TCU student Maria Barrientos (right) helps a student create abstract expressionistic shapes by blowing on fresh watercolor through a plastic straw. Photo courtesy of Jenny Moore

About the course: With four local museums used as learning laboratories, students receive a comprehensive introduction to art education. Course topics include the history, trends, challenges and best practices of teaching art in a museum setting. Students acquire tools and experiences to design meaningful, inquiry-based learning experiences for children and adults by inspiring them to make personal connections to art.

Instructor: Connie McClure, adjunct instructor of Art Education, College of Fine Arts

Class time: 10 a.m.-12:50 p.m. Friday
 
Students: Art education, art history, child development or other interested majors

Texts: Experience Art: A Handbook for Teaching and Learning With Works of Art by Nancy Berry et al. (Crystal Productions, 1988)

Classwork: Visits to area museums, including the Kimbell Art Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum of American Art and Sid Richardson Museum

Weekly readings to study how museum curation and design correspond with learning for a variety of age groups

Five written responses to museum-learning articles and four online class discussions

Three written responses about what students learned and experienced on museum visits independent of the class

As a final group project, students develop and implement an educational collaboration between a local art museum and an elementary school.

Gallery teacher Bridget Thomas talks to grade-school students in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. Photo courtesy of Connie Diane McClure