NASA
Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology
Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...
DiscoverE
Windy City Tower
Your class will be blown away when they build their own city tower structure! Engineering scholars partner up to plan, build, and test their own paper towers. As they build, they gain valuable design skills, learn about wind tunnel...
National Wildlife Federation
Fossil Fuel Extraction Activity
Extracting oil is more difficult than many think! Learners work together and get hands-on as they represent oil companies drilling for oil by simulating oil extraction using beans. They identify the challenges faced in using...
Curated OER
Gesture Drawing
Students investigate the use of proportion using gesture drawing as the subject matter. They create a painting using the elements of art and principles of design.
Curated OER
Line and Design
With photography as the focus, students learn about line and design. Learners take pictures, and use the photos as a means to analyze artistic elements.
Sargent Art
Warhol-like Color Study
The lithographs of pop artist Andy Warhol inspire a instructional activity that asks young artists to try their hand at creating a study that demonstrates the effect color has on design. After drawing a self-portrait, participants paint...
Australian Centre For the Moving Image
Dreamworks Animation Character Design
Dive into animation creation using Dreamworks® animated films. Compare and contrast characters, wonder and ponder why the plot is so important, and think of background and themes as your creativity unrolls onto paper.
Trash For Teaching
The Light-House Project
Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...
Curated OER
Learning from the past: Ancient Mosaics
Budding artists study the history and significance behind ancient mosaics and mosaic murals. They study multiple examples of ancient mosaics, sketch a design, and use clay tiles to create thoughtful mosaics of their own.
Curated OER
Embossed Rose Window Designs
Students, after researching the history and foundation of Renaissance rose windows, access ArtEmboss to create an original window design. They employ a basic metalworking technique utilizing a soft metal. The design created incorporates...
Curated OER
High School Bag Design
Students design a bag that they would personally use to carry needed items to school. For this bag design lesson, students observe real bags and assess needs and wants for a new bag. Students brainstorm design solutions and render their...
Curated OER
How Does Art Feel
Students examine a variety of textures, one of the seven elements of design. They experiment with various media and techniques to produce different textures. Then they produce two works of art, one using actual textured material and one...
Curated OER
The Elements of Art Through Photography
Fifth graders photograph examples of the five elements of art: line, shape, color, pattern, and composition.
Curated OER
An Electronic Self-Portrait Lesson Plan - A Unit for Middle School
Using a photo of themselves for inspiration, learners create a multi-media self-portrait. A digital image of each child is taken, it is uploaded into the computer where is can be experimented with in a digital format. Young artists then...
Teach Engineering
Off-Road Wheelchair Challenge
Challenge your class to use their understanding of the engineering design process to design and build a small-scale, off-road prototype for an assistive technology device. Teams select materials to build their scale models, and, using...
Curated OER
Desert Drama
Students read both fiction and nonfiction books with desert themes. Then they write desert stories and reports, reviewing texts for information to include in writing. Students also design desert scenes with details and setting elements...
Curated OER
Design: Line
Students employ an analysis and exploration of line use, to understand line in terms of design, style, and functionality. The learners experiment with line design. Understanding dynamic and diverse use of line will broaden students'...
Curated OER
Designing Carousels
Learners design a carousel for an amusement park. In collaborative groups they conduct research, develop a presentation, write a descriptive paragraph, evaluate design features, and draw an artistic rendering of their carousel.
Curated OER
A Matter of Style Activity: Furniture Design
Students study the six styles of nineteenth-century furniture. They select their favorite style, then use three design elements from this style and sketch an idea for a piece of furniture.
The Imagination Factory
Design a Postage Stamp for Black History Month
Learners create a postage stamp for Black History Month. In this U.S. History lesson plan, students discuss the contributions of African-Americans and design a postage stamp to celebrate their impact.
Curated OER
Discovering Details: Shoebox Designs
Students investigate architectural art by creating an interior design for a box. In this art design lesson, students analyze modern artifacts such as doorknobs, brackets and mailboxes by using a Venn diagram to identify...
Curated OER
4-H Line and Design: Intermediate Activity Page
In this 4-H line and design activity, students will complete a variety of design related activities. Students will use colored pencils to draw in the missing pieces of artistic photographs. Next, they will find and circle 6 art words in...
Curated OER
Around the Bend
Students examine the art elements of the Inca "Large Jug." In this visual art lesson, students identify the colors, pattern, and shape of the Inca "Large Jug." Students then draw a design on a flat and curved surface and discuss the...
Curated OER
Fine Art to Animation With Keith Haring
Students examine artwork and Flip Books by Keith Haring. They analyze elements of line and color through drawing and create their own morphes using a computer animation marker.