Learn about many ways to combine art and science as we observe the world around us. We often think of scientists as methodical and precise, and artists as free-willed, impulsive creators. But did you know that some art has science packed right into it? And that artists throughout history have helped scientists conduct their work? Learn about the photography of Berenice Abbott who documented the changing New York skyline with photographs of architecture and urban design of the 1930s, and science interpretation in the 1940s to 1960s. Learn how to use the sun to air dry your salt dough creations and explore papier-mâché. 

This resource provides a menu of self-directed art-making challenges, each of which relates to a work of art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts collection. Give your students voice and choice as they investigate authentic works of art and work to develop a visual language, convey complex ideas, and solve problems creatively.    

Student-Designed Themed Virtual Art Exhibition. Students will design a virtual exhibition based on a theme of concept and develop criteria for curating works to include in the exhibition.

Multimedia Summative Portfolios. Students include both process and product documentation as well as reflections of learning. The portfolio could take the form of a website, slidedeck, interactive PDF and more.

Algorithms Unplugged. The teacher can facilitate a paper weaving project where students create and follow a pattern while exploring and understanding the connections between coding, computing, and fiber-arts.

Art Critique with Digital White Boards. Student artists can use digital white board technology as a place to post images of their artwork for feedback from peers and teachers.

Ask the Artist. Facilitated by the teacher, students can collaborate on developing an online form to be shared alongside works of art being displayed.

Using predetermined musical elements, either rhythmic or melodic, students compose a “music composition code” in small groups. Laying the individual lines of “musical composition code” on the ground, students add directional arrows to direct performers to the next line of “code” to create a larger musical composition.

Collaborative Art Process Documentation. The teacher can facilitate a collaborative class project, or group project, where students work together over time to make a product like a mural, sculpture, public art, or installation.

Students learn to add music note values, and create compositions in 4/4, common time. Using traditional music  notation students may choose to compose for voice or drums. This ruler composition activity uses a familiar math visual to help students see the length or duration of musical notes. Final compositions can be emailed to the teacher for review.

Exercise Creative Thinking with Digital Art Games. Interactive visual arts games like Tate Paint can allow students to explore digital tools for artmaking with a series of creative prompts to start with such as weather, food, natural world, and experiments.

Digital Mood Board. Students can create a digital “mood board” of ideas and inspirations for personal works of art based on a common theme or idea.

Online chord looping stations and drum machines such as those found on One Motion allow students the opportunity to engage in music creation in a way that is accessible to them without a large theoretical music background. Students can use their intuition and their ears to create music in innovative ways online.

Global Art Collaboration. Facilitated by the teacher, students connect with classrooms in other parts of the world to collaborate on a digital work of art in a cloud-based digital art platform.

Students use a digital collaboration board to share their “wonderings” about the songs they are listening to in class. The teacher selects 3-4 songs from various cultures. Students add sticky notes to the collaboration board using appropriate music terminology, and share their musical preferences in a respectful manner. Students can have the ability to like or comment on each other’s posts and engage in meaningful conversations in small groups after sharing their wonderings digitally.

Collaborative boards allow students to share ideas and engage with each other via an online platform. When students are learning about the creative process of music creation and composition, students can use an online collaborative board to share lyrics and co-create a song together.

Students use digital research skills to Find Basic Information (F.B.I.) about a composer on websites such as Classic for Kids: Composer Explorer. Students learn about a specific composer, or composers from a specific geographic area, culture, genre, or time period. After gathering information, students write and produce a news program or podcast based on their research.

Students use aural skills to dictate various rhythmic, melodic and/or rhythmic-melodic patterns performed by a teacher. Students should be encouraged to perform their transcription to analyze and compare with the teacher given “prototype”. Based on trial and error, students can reflect and revise their answers many times until they are ready to finalize their student “copy”.

Students explore the connection between music and art by listening to a painting created by the artist V. Kandinsky, using Google arts and Culture: Play a Kandinsky. Students use problem solving skills to explore what Kandinsky might have heard when painting “Yellow-Red-Blue” and bring to life his theory on synesthesia and abstract art. Students explore Kandinsky’s theories on color and sound and the relationship between shapes. After exploring the Kandinsky painting, students create their own paintings in the style of Kandinsky, and explain the color and sound relationships that exist in their original work.

Students use NYU Music Experience Design Lab: Groove Pizza to create drum and unpitched instrument rhythms with math-inspired concepts. Students create grooves using math concepts like shapes, angles and patterns. The circular rhythm app allows students to begin exploration with “specials” pizza presets and add/remove “toppings” to adjust the groove. Final student creations can be shared as a link, downloaded as a .wav or .midi file, and converted to external music notation software.