Madison Coluzzi

Professor Ward
Art 133
7 September 2017

The purpose of the big idea is to represent who we are and what the things around us

mean. It is our own thought of what something means to us. Some examples of the Big Idea are

family, relationships, power, and identity. These are considered concepts because they are broad

enough to contain subjects. Walker (2001) states that big ideas can help force students to gain a

deeper level of thinking. Teaching students to become better thinkers from an early age can be

beneficial throughout their whole life.

Since visual arts is known to be under appreciated (Franco, Ward, Unrath, 2015), I would

teach Kindergarteners that family would be our big idea. To understand it better, we then would

draw a picture of the people we consider to be our family. For example, I would draw my parents

and siblings with our pets. This will then encourage the kids that everyone has a different

interpretation of what family is.

Franco, M., Ward, Amber., & Unrath, K. (2015, September). Artmaking as Meaning-Making: A
New Model for Preservice Elementary Generalists.

Walker, S. (2001). Teaching Meaning in Artmaking.