Lesson Plans and Pre-visit Guides

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• The Art of China (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the primary ideas, values, and traditions of one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations, as reflected in one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of its art in the West. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, background information and themes, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Art of Industry (Lesson Plan)

  Use viewing questions and a debate activity to investigate the relationship between art and community values, techniques artists use to convey ideas, and strategies for interpreting an American painting in the Museum's Modern and Contemporary galleries.

• The Art of Medieval Europe (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the art of the Middle Ages, notable for its expressions of beauty, complexity and importance of meaning, and establishment of new standards for technical achievement. Use this guide's collection overview, gallery map, tour-planning guidelines, themes to consider, discussion questions, suggested works of art, and resource list to make the most of your trip to the Museum.

• The Arts of Japan (Pre-visit Guide)PDF

  Introduce students to the range of styles, formats, and subjects that have characterized Japanese art over the centuries. Use this guide's collection and gallery overviews, tour-planning tips, recommendations for engaging students, suggested themes and works of art, and list of resources to make the most of your visit to the Museum.

• The Battle of David and Goliath (Lesson Plan)

  Illuminate strategies for conveying stories through images in the classroom with viewing questions about a large silver plate in the Museum's Medieval collection and an illustrating activity.

• The Burghers of Calais (Lesson Plan)

  Convey the interpretive significance of pose and expression in the visual arts—in the Museum or the classroom—with viewing questions and a story-writing activity inspired by a nineteenth-century French sculpture by Auguste Rodin.

• The Chinese Garden Court (Lesson Plan)

  Explore the Museum's Chinese garden court and enhance students' understanding of how traditional Chinese gardens reflect the concept of yin and yang and how material selection and design can convey ideas about the human and natural worlds. Use viewing questions and a storytelling or drawing activity in the Museum's Chinese galleries.

• The Making of a Persian Royal Manuscript (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify some of the key events and figures presented in the Persian national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings); make connections between the text and the illustrated pages of the manuscript produced for Shah Tahmasp; and create a historical record of their community.

• The Mughal Court and the Art of Observation (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to recognize ways works of art reflect an intense interest in observation of the human and natural world among Mughal leaders; and understand ways works of art from the past and present communicate ideas about the natural world.

• The Nomads of Central Asia—Turkmen Traditions (Lesson Plan)

  Students will be able to identify ways art of the Turkmen people of Central Asia reflects nomadic life and understand the functional and symbolic role objects play in their lives.