Education On-line: Art Explorer and Science, Art & Technology: The Art Institute of Chicago

Erin Hersher, Art Institute of Chicago, USA
http://www.artic.edu

Demonstration: Demonstrations - Session 1

The Art Institute of Chicago is expanding education online with two new Web modules, Art Explorer and Science, Art, & Technology. Art Explorer, scheduled to launch in March 2005, highlights the Art Institute's Impressionist and Postimpressionist collections. A comprehensive resource tool for teachers, students, docents, and the public, Art Explorer is the museum's first database-driven educational Web project, containing 250 images and over 500 searchable resources. (Resources include lesson plans, activities, artist biographies, text excerpts, online games, video clips, and maps.) In addition, a scrapbook function allows users to save images and resources, and compose original text. Besides its usefulness as a search tool, Art Explorer is designed to help educators prepare lectures, lessons, or tours, and also functions as a program which students can use to complete assignments.

Science, Art, & Technology is designed for teachers interested in interdisciplinary education, specifically the relationship between science and art. Its genesis was a yearlong program for Chicago Public School teachers of chemistry and physics held at the museum. The Web site chronicles topics presented (such as Art and Astronomy; Perception, Light & Color; and Careers in Science, Art & Technology) in the form of video clips highlighting speakers: art historians, conservationists, artists, and scientists. Lesson plans and self-guides produced by program participants, as well as examples of student work are included as well.