I visited Flore’s annual Summer Art Exhibition in 2011, and was extremely impressed by the way lessons were planned to help children understand the natural connections between National Curriculum subject areas.

Fieldwork outside of the classroom was linked to the theme of ‘Rivers’ from Key Stage 2 Geography; whilst ideas for flowerbed displays and modern park shelters came from research into landscape gardening and botanical architecture. This activity also helped children use Design Technology and numeracy skills.

Investigations into classifying and learning about the life-cycle of green plants included recording specimens with observational drawing, incorporating both Science and Art . 

 

Secondary schools too have been using the Your Paintings website in the classroom. The Tagger, with its simple instructions to get the public supplying keywords for paintings, has been a particular hit with students and teachers at Uffculme School in Devon. Here, the Tagger was a starting point for an artist study project. Hundreds of students have been involved, some telling teachers how even their parents are tagging as a result. A teacher from Uffculme said, “The level of engagement has been really exciting, and pupils who would normally be out playing football are staying in to tag!”.

And at the NYC iSchool in New York, meanwhile, Art History students have used the Tagger to develop their skills of description. They were asked to consider which people, places and events they tagged, and also describe the overall composition, colour, texture and style of the paintings they viewed. History teacher Mrs Katy Barber adds, "This class earns students credit in global history, as many of the paintings document historical events. Later in the term, students are asked to collect an online exhibit of their preferred works of historical significance, and they are encouraged to include paintings that they encountered with the Tagger."

Has your school been using the Your Paintings website or Tagger? If so, please do tell us what you have been doing by emailing yourpaintings@bbc.co.uk.

Karen Hosack Janes is the Public Catalogue Foundation's Schools Education Advisor.

Karen Hosack Janes,
Schools Education Consultant, PCF

The National Curriculum requires pupils to become fluent in their use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The Your Paintings Tagger offers an excellent opportunity for pupils to collaborate in a real-life nationwide digital communications project. It enables them to develop skills such as organising data and using technology to connect with audiences beyond the classroom. Being part of the project gives pupils an understanding of how databases use keywords to classify information and allows them to explore paintings and share their observations with people all over the world.

Your Paintings Tagger
http://tagger.thepcf.org.uk/

By following simple instructions on the Tagger website pupils are prompted to type in words which they think describe what they can see in each randomly selected painting. The activity can be undertaken as a whole class on an interactive whiteboard, or on individual computers by small groups or individual students.

Tagging develops literacy skills by promoting discussion about what is happening in paintings, what objects or people can be seen, or where the places depicted might be. Words can be chosen from dropdown lists, with definitions, or several descriptive words can be entered.

Teachers might want to set their class or whole school a challenge to see how many paintings can be tagged before the Christmas holidays! Friends and family may also want to join in at home because interacting with images in this way is good fun and opens up new areas of shared interest.You can start Tagging paintings on Your Painting Tagger  http://tagger.thepcf.org.uk/