About this course: This course is designed to help build critical skills that support theme-based teaching practices and build confidence in incorporating modern and contemporary art into interdisciplinary lesson plans. By addressing themes and questions that arise in relation to modern and contemporary art, the course will help you to think creatively about links to your curriculum and the ways that you can tap into students’ knowledge and life experience. In this course, you will explore four themes that educators at The Museum of Modern Art use frequently in their teaching: Places & Spaces, Art & Identity, Transforming Everyday Objects, and Art & Society. Through videos, slideshows, and a variety of resources, readings, and activities, you will explore the content and context of works of art in MoMA’s collection. Learners will… - Explore works of modern and contemporary art through a variety of themes that relate to classroom content and student experience. - Hear directly from artists about their ideas and processes. - Learn about the ways that a thematic approach supports interdisciplinary teaching and learning. - Gain exposure to a range of digital resources available for teaching with themes and incorporating content around works of art into your classroom.
Who is this class for: This course is designed for both classroom teachers and educators in informal settings. Its focus is on primary and secondary education, but in some cases the content can be adapted to the requirements of higher education. No prior knowledge of art history or museum-based teaching practice is required. Please note: If you're a lifelong learner but not a teacher, and you’re interested in learning more about modern and contemporary art without the pedagogical component, we recommend you instead take the course, Modern Art & Ideas.
Created by: The Museum of Modern Art
Taught by: Lisa Mazzola, Assistant Director, School and Teacher Programs
Department of Education
| Commitment | 5 weeks of study x 2 hours/week, plus 2 hours for final project = 12 hours total |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Italian, German |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Module 1: Introduction to Art & Ideas: Teaching with Themes
Be introduced to some of the overall benefits of studying modern and contemporary art through accessible and relevant themes. Understand that themes allow us to make connections with artworks, classroom content, and students’ lives. Become acquainted with the ways that a thematic approach supports student-centered, interdisciplinary teaching.
2 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: 1.1 Introduction to Art & Ideas: Teaching With Themes
- Video: 1.2 Introduction to Art & Ideas
- Video: 1.3 Introduction to Teaching with Themes
- Reading: 1.4 Required Readings & Additional Resources
WEEK 2
Module 2: Places & Spaces
Discover some of the many ways that artists represent place and take inspiration from their environment. Learn how to engage students with sights and structures that will be familiar to many of them.
11 videos, 3 readings
- Reading: 2.1 Introduction to Places & Spaces
- Video: 2.2 Places & Spaces
- Video: 2.3 Teaching with Themes: Places & Spaces
- Slideshow: 2.4 Slideshow
- Reading: 2.4 Slideshow [Mobile-Friendly Version]
- Video: 2.5 Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night. 1889
- Video: 2.6 Piet Mondrian. Broadway Boogie Woogie. 1942–43
- Video: 2.7 Gordon Matta-Clark. Bingo. 1974
- Video: 2.8 Andrew Wyeth. Christina's World. 1948
- Video: 2.9 Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of Memory. 1931
- Video: 2.10 Claude Monet. Water Lilies. 1914–26
- Video: 2.11 Rachel Whiteread. Water Tower. 1998
- Video: 2.12 Edward Hopper. House By the Railroad. 1925
- Video: 2.13 Louis I. Kahn. Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh (Study for National Assembly Building). 1962–83
- Reading: 2.14 Required Readings & Additional Resources
Graded: Quiz
WEEK 3
Module 3: Art & Identity
Discover some of the ways artists create works of art to express, explore, and question identity. Gain strategies for using works of art to approach the topic of identity with students.
8 videos, 3 readings
- Reading: 3.1 Introduction to Art & Identity
- Video: 3.2 Art & Identity
- Video: 3.3 Teaching with Themes: Art & Identity
- Slideshow: 3.4 Slideshow
- Reading: 3.4 Slideshow [Mobile-Friendly Version]
- Video: 3.5 Frida Kahlo. Self-Portait with Cropped Hair. 1940
- Video: 3.6 Andy Warhol. Gold Marilyn Monroe. 1962
- Video: 3.7 Pablo Picasso. Girl Before a Mirror. 1932
- Video: 3.8 Marc Chagall. I and the Village. 1911
- Video: 3.9 Henri Matisse. The Red Studio. 1911
- Video: 3.10 Rineke Dijkstra. Almerisa series. 1994–2008
- Reading: 3.11 Required Readings & Additional Resources
Graded: Quiz
WEEK 4
Module 4: Transforming Everyday Objects
Discover how artists use everyday objects to challenge assumptions about what constitutes art and how it should be made. Explore a variety of artistic and design choices, and the creative acts of inventing and transforming everyday objects. Gain skills for making interdisciplinary connections and fostering students’ critical thinking abilities.
10 videos, 3 readings
- Reading: 4.1 Introduction to Transforming Everyday Objects
- Video: 4.2 Transforming Everyday Objects
- Video: 4.3 Teaching With Themes: Transforming Everyday Objects
- Slideshow: 4.4 Slideshow
- Reading: 4.4 Slideshow [Mobile-Friendly Version]
- Video: 4.5 Marcel Duchamp. Bicycle Wheel. 1913
- Video: 4.5 Robert Rauschenberg. Bed. 1955
- Video: 4.6 Meret Oppenheim. Object. 1936
- Video: 4.7 Décolletage Plastique Design Team. Bic Cristal® Ballpoint pen. 1950
- Video: 4.8 Louise Nevelson. Sky Cathedral. 1958
- Video: 4.9 Mike Kelley. Untitled. 1990
- Video: 4.10 Jessica Rosenkrantz, Jesse Louis-Rosenberg. Kinematics Dress. 2013
- Video: 4.11 Doris Salcedo. Atrabilious. 1992–93
- Reading: 4.12 Required Readings & Additional Resources
Graded: Quiz
WEEK 5
Module 5: Art & Society
Explore works of art created in response to the social, cultural, and political issues of their time. Gain a deeper understanding of history and contemporary society. Be encouraged to think critically about world events and how they are depicted.
10 videos, 4 readings
- Reading: 5.1 Introduction to Art & Society
- Video: 5.2 Art & Society
- Video: 5.3 Teaching with Themes: Art & Society
- Slideshow: 5.4 Slideshow
- Reading: 5.4 Slideshow [Mobile-Friendly Version]
- Video: 5.5 Dorothea Lange. Migrant Mother. 1936
- Video: 5.6 Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Untitled (Perfect Lovers). 1991
- Video: 5.7 Jacob Lawrence. Migration Series. 1940–41
- Video: 5.8 Martha Rosler. House Beautiful (Bringing the War Home). 1967-72
- Video: 5.9 Jasper Johns. Flag. 1954-55
- Video: 5.10 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Street Dresden. 1908
- Video: 5.11 Shahzia Sikander. Candied. 2003
- Video: 5.12 Faith Ringgold. American People Series #20: Die. 1967
- Reading: 5.13 Required Reading & Additional Resources
- Reading: Funding & Credits
Graded: Quiz
Graded: Peer Review
FAQs
How It Works
Coursework
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
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Creators
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is a place that fuels creativity, ignites minds, and provides inspiration. With extraordinary exhibitions and the world's finest collection of modern and contemporary art, MoMA is dedicated to the conversation between the past and the present, the established and the experimental. Our mission is helping you understand, enjoy, and use the art of our time.
Ratings and Reviews
Excellent, well paced, interesting, good instructors, great usable well defined ideas. Thank you.
Thank you very much, this course offers lots of different ideas and ways how to present art to various groups.
It was a great professional development course for out arts department. The best thing is being able to complete it at our own time.
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AN
With no background in Art, I found this course extremely useful. The course is well designed and rigorous. Very good reading material and good ideas to take to a classroom.