JASON XI Lesson Plans

The three JASON Project lesson plans are intended to support the spirit of exploration developed in the JASON Project curriculum theme Going to Extremes. They may be used as preparation for a student group visit to the Madison Art Center, which is a passport site for the Project. They may also stand alone as curriculum supplements that join the procedures of scientific exploration with procedures for exploring art. Lesson Plan 1 is associated with Thank You Hide by William Wiley; Lesson Plan 2 is associated with Fureur me Traite comme la Tristesse #7 by Max Ernst; Lesson Plan 3 is associated with Pythagoras at the Yellow Dog by Patrick St. Germain.

The artworks in each lesson plan were chosen for their relevance to the theme of exploration. They are part of a larger exhibition that was developed by the Madison Art Center Education Department as a community collaboration with the JASON Project. Twelve works of art are included in the exhibition titled Getting our Bearings, which is also available for viewing on-line. Discussion questions accompany each image.

In each lesson plan, we will proceed through four main steps in the exploration of a work of art, steps that are similar to steps of scientific discovery:

Preparation
Observation
Analysis
Interpretation

Preparation: Before embarking on the journey of discovery in each lesson, we help you and your students to get your bearings with some preparation, similar to the kinds of preparation that explorers must make before journeying into unfamiliar territory. You will be introduced to some historical information, some language particular to the territory, some classification systems, and some tools you will need for exploration.

Observation: In each lesson, you will ask students to begin investigating a work of art by using their observational skills. You will ask them to discover and describe what they see. During this process, you will ask them to take an inventory of all the factual information they can derive from looking at the object, rather than to try to draw conclusions.

Analysis: After the students have described all that they see, you will ask them questions about specific aspects of the artwork, including how the artist has used the art elements of color, line, shape, light, texture, perspective, composition, technique to create an image. Suggestions are given about how to proceed in this discussion.

Interpretation: After the students have analyzed the parts and the whole of the image, you will ask them to develop some interpretations and come to some conclusions based on the evidence they have assembled from their preparation, observation, description and analysis.

Lesson Plan 1: Getting Our Bearings by Knowing Our Origins

Lesson Plan 2: Getting Our Bearings by Knowing Our Dreams

Lesson Plan 3: Getting Our Bearings by Knowing Our Universe

Artists' Pages