iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

Over the past two decades, policies focused on math and reading test scores, along with a global recession, have pushed many schools to cut what they considered to be “extras.” In many places, that has meant visual art, music, drama, and dance. These subjects became afterthoughts as school leaders put pressure on teachers to raise kids’ scores in the ‘focus’ subjects – math and reading.

Now, many educators are starting to realize the folly of these practices, backed up by an increasingly robust body of research about the power of art to improve learning.

New technologies are continually hitting the market. Educators are always looking for the next innovative thing to bring into their classroom. Some of them don’t stand the test of time, but others show tremendous potential. One such innovation that is perfect for the art room is the 3-Dpen. It’s not just another device, but it is a new sculptural medium.

Learn how you can use 3-D pens in your art room to encourage critical thinking and problem solving while creating.

I"n January 2004, NASA announced it was canceling a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. In light of dangers associated with the Columbia tragedy the previous year, it was considered too risky. As a result, the Hubble, lauded as one of the most influential scientific instruments of all time, would have only a few remaining years to survive.

Over the following months, the plan was intensely debated. Petitions garnered thousands of signatures from members of the public. Congressional committee meetings and hearings were held. Citizens and scientists alike, inspired by the discoveries and images the telescope had produced, clearly weren’t ready for the telescope’s premature retirement.

By that point, the Hubble had nearly fulfilled all its mission objectives since its launch in 1990. With 100,000 observations, it had measured the universe’s expansion, studied planetary origins, and produced a vast trove of pictures like the iconic Deep Field (seen at the top of this piece) and Pillars of Creation, which changed the way we see our place in the universe. These images, taken for science and re-mastered by astronomers, captured the public’s imagination in a way no telescope had before."

Each year, the art teacher and I collaborate on a 3D design and 3D printing project to accompany her art standards in 1st grade. Blokify has been a trusty 3D design tool that has served this project well due to its simplicity on the iPad. However, this year we hit a road block. Blokify is no longer available in the app store, and this was the year that our iPads finally quit supporting its functionality.

Don't worry, they only look like the Pokemon of your nightmares. The images you are about to see are, in fact, at the very bleeding edge of machine-generated imagery, mixed with collaborative human-AI production by artist Alex Reben and a little help from some anonymous Chinese artists.

Reben's latest work, dubbed AmalGAN, is derived from Google's BigGAN image-generation engine. Like other GANs (generative adversarial networks), BigGAN uses a pair of competing AI: one to randomly generate images, the other to grade said images based on how close they are to the training material. However, unlike previous iterations of image generators, BigGAN is backed by Google's mammoth computing power and uses that capability to create incredibly lifelike images.

One aspect of teaching art I appreciate and enjoy is the inclusiveness of our subject area. Art education is a place where all students can express themselves. As a result, we’re often a favorite academic area for students with special needs, and rightfully so!

We all want to do our best for our students with special needs, but it can be tricky. Meeting the diverse needs of hundreds of students in a somewhat chaotic environment isn’t for the faint of heart. But it can be done! All it takes is a little forethought and preparation.

Download my poster which includes example task ideas on how to apply computational thinking problem solving skills to Art. The poster includes a range of tasks and classroom ideas that use key computational thinking skills!

1st graders are learning about penguins as we sculpt one out of model magic clay. Students began with one lump of clay and followed all the steps until there was no clay left. There was lots of division in the directions (shhh-the truth is the lesson is full of math). Here is a quick rundown of the steps.

Art has the benefit of being not only enjoyable and relaxing, but of encouraging personal reflection, expression and growth. With this in mind, how can we nurture creativity across the curriculum using artistic methods? You may be surprised where and how often art can be made a feature of a lesson. Here are some school crafting ideas that allow children to enjoy all of the benefits of arts and crafts.

After posting about apps to help students unleash their artistic creativity here is another collection of apps to use with students to introduce them to the world of art and get them to explore some of the most popular art masterpieces from different parts of the globe. More specifically, the apps will help students virtually explore some famous museums, learn about events and stories that shaped famous masterpieces, discover collections curated by professionals and many more.

Although there is no replacement for getting your hands dirty with finger paints, technology can offer many ways for students to be creative when making art. In addition to creativity, technology can also allow students to explore and learn about art in new and engaging ways.

There are so many awesome technology tools for art, including desktop programs, mobile apps, and interactive websites. Along with all of those, there are many tools from Google that can help with teaching, learning, exploring, and creating art.

Don’t skip out on art and music while your kids are home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Art and music help kids develop discipline, creativity, confidence, critical thinking skills. It helps build connections with others, improves memory and teaches about different cultures. It strengthens language, reading and math skills. Plus, the arts make us feel better and we could all use a little more of that these days. Here are online art and music resources to inspire kids at home.

Virtual and augmented reality have become a trend more recently due to advances in artificial intelligence. They’ve grown to be more commonly utilized tools for interpretation of ideas in a variety of fields. VR is an immersive technology experience. Though it was commonly used in the gaming industry, it’s now being applied to a variety of fields. For example, companies can make use of simulated interviews and best choose candidates for the job when recruiting and training. AR on the other hand, supplements and enhances reality that already exists. Social media filters are a good example of this. Another example, the furniture company IKEA recently used this immersive technology to help shoppers envision how furniture would look inside their home.

My transdigital  approach to art education merges both traditional and digital methods across physical and digital spaces while giving students an opportunity to dive into ideas  that were previously beyond what I could otherwise offer. Take a peek at the lessons I designed to help redefine learning for my elementary art students.

Around this time five years ago I discovered that the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosts free online art history texts. A recent Tweet from Open Culture reminded me of that collection. Today, I revisited that collection and discovered that it has expanded to 569 volumes. All of the books can be read online or downloaded as PDFs (warning, some of them are massive files). You can search through the catalog of books by thematic category, format, and publication type. And, of course, you can search through the books by title, author, and keyword.

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Joe Simon, Steve Ditko, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and dozens of other Golden and Silver Age visionaries produced superhero, romance, western, horror, and crime comics using the craftsman's tools of their day: paper, typewriters, pencils, brushes, inks, and dyes. From the 1930s until roughly the mid-1990s, comic books were produced almost entirely in this fashion, with a few digital blips along the way.

But as electronic tools became increasingly affordable and powerful, the comic book creation process shifted from an analog process to a digital one. In contemporary times, there's a good chance that no aspect of your favorite title is physical until finished pages start rolling off a printing press.

The popular Louvre HD app is free today and only for a limited period of time. The app provides you access to a huge library of some of the most popular works of art and paintings stored in the Louvre museum . After I downloaded the app this morning I spent sometime browsing through the collections there and found them really amazing. If you love modern art, this app is definitely for you.

How do you paint with watercolors without showing the brush strokes? How do you make gradient colors? What kind of paper should you use? In this helpful video, watercolor illustrator and YouTuber Kasey Golden shares seven of the most commonly asked questions that she gets about painting with watercolors. Her answers are also great tips for beginners. She adds:

The biggest tip I can give anyone wanting to get into watercolor is to JUST START! Pick up a cheap set and see how you like them, play around, and see what works!

Schools are doing more to extend the parameters of the learning experience, and frequently see lessons taking place in assembly halls, school fields and playgrounds, kitchens and music rooms. “Schools are doing more to extend the parameters of the learning experience.”Arts subjects are often the catalyst for taking a class further afield, and provide children with opportunities to break the mold of the regular classroom setting, and of what constitutes academic work. Infant- and junior-school age children can see particular benefit from expanding the possibilities of school in this way.


Arts subjects hold much more promise than simply getting children out of the classroom. They can help young children develop their skills and competencies in interesting ways, in a relaxed and pressure-free environment. These are some of the ways in which your children can grow and learn through art.