child Left Behind”
Laws.
4. Components of what contributes to a visual art program
of quality presented by National Endowment for the
Arts.
5. Intra- and inter- disciplinary curriculum planning.
Joining major art education organization sources and resources
such as: National Art Education Association, Pennsylvania Art
Education Association, College Art Association, National
Endowment for the Arts, etc.
Developing creativity and imagination through topics such as
as: Schaefer’s characteristics of creative people, H. Osborne’s

2.

3.

‘ten principles of ideation in the brainstorming process,” and
D. Gordon’s “synectics” strategies.
F. Involving community sources and resources such as museums,
galleries and art centers for elementary levels of participation.
G. Being an advocate for visual thinking and learning in the
classroom, the school, the community, the state, the nation and
internationally.
Classroom planning for the Pre-K through Grade 8 student in the 21st
Century
A. A lesson plan structure such as the M. Hunter model is set as
The official planning structure for the class to provide a more
consistent and very rich lesson design format for both planning
and assessment.
1. setting appropriate objectives from nearly a dozen
categories.
2. providing rich and diverse objective-based motivational
strategies.
3. safety standards in materials, tools, studio design, etc.
4. closure strategies and future lesson connections.
5. assessment strategies such as the Arts PROPEL project
and its portfolo assessment strategies.
B. Modifying existing plans to be developmentally appropriate:
1. from sources such as the internet, art ed. publications,
etc.
2. from students’ own design for different learning levels.
C. Planning for students with special needs.
1. students with special physical, cognitive, social and or,
emotional learning challenges
2 students with special learning ‘talents’ and /or ‘gifts.’
D. Teaching with Visual Aids in the Pre-K through Grade 8
classroom.
E. Design a unit of learning.
Teaching specific production process and materials with components
of art history/multiculturalism, art criticism and aesthetic perception
for all developmental levels in Pre-K through grade 8.
A. Design elements and principles
B. Drawing
C. Painting
D. Collage
E. Printmaking
F. Puppetry
G. Sculpture

4.

E.

H. Architecture
I. Crafts
1. Jewelry
2. Fibers
3. Ceramics
4. Miscellaneous
J. Presentation and Portfolio
Hot topics in Pre-K-Grade 8 art education will be presented as gleaned
From the last five years of contemporary publications of magazines,
journals and major conference proceedings for art education at these
grade levels.
Teaching Methodology:
Traditional Classroom Methodology
- Instructor will present classroom lecture, demonstration, hands-on
activities, person-by person individual guidance
- Group work: to reinforce studio atmosphere, layout of space, work
stations, etc. demonstrated and practiced as a group.
- When possible, purposeful, topic-related observation visits to
elementary classrooms of different grade levels in art education,
resulting in written reports that respond to a classroom observation
guide and oral reports from the observation shared and discussed in
class.
- Outside purposeful visits to cultural institutions with assessment
guidelines tailored for different community resources with a report
delivered in written form to the instructor and orally to the class.
- In last 2/5 of total class sessions, students generate over 30 written
pages of developmentally specific lesson plans (with opportunities for
revision) that address different major visual art mediums along with art
criticism, art history and aesthetic perception according to DBAE –
inspired National and State Standards.
- Students then demonstrate their lessons in class with examples.
- Time permitting, students in this course learn from experts in the field
who address specific topics such as art educator portfolio development

and how to use local museums as art educational resources.
F.

Text
The required text recommended is the latest edition of the most comprehensive
foundation survey on non-activity-driven elementary education. Recommended
texts are among the most current for the topic.
Required:
Hanson, Lee & Herberholz, Barbara (1974-1995). Early Childhood Art, 5th
Edition. Boston, MA: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Recommended:
Hume, Helen D. (1998). The Art Teacher’s Book of Lists, Paramus, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
Jenkins, Anne M. and Nyman, Andra L. Eds. (1999). Issues and Approaches to
Art for Students with Special Needs, Reston, VA: The
National Art Education Association.
Gelineau, R. Phyllis (2004). Integrating the Arts Across the Elementary School
Curriculum, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning.
Consortium of National Arts Education Associations (1994). National Standards
for Arts Education - Dance, Music,Theatre, Visual Arts: What every young
American should know and be able to do in the arts. Reston, VA: Music
Educators National Conference.
Specific electronic sources exist in the PA Department of Education website, and
otherwise through topic-specific art education searches by engines such as
Google.

G.

Assessment Activities:
Traditional Classroom Assessment
Students are assessed from a portfolio that includes but is not limited to the
following:
- Thirty pages or writing that will be drawn from several writing
assignments.

- A notebook of regular entries of outline notes from the required text,
from dialogue and demonstrations in class, and from downloads and
photocopies of outside sources and resources, which will be formally
assessed at the mid term and final points of the course for quality and
diversity of entries, and usefulness as a resource when beginning
teaching.
- Two major tests and a cumulative exam employing a variety of
traditional test assessments to measure basic content knowledge for
pre-K through grade 8 art education including but not limited to:
- multiple choice
- true/false-with-correction
- phrase listing for content questions such as: “…qualities of
creative people,” or “name the visual elements,”
- diagrammatic questions such as “draw a color wheel and
graphically identify primary, secondary, tertiary and
complementary colors on the wheel,”
- verbal-visual questions such as “Identify accurately by name and
a quick composition the five basic developmental levels of
drawing, which are outlined in your text, and explain two
qualities that define each from each of your illustrations
- create a series of three questions about either production,
criticism, aesthetic perception or art history that betray a clear
knowledge of readiness for visual learning are one of the five
developmental levels…and so on.
- Several projects started in class and finished at home that are not lesson
plans will be assessed for quality in concept, craftsmanship,
developmental appropriateness and educational clarity. A rubric of more
specific criteria will accompany each project.
- Assessment of report(s) from directed elementary art classroom visits,
based on completeness of observations and quality of content gleaned
from the observations.
- Unit plans and lesson plans will be assessed for consistency in quality of
design in relation to their developmentally appropriate objectives, based
on national and state art education standards. Objectives must also
identify types of learning/skills/behaviors to be learned. Each part of the
lesson will be assessed for quality (developmental consistency,
appropriate assessment, connecting concepts across the curriculum, etc.)

- Assessment of the oral presentation and written report from an outside
institution about how to connect pre-K through grade 8 art education to
the outside world.
- The final portfolio will be the final exam. It may include but is not
limited to items such as: examples of units designed for pre-k through
grade 8, developmentally appropriate lesson plans, and examples of
competencies across the DBAE areas of: art production, art history, art
criticism and aesthetic perception.
H.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities:
• Reserve the right to decide when to self-identify and when to request
accommodations.
• Will register with the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) each semester to
receive accommodations.
• Might be required to communicate with faculty for accommodations, which
specifically involve the faculty.
• Will present the OSD Accommodation Approval Notice to faculty when
requesting accommodations that involve the faculty.
Requests for approval for reasonable accommodations should be directed to the Office for
Students with Disabilities (OSD). Approved accommodations will be recorded on the
OSD Accommodation Approval notice and provided to the student. Students are expected
to adhere to OSD procedures for self-identifying, providing documentation and requesting
accommodations in a timely manner.
Contact Information:
• Location:
Azorsky Hall – Room 105
• Phone:
(724) 938-5781
• Fax:
(724) 938-4599
• Email:
osdmail@calu.edu
• Web Site:
http://www.calu.edu/current-students/studentservices/disability/index.htm

I.

Supportive Instructional Materials, e.g. library materials, web sites, etc.
Additional Information for Course Proposals
Additional support will be gleaned from:
Assigned and in-class university library books addressing Western and nonWestern artists and art forms.
Appropriate art magazines that include but are not limited to: Art News, Art in
America, Artforum, Art on Paper.
Art-education-specific journals - of particular interest are two from the National
Art Education Association: Art Education: The journal of the National Art
Education Association, and Studies in Art Education: A journal of issues and
research in art education.
In addition, the NAEA also publishes a list of art education related books, a
newsletter, and periodically distributes two-sided condensed information about
specific hot topics in art education from classroom management to addressing
visual culture in the art education curriculum.
Resources also exist in presenting actual artwork, posters, and other
reproductions as well as visiting exhibitions and institutions of visual art. The
internet is presented as a strong potential resource for information regarding
curriculum content and practice when tempered with classroom knowledge.
Images can be used from the internet successfully in a capacity that does not
attempt to substitute them instead of sources that may better exist in available
books, magazines or other professionally printed sources.
Actual artists will be visiting on campus, and art and design clubs will be
sponsoring gallery and artist/designer studio visits – art education students are
encouraged to take advantage of these extra-curricular events created both on
and off campus.
Electronic sites:
The web site of the PA State Department of Education, specifically, and other
web sites addressing issues in elementary art education will be used as needed.

J.

Proposed Instructors:
Any qualified faculty member from the Department of Art and Design.

K.

Rationale for the Course:

This course will formally add a unique assessment piece to the body of
knowledge needed in creative academic art programs, which is currently absent
as a specific focus. Students will develop a broad foundation of scholarly skills
in assessment of creative products of their own and others at all developmental
learning levels. There is both a need for art students to have ample opportunities
that use different senses that develop their imagination and creative thinking and
for interested non-majors to expand their assessment abilities in visual literacy.
This course will be beneficial to students in all programs of Art and Design and
anyone responsible for expanding their skills in visual literacy.
L.

Specialized Equipment or Supplies Needed:
No specialized equipment is needed.

M.

Answer the following questions using complete sentences:
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

N.

Does the course require additional human resources? (Please explain)
This course will not require additional human resources.
Does the course require additional physical resources? (Please explain)
This course will require no additional physical resources.
Does the course change the requirements in any particular major?
(Please explain)
All art education students in the Art and Design department will be
required to take this course as well as those wanting to teach workshops.
Does the course replace an existing course in your program? (If so, list the
course)
This course does not replace an existing course.
How often will the course be taught?
This course will be taught every semester.
Does the course duplicate an existing course in another Department or
College? (If the possibility exists, indicate course discipline, number, and
name)
This course does not duplicate an existing course in any other department.

If the proposed course includes substantial material that is traditionally taught
in another discipline, you must request a statement of support from the
department chair that houses that discipline.
N/A

O.

Please identify if you are proposing to have this course considered as a menu
course for General Education. If yes, justify and demonstrate the reasons

based on the categories for General Education. The General Education
Committee must consider and approve the course proposal before
consideration by the UCC.
Fine Arts