We were specifically looking for art that gave examples of use of color to convey depth, emotion, and movement, as well as looking for an example of positive and negative space.
As a sped teacher, I was thinking about how this is useful in the resource room setting, where there is always a lot of pressure to cram a lot of information into students in a short period of time.
Then I started thinking about how some of my students who struggle with visual perception had a hard time with understanding 3-D geometric shapes. When asked to draw a cube, they drew three boxes put together. Like this.
Adding color to help students who struggle with visual perception is helpful. Understanding how to use it in a meaningful way is helpful, not just for arts and crafts, but to help them understand and process information.
Warm colors (reds, yellows, oranges, some violets) create the illusion of something coming forward. That is why it is helpful to highlight in yellow.
Cool colors (blues, greens, violet) create the the illusion of something receeding from your view. Printing on blue or green paper also is helpful to calm to the student, which may help them focus.
Helping students who struggle with visual perception can be a challenge. But the more you teach something, the better it gets. Teaching students how to think about the world around them is important. Making time to teach them about the world through art is as important as teaching them about it through science or math.
