Teaching Art in Primary Schools

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Creativity and Culture - Art Projects for Primary Schools is a very practical book full of ideas about teaching art in primary schools. There are detailed descriptions of projects that will help promote creative teaching and learning. The activities are designed to give control of meaning to children. Fostering childrens' understanding of their own and other cultures is a central theme. At the core of the book is the suggestion that children will learn more about culture and cultural objects after they have created imaginary cultures of their own.

So, if you are a teacher, would you like to enrich your art and design curriculum? Are you looking for well-researched, practical and tested ideas for the classroom? Would you like to enhance your pupil's respect and understanding of other cultures? Would you like your children to be able to think creatively?

In this new book, first published in 2006, visual art takes centre stage but leading to an approach for teaching all the arts, including music, dance and broadcast media. The author places the twin concepts of culture and creativity in the forefront of the projects. The book demonstrates how teachers can create idea spaces or "precincts" within which children create their own ideas, over which they have control and through which they create meaningful art. A theme running through the book is how children can create imaginary communities. They are encouraged to consider how these communities create their own imaginary cultures. As the work deepens, ideas about belief systems and politics offer insights into how aspects of citizenship and the global dimension of the curriculum can be led by the arts.

Creativity and Culture - Art Projects for Primary Schools is in full colour throughout with over 250 illustrations and 155 pages. The introduction discusses the twin concepts of creativity and culture in the context of the primary classroom. Links are made to existing curricula. The main body of the book is in three sections: Part 1 Creating cultures Part 2 Identity, imagination and dreams and Part 3 Beliefs, politics and living with other people. The appendix contains a great deal of useful information as well as links to other NSEAD publications and online units of work where teachers can find practical advice not covered in the book. The projects themselves are described in a very down to earth way so that any teacher will be able to teach the content, regardless of their experience or ability in art. Projects include; identity; stories myths; and legends; abstraction; imagination; beliefs and living with other people. There are links to ideas about teaching processes, such as painting, printing, textiles, graphic design, sculpture, using cameras and drawing. Teachers are invited to integrate ideas about world cultures into the way children work.

Creativity and Culture - Art Projects for Primary Schools is published by The National Society for Education in Art and Design, NSEAD, the UK's premier organisation for supporting art and design education. The author is Nigel Meager who you may know as the author of the popular Teaching Art at Key Stage 1 and Teaching Art at Key Stage 2.

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Creativity and Culture Art Projects for Primary Schools by Nigel Meager