Water: Social Issues and Contemporary Art Education

This Instructional Resource is based on the authors' current efforts as part of an interdisciplinary project where artists, community members, engineers, social activists, and educators are working together to make positive change in people's lives. Water, as a subject, symbol, and life-sustaining substance, is the focus of their work and the interdisciplinary curriculum it has inspired. They have found that interdisciplinary approaches in partnership with inspiration from real life social issues can provide a central point of focus for a series of meaningful learning experiences that relate to current interests in global and green movements, sustainability, and contemporary social projects. In this article, the authors describe an interdisciplinary learning experience incorporating art, global "green" ecology, and multicultural/social issues that engages high school students in a study and design project to create water receptacles. (Contains 5 online resources and 1 endnote.)