Discovering Linear Perspective with Vincent van Gogh: a STEAM lesson by Rob the Art Teacher

Описание: This video provides a brief outline of a STEAM lesson I devised while on a STEAM Learning course at the EuroPass Teacher Academy in Barcelona in July 2021.

This STEAM lesson has a single starting point and will suit teachers who may not be able organise team-teaching of cross-curricular learning, for a variety of reasons. Instead of team-teaching, which is often difficult to achieve because of scheduling issues, this project proposes a ‘steering group’ or teachers from each subject area that will define the elements to be taught from the outset, and then at the end of the project, participate in the evaluation.

The project asks students aged 14-16 years to consider how the self-taught artist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) learned linear perspective, in part by using a Perspective Drawing Frame (which he constructed following instructions from a 19th Century French book on the principles of drawing).

Students are challenged to investigate whether such a drawing device can help them learn or improve their perspective drawing, and if so, whether the device itself could be improved.

The lesson involves elements of learning from Art, Maths, Science and Design Technology. The activities include drawing a scene, before the investigation of Vincent van Gogh’s methods, and the same scene after using a perspective drawing device designed by the students; the scientific case-control method for testing a hypothesis; and the elements of design technology associated with product design, prototyping, and testing.