How Architectural History Can be Taught in the K-5 Classroom Using Picturebooks
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Date
2018-06-06
Authors
Shaw, Jordyn
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Abstract
Architecture, and architectural history, is not typically a focus of art education in the K-5
classroom. In this study I aim to demonstrate how picturebooks can be used as a tool in
the K-5 classroom to teach architectural history. This study was modeled after Sipe’s
(2001) article Using Picturebooks to Teach Art History. I analysed eighty-six
picturebooks based on a specific criteria, choosing books that have been: (1) published
or republished in the past 20 years; (2) have a strong narrative quality in text; (3) allude
to architecture and have architecture as part of the integral setting; and (4) are set at a
K-5 reading level. I arranged the eighty-six books into four types: (1) Tours; (2) Building
Practices/Principles; (3) Stories of Architects: Real, Child, or Animal; and (4) the
Architecture of Houses and Homes. Within the Tour type, I found three subtypes called
the “City Tour,” the “State/Country Tour,” and the “Cross-Country/World Tour” subtypes.
I addressed each type and subtype, discussing themes that appeared. In talking about
the themes and subtypes, I also address “what can be taught,” giving specific examples
of how these themes and subtypes can be used in the classroom. In these sections I
discuss the National Core Arts Standards (Standard, 2014) and the National English
Language Arts Standards (“English Language Arts Standards,” 2018) that pertain to the
subtypes and themes. Lastly I address representations of Medieval architecture in
picturebooks. I address a specific time period within architectural history, and discuss
what could be taught in the classroom using picturebooks as a resource. Using twelve
picturebooks I looked at representations of churches; castles; other buildings; and
building principles, practices, and concepts. In these sections I discuss what can be
taught along with any inaccuracies and inconsistencies that appear in the picturebooks
when compared to current scholarship on the subject.
Description
110 pages
Keywords
Architectural history, Art history, Picturebooks, Arts education, Architecture, Children's literature