Students examine primary resources, photographs by Dorothea Lange, and a U.S. map to understand the migrant experience during the Great Depression.

Students define metaphor and discuss its use in writing and visually. Students develop a personal metaphor and use it to write about their own experience.

Students compare and contrast a photograph and a photo-collage depicting the same highway and write a descriptive composition of both images. They identify one-point perspective in works of art then draw a desert landscape using one-point perspective.

This activity activates prior knowledge while developing insight into historical perspectives. Use this activity to help students broaden their horizons and explore diverse ideas.

Students will be interpreting Selma to Montgomery March, Alabama, 1965 by James Karales using the See/Think/Wonder method and the Elements and Principles of Art and Design.

Students examine two of Dorothea Lange's photographs in relation to the universal theme of a journey. They make connections between the photographs and poems about journey and write about a journey in their own lives.

Beginning-level students will compare and contrast different uses of land in the state of California and write a letter about a modern-day environmental issue.

Students explore 19th-century photographer Edward Curtis's documentation of a ritual performed by Native Americans. They then consider how ceremony and ritual practice are depicted and understood by those outside of a religious culture. Students use photography to document their own religious or spiritual rituals, and then examine one another's images and interpret their peers' spiritual beliefs based on the photographs.

Video Description:  In this close-up video, Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, Remote Sensing Scientist for NASA Harvest, shares her passion for helping farmers around the world through the use of NASA satellites to monitor crops from space to increase sustainability. She also describes how her love for hiking, photography, and travel supports her work.  Video Length:  2:09.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Ask SME: Close-up with a NASA Subject Matter Expert videos are professionally developed to capture a glimpse of NASA SME's personal interests and career journeys. Each can be used to spark student interest and broaden their ideas of the STEM workforce. Additional videos in this series can be found by searching GoOpenVA using "NASA eClips Ask SME".

Students examine images made for newspapers and create their own photos to tell a story. They experiment with cropping to reframe their images and explore how photographic images can be manipulated.

Students analyze one of Dorothea Lange's photographs and make connections to its historical context by creating a one-page written and visual response.

Explore the definition of a portrait. Students discuss two of Dorothea Lange's portraits and create their own portraits of their classmates.

Students will plan and design a still life composition. When composing the still life, students will choose objects that emphasize a variety of shapes and textures, and arrange the objects to reflect balance. Next students will create a photographic still life and use it as inspiration to write a poem. Then students will present the still life photograph and poem to the class.

In this Thematic Exploration, students will explore the different ways artists represent individuals in portraits. They will learn to gather clues about the time period in which the portrait was created, the lives of the subjects, and the thoughts of the artists.

Using portraits from the VMFA's collection, students will explore the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of portraiture. Guiding questions are woven throughout the activity, alongside a close examination of seven different portraits from a variety of different eras and cultures. Students are encouraged to observe, interpret, analyze, and reflect thoughtfully in each step. This activity also includes summative reflection questions to wrap up the conversation, as well as an optional "Create Your Own Portrait" activity.

Students create double-exposed photographs, poetry, and multimedia presentations to celebrate their "Open Court" "City Wildlife" unit.

Students will examine an image of civilians affected by the Vietnam War. They will research and discuss the reasons the Vietnam War began, why America became involved, and what some of the long-term effects of this war have been

The war in Vietnam has been described as the war America watched from their living rooms. Images of combat and American GIs were projected through our TV screens and across our newspapers daily. During the war in Vietnam, the American military gave the press unprecedented freedom of access to combat zones. This allowed newspaper reporters and photographers and television crews to document a war involving American sons and daughters on the other side of the world. This willingness to allow documentation of the war was also extended to the military's own photographers. Between 1962 and 1975, military photographers for the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force took millions of photographs of the American conflict in Vietnam. Almost a quarter of a million of these images are now located at the National Archives. These photographs serve publishers, historians, and students who want to learn more about Vietnam. They include images of almost every aspect of the war.

Students will discuss child labor in the United States as represented in an early-20th-century photograph, research and write a story based on the issue of child labor, and participate in a mock news broadcast in response to the works of art.