Category 8:
Arts and Culture
A. Task:
Produce a
website that teaches how countries and regions can build better
relationships through the sharing and promoting of international arts
and culture.
Read rules and instructions.
B. Learning Objectives:
- Students will demonstrate how art
and culture play an important part in creating community and in
fostering an understanding between different countries.
-
Students will take an active role in
documenting and preserving their country's culture.
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Students will better understand their
country's history by tracing a timeline of it's cultural heritage.
C.
Discussion Questions:
These discussion questions are
provided to introduce the
topic of how countries and regions can build better relationships
through the sharing and promoting of international arts and culture.
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What do you consider to be unique or
traditional forms of art, music, and dance existing today in your
community?
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From which countries or regions did
these art forms and culture originate?
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What are some interesting forms of art,
music, and dance from countries around the world?
-
What are some unique holidays and
celebrations in your community and from other places around the world?
-
How are these celebrations and arts
similar and how are they different?
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What do you think can be discovered
about a particular culture from their traditional artwork, music and
dance?
-
How does sharing local culture and art
contribute to a larger
community experience: festivals, history, holidays, religion, family, education,
story-telling, and politics?
-
How have global communication methods
such as the Internet and satellite television influenced our
understanding of the visual arts and celebrations of other cultures?
-
What are local communities and
other peoples of the world doing to preserve their unique cultural
heritage?
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What local art or culture has
garnered attention beyond your community?
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How is your community
actively sharing their own arts and culture?
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How important do you think celebrating
arts and culture are to cultural identity?
D. Suggested
Starter Activities:
The traditional art,
music, ceremonies, and celebrations which have evolved over many
centuries establish a unique cultural identity for a group of people or
a nation. Much can be learned about the history, religion, government,
social structure and values of the peoples of the world through a study
of their cultural characteristics.
-
List some of the cultures
of the world and the characteristics that make them unique.
-
Visit the library, local
museums or do an Internet search to find out more about the art,
music, dance, architecture, celebrations or ceremonies of some of the
cultures of the world.
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Compare and contrast
cultures by creating a chart listing their differences and
similarities.
-
List ways that cultures
may have influenced each other over the centuries through trade and
other communication.
-
Create a timeline placing
the development of each culture in chronological order.
-
Collect some examples of
music from around the world. Have students try to list the different
instruments as they listen to selection.
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Attend local cultural performances.
Listen and watch for qualities which make that cultural event
special.
-
Look at examples of
traditional artwork and architecture from the cultures of the world.
Ask students to try to identify how the works were created.
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Through discussion, guide
students to discover about the use of natural resources in traditional
artwork and architecture.
-
Through discussion, guide
students to discover what can be learned about government, religion,
values and daily life of a culture through the study of their art.
-
Look at examples of modern
artwork and architecture from the cultures of the world. Ask students
to identify traditional elements in each example.
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Make a list of unique
cultural celebrations and ceremonies and conduct an internet search to
find out about their origins and costumes.
-
Name some unique
traditional forms of dance from various cultures and use resource
people, the library, or internet resources to find examples to show
students. Have students try to learn some of the dance steps.
Through discussion, guide them to discover what can be learned about a
culture through their dance, music and costumes.
-
Compare the different types of music
in your community and determine if there are any recurrent themes in the music you're
identifying (history, myths, culture, social or political struggle).
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Make a list of some of the
more unique instruments and have students research the history of the
instrument.
-
Ask students to identify
examples of how musical artists of today incorporate characteristics
and instruments from the traditional music of other cultures.
-
Look for similarities and differences
between the music of your community and popular music played at a national level. Decide
which music speaks more closely to your everyday experiences, and why.
-
Interview local artists and musicians.
Learn how long they've been involved in music, dance or art and what were the factors
which lead them in that direction. This would also be a good opportunity to identify the
influences of each individual artist. Who were their teachers? Whose styles helped shape
their own?
-
Musical styles are rarely created in a
vacuum. Most music is a combination of a number of different sources. Trace the history
and create a timeline of local musical traditions to identify the diverse influences that
have helped shape the music that is performed in your community today.
-
Create a catalog of
local arts and culture
which includes recordings, photographs, reviews and interviews.
-
Review web projects created by past
Doors to Diplomacy participants.
E. Content Standards:
As outlined in the National
Standards for Arts Education:
-
Students should be able to communicate at a basic level in the four
arts disciplines—dance, music, theatre,
and the visual arts. This includes knowledge and skills in the use of
the basic vocabularies, materials, tools, techniques, and intellectual
methods of each arts discipline.
-
Students should be able to communicate proficiently in at least one
art form, including the ability to
define and solve artistic problems with insight, reason, and technical
proficiency.
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Students should be able to develop and present basic analyses of works
of art from structural, historical, and
cultural perspectives, and from combinations of those perspectives.
This includes the ability to understand and evaluate work in the
various arts disciplines.
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Students should have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of
art from a variety of cultures and historical periods,
and a basic understanding of historical development in the arts
disciplines, across the arts as a whole, and within cultures.
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Students should be able to relate various types of arts knowledge and
skills within and across the arts disciplines.
This includes mixing and matching competencies and understandings in
art-making, history and culture, and analysis in any arts-related
project.
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National
Standards for Arts Education:
Learn more
F. Related
Resources