Welcome to Teaching with Works of Art!

Like written documents, the visual arts are a record and concrete connection to cultures throughout time and around the world. Our education often focused more on written texts than visual primary sources such as works of art and other cultural artifacts. But current teaching methods are exploring history from multiple points of view, and visual sources can contribute to these diverse perspectives. In addition, working with works of art and cultural artifacts can make history come alive and generate excitement about learning.

These approaches utilize new methods of assessment requiring analysis of objects as well as texts. Students in New York, Georgia and other states are required to answer "document-based questions," which include visual documents, on state exams. How can students develop the skills to analyze objects and deepen their experience with history? Museum collections and staff can be a resource for teachers. The Odyssey Online Elementary and Middle School Site provides access to museum objects through the Internet, and this section of our Teacher Resource Site features tutorials, worksheets, and links to other Web sites about teaching with objects. Here you'll find resources for integrating art into your classroom to support social studies curriculum.

Select from one of the following topics on the left:

Ideas and Strategies: A collection of resources to help you infuse art into your teaching. Includes a worksheet for analyzing museum objects and links to other Web sites about teaching history with primary sources.

The Articulate Object: Not your ordinary museum Web site! Check out these tutorials on object-centered learning. They are designed to give you tools for teaching with visual documents—from objects in our everyday lives to museum objects connecting us to world cultures.