Colorado Academic Standards Online
Use the options below to create customized views of the Colorado Academic Standards. For all standards resources, see the Office of Standards and Instructional Support.
Current selections are shown below (maximum of five)
clear Content Area: Visual Arts - 2022 // Grade Level: Middle School 3 // Standard Category: All Standards Categories
Visual Arts - 2022
Middle School 3, Standard 1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 1. See oneself as a participant in visual art and design by experiencing, viewing, or making.
- 3. Practice critical and analytical skills by using academic language to discuss works of art and visual culture.
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Interpret works of art using the language of visual art and design and conceptual art frameworks.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Present works of art using the language of visual art and design to infer meaning.
- Describe and justify the specific elements in a work of art using the language of visual art and design.
- Investigate and debate conceptual frameworks that give value to works of art.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Interpret information and draw conclusions based on informed analysis using the language of visual art and design. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
- Students can cite textual and visual evidence from content-specific texts and works of art to demonstrate understanding and support an analysis of the work, conduct an experiment or perform a task. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students investigate the criteria used by various cultures to evaluate and make meaning of artwork?
- How can visual artists, designers and media artists convey concepts, actions and emotions effectively?
- How can students use established conceptual criteria to interpret works of art?
- How do students use visual media to share their interpretation of ideas?
- How can students respectfully consider the variety of individual responses to their artwork and the artwork of others?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artists analyze composition, form, function and purpose.
- Artists use established criteria to evaluate and synthesize knowledge and personal experience to develop individual criteria to evaluate.
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 1. See oneself as a participant in visual art and design by experiencing, viewing, or making.
- 5. Interpret works of art and design in the contexts of varied traditions, histories, and cultures.
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
- 7. Allow imagination, curiosity, and wonder to guide inquiry and research.
- 8. Engage in the reciprocal relationships between visual art and communities.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Synthesize and evaluate how time, culture and artistic style relates to contemporary art concerns.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Incorporate personal life experiences through aesthetic responses to works of art.
- Justify and infer how art often is defined by its originality.
- Interpret changes in meaning over time in the perception of a familiar work of art.
- Investigate and discuss how social and political environments influence an artist's creative process in making a work of art.
- Examine and discuss the reasons to respect and avoid replication and interpretation of culturally sensitive taboos.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, and how values and points of view are included or excluded in works of art and design. (Social Awareness)
- Students can delineate an argument, identify specific claims and distinguish if claims are supported by reasons and evidence. (Interpersonal Communication)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students incorporate time and place to give meaning or function to a work of art?
- How can students be responsive to artists and works of art in their contexts of cultures, times and places?
- How can students analyze the influence artists have on each other?
- How can students analyze the impact artists have on social structures across time and place?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artists study diverse cultures across time and place.
- Artists compare and contrast historical art to contemporary art.
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 1. See oneself as a participant in visual art and design by experiencing, viewing, or making.
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
- 7. Allow imagination, curiosity, and wonder to guide inquiry and research.
- 10. Develop new knowledge by actively doing and making (artistic praxis), acknowledging relationships between materials, objects, ideas and lived experience.
Grade Level Expectation:
3. Apply key concepts, issues and themes of the visual arts to solve problems using real-world applications.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Produce individual or group works of art that incorporate various multidisciplinary key concepts, issues and themes to solve visual problems.
- Communicate ideas visually through various media, methods, styles and perspectives.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Collaborate with non-art areas to generate creative ideas that solve real-world problems. (Collaboration and Teamwork)
- Students can analyze content-specific texts and works of art to distinguish the factual evidence offered, reasoned judgments made and conclusions drawn, and speculative ideas offered. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students use collaboration with other content areas to solve problems?
- How do students demonstrate problem-solving skills through art making?
- How can students deduce the value and influence of art on real-world problem solving applications?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artists use interdisciplinary collaboration and approaches to extend thinking.
Visual Arts - 2022
Middle School 3, Standard 2. Envision and Critique to Reflect
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 2. Visually and/or verbally articulate how visual art and design are a means for communication.
- 4. Critique connections between visual art and historic and contemporary philosophies.
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
- 9. Persist in the creative process and innovate from failure.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Utilize visual literacy skills to establish personal meaning and interpret the artistic intent of others.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Connect ideas or concepts in a work of art to their visual elements.
- Analyze and explain the impact of persuasive techniques in print and in electronic media.
- Develop a statement of purpose for a work of art in written, verbal or digital format.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Develop self-awareness by utilizing multiple perspectives analyzing artworks. (Self-Awareness)
- Students can trace an argument in a context specific text or work of art and design to understand how a creator organizes information, crafts an argument and uses domain specific language to convey ideas. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students read visual elements as evidence of ideas and beliefs of an artist?
- How can students use visual literacy skills to analyze the world around them?
- How can students explain the meaning behind their artwork?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artists and designers establish and link background knowledge.
- Artists read, write and use vocabulary through an interdisciplinary lens.
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 1. See oneself as a participant in visual art and design by experiencing, viewing, or making.
- 2. Visually and/or verbally articulate how visual art and design are a means for communication.
- 4. Critique connections between visual art and historic and contemporary philosophies.
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Analyze, interpret and make informed judgments about works of art using different points of view.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Research and discuss belief systems used to value works of art.
- Interpret artistic styles, trends and movements in various contexts.
- Defend the value of a work of art utilizing comparisons to works of art from other times and places.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded and how art, design and media arts can influence beliefs and behaviors. (Social Awareness)
- Students can create content-specific arguments in which they make a claim, provide evidence from sources to support the claim, and organize the evidence in well-reasoned, meaningful ways. (Interpersonal Communication)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students investigate why an artwork is considered valuable?
- How can students utilize art history to understand the importance of time, place, and culture in artmaking?
- How can students analyze art from multiple perspectives?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artists identify multiple points of view.
- Artists establish and link background knowledge.
Visual Arts - 2022
Middle School 3, Standard 3. Invent and Discover to Create
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Employ feedback, planning and ideation processes to develop artistic voice.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Collect feedback, ideas and inspirations from multiple sources to create personal works of art.
- Demonstrate personal responsibility in the planning, implementation and evaluation of works of art.
- Create works of art that depict personal viewpoints while honoring sensitive topics.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Look for and value different perspectives expressed by others and self in planning works of art and design. (Global and Cultural Awareness)
- Set personal goals and develop strategies to remain focused on learning goals while planning for and creating works of art and design. (Self-Management)
- Students can generate questions to guide their research into making, gather information from multiple sources, determine biases and credibility of sources, and use evidence in planning and ideation processes. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students gather and reflect on feedback in order to improve their artworks?
- How can a student take initiative and persevere in the process of making an artwork?
- How can a student use inspiration from many sources while considering how their art might be perceived in different contexts?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artmaking involves conceptual and project-based learning.
- Artists and designers use imagining to develop artistic vision.
- Artists can use organized critiques.
- Artists and designers synthesize knowledge, skill and imagination to solve problems and express meaning.
- Artists act on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution.
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
- 7. Allow imagination, curiosity, and wonder to guide inquiry and research.
- 9. Persist in the creative process and innovate from failure.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Demonstrate technical proficiency and craftsmanship in the creative process.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Create works of art with attention to technique and craft.
- Create works of art with preferred techniques that advance intended purpose and are display-ready.
- Investigate the unique qualities of various media to achieve desired results.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Synthesize ideas in original and surprising ways using technical proficiency and craftsmanship. (Critical Thinking and Innovation)
- Assess personal strengths and limitations with a well-grounded sense of confidence, optimism and a growth mindset when creating works of art and design. (Self-Awareness)
- Form and test hypotheses in regard to art media and techniques to guide problem-solving. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can a student persist in the technical processes of artmaking in order to create art they are proud of?
- How can a student understand and utilize various techniques to forward their vision?
- How can a student engage in artmaking as creative research?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artmaking involves project-based learning.
- Artists connect planning to implementation.
- Artists connect learning a skill to persevering to master the skill.
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 1. See oneself as a participant in visual art and design by experiencing, viewing, or making.
- 2. Visually and/or verbally articulate how visual art and design are a means for communication.
- 6. Create works of visual art and design that demonstrate increasing levels of expertise in skills and techniques for personal and/or professional endeavors.
- 7. Allow imagination, curiosity, and wonder to guide inquiry and research.
- 9. Persist in the creative process and innovate from failure.
Grade Level Expectation:
3. Utilize current and available technology to refine an idea and create original and imaginative works of art.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Utilize current and available technologies to explore multiple ways to communicate an idea visually.
- Communicate complex ideas through works of art and design produced with new technologies.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Create art and design through the use of technologies such as but not limited to using photo/video enhancing tools, animation, or digital illustration software, etc. (Digital Literacy)
- Innovate from failure, connect learning across domains, and recognize new opportunities when creating works of art. (Self-Awareness)
- Students can create a work of art that delineates an artist's argument, identifies specific claims and distinguishes if claims are supported by reasons and evidence. (Interpersonal Communication)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students demonstrate understanding of ethical and legal considerations when using appropriated images and information?
- How can students investigate how new technologies and media might support experimentation and innovative thinking?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artmaking involves project-based learning.
- Artists connect planning to implementation.
- Artmaking involves imagining to develop artistic vision.
- Artists and designers synthesize knowledge, skill and imagination to solve problems and express meaning.
Visual Arts - 2022
Middle School 3, Standard 4. Relate and Connect to Transfer
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 1. See oneself as a participant in visual art and design by experiencing, viewing, or making.
- 2. Visually and/or verbally articulate how visual art and design are a means for communication.
- 4. Critique connections between visual art and historic and contemporary philosophies.
- 5. Interpret works of art and design in the contexts of varied traditions, histories, and cultures.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Interpret the ways individual makers become agents that express the interdependent relationship between art, culture and social contexts.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Investigate and analyze the role of the maker in specific arts traditions.
- Compare how various cultures and communities honor, memorialize and celebrate life events.
- Recognize and discuss how works of art previously created across time and cultures can influence the work of practicing artists today.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Connect art and design knowledge (facts, theories, etc.) from personal ideas and understandings to civic engagement. (Civic Engagement)
- Identify and explain multiple perspectives (cultural, global) when exploring visual art and design. (Global and Cultural Awareness)
- Students can synthesize information from multiple sources to demonstrate understanding of a topic in works of art and design. (Self-Awareness)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students allow their curiosity about why people make things to initiate inquiry?
- How can students investigate the ways in which art is woven into cultural and community traditions?
- How can students understand and articulate the ways in which art history influences contemporary art?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artists consider multiple perspectives through reflective discussion.
- Artists connect the interdependent relationship between art and society.
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 8. Engage in the reciprocal relationships between visual art and communities.
- 10. Develop new knowledge by actively doing and making (artistic praxis), acknowledging relationships between materials, objects, ideas and lived experience.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Discern and articulate the impact arts, design and creativity have on a variety of lifelong endeavors.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Develop personal agency and critical thinking skills that can be transferred to lifelong endeavors.
- Identify arts resources and opportunities that exist in the community and explain why they are valued.
- Explore and evaluate ways that artistic thinking is used to solve problems.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Demonstrate knowledge, understanding and personal awareness of how dreams and interests translate into career fulfillment and career pathways in art and design. (Career Awareness)
- Make connections between information gathered and personal experiences to apply and/or test solutions. (Critical Thinking and Analysis)
- Students can pose and respond to questions and contribute to the discussion about a topic or text in order to advance the dialogue. (Interpersonal Communication)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students interpret ideas in art and apply this knowledge to other thinking processes?
- How can students research arts in the community and articulate its significance?
- How can students identify challenges, gather information, generate potential solutions and refine ideas to find creative art solutions?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Imagining, artistic visioning and the design-thinking process can benefit many lifelong pursuits.
- Artists use investigation and inquiry.
- Artists and designers use cooperative learning.
- Artists connect new knowledge to personal preferences.
keyboard_arrow_down keyboard_arrow_up
Prepared Graduates:
- 1. See oneself as a participant in visual art and design by experiencing, viewing, or making.
- 8. Engage in the reciprocal relationships between visual art and communities.
Grade Level Expectation:
3. Demonstrate an understanding that art can be a vehicle for social change.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Research and explain a work of art that aims to create social change in a specific community such as but not limited to The Four Freedoms by Norman Rockwell, the Migration series by Jacob Lawrence, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, RUSH MORE by Kerry James Marshall or works by street artists such as Banksy.
- Create and display a work of art that persuades the viewer to take action as a participant in a democratic society.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills and Meaning Making:
- Identify how works of art and design are present in social or community activities such as but not limited to public art displays, visiting a museum or gallery, or engaging in a community arts event. (Social Awareness)
- Students can present arguments or information in a logical sequence in a work of art with a clear claim, supportive evidence and effective presence that builds credibility such as an artist presentation of personal research to support ideas. (Interpersonal Communication)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can students utilize research on social issues of personal concern to make a difference in a community?
- How can students make an impact and effect social change through the creation of artworks?
Learning Experience and Transfer:
- Artists critique social issues and create work with real-world and personal relevance.
- Artists and designers use imagining and artistic vision.
- Artists use investigation and inquiry.
- Art involves project-based learning.
- Artists can connect personal ideas to civic engagement.
Need Help? Submit questions or requests for assistance to bruno_j@cde.state.co.us