Art museums are powerful and contested institutions. They are also innovative sites of architectural and artistic practice. From the exhibitionary complex of the nineteenth century to the experiential complex of today, this course investigates the art museum from historical and contemporary perspectives, striking a balance between theoretical investigation and case studies of recent exhibitions and museum buildings. Where and why did the concept of the public art museum emerge, and how have its functions changed over time? How do art museums continue to shape our definitions of what art is? How have they responded to recent critiques of the self-described ‘universal’ museum and to claims for the ethical display of ill-gotten artifacts or the restitution of such objects as Greek vases and bronzes looted from Benin? And why is the Euro-American art museum so compelling a model that it has spread around the globe?
To address these and other questions, we will also go behind the scenes. Visits to local museums and discussions with curators are an essential component of the course.

Getting Started

Type of Unit: Introduction

Prior Knowledge

Students should be able to:

Solve and write numerical equations for whole number addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems.
Use parentheses to evaluate numerical expressions.
Identify and use the properties of operations.

Lesson Flow

In this unit, students are introduced to the rituals and routines that build a successful classroom math community and they are introduced to the basic features of the digital course that they will use throughout the year.

An introductory card sort activity matches students with their partner for the week. Then over the course of the week, students learn about the lesson routines: Opening, Work Time, Ways of Thinking, Apply the Learning, Summary of the Math, and Reflection. Students learn how to present their work to the class, the importance of taking responsibility for their own learning, and how to effectively participate in the classroom math community.

Students then work on Gallery problems to further explore the program’s technology resources and tools and learn how to organize their work.

The mathematical work of the unit focuses on numerical expressions, including card sort activities in which students identify equivalent expressions and match an expression card to a word card that describes its meaning. Students use the properties of operations to identify equivalent expressions and to find unknown values in equations.

Students review the ways classroom habits and routines can strengthen their mathematical character. Students learn what a Gallery is and how to choose a Gallery problem to work on. They then choose one of three Gallery problems that introduce the unit’s technology resources. The three Gallery problems combine working with expressions with the resources available with this unit.Key ConceptsUnderstand that a Gallery gives students a choice of several problems. Understand what to consider when choosing a problem. Know how to work on a Gallery problem and how to present work on gallery problems.Goals and Learning ObjectivesKnow how to choose a problem from a Gallery.