Christopher Wong

Art 133
Dr. Ward
September 20, 2017
Unit Paper #2
Power is a strong word and can be interpreted in various ways. Students connect with

power and the use of power every day which they see power in their parents, or teachers, or even

in their peers. Power could also be represented as money or materialistic objects. Power can

dominate ones life and it could change others and shape them as a person they are. With power,

children in their classes need to learn about it and teachers should have interpreted different ways

ho power is used and how it is portrayed in society. Art as investigation and demonstration of

power and the research that produces new visual and conceptual insights. (Gude, 2004). The

art representation is showing different ways of interpreting power. Power integrates with many

units in teaching due to how students view it and it can be taught in so many different

curriculums. Learning about power, can make any age successfully decipher the many

messages circulating in the images (Barret, 2003) due to the visualization of power and how

students interpret power.

Power should be taught throughout school in any curriculum or subject. It should be

brought up by asking what the students think of power. We could modify history lessons and art

pieces and ask students how that curriculum or time period had power. They would interpret it

and would write or draw about it. We would get different interpretations from all the students

about power and it is a great visual representation for the students to see throughout each

students minds. The instructor should also show the students the different types of power that

could be expressed and show examples through a story that the students could visualize and

connect with. It should be expressed on how important power could be and how it can be

controlled or how power could be bad and misused. There are many interpretations of power
and we should get to be familiar with different definitions so we dont implement one meaning in

the students head which then they would either become powerful and misuse it or be afraid of

power. The two elements generates rich and ironic associations (Gude, 2004) which gets to

know two sides of how power is thought of in a curriculum. When power is portrayed to the

class, it should be able to be integrated in their lives and get their minds thinking about what

power means.
 References

Barrett, T. (2003). Interpreting visual culture. Art Education, 56(2), 6-12

Gude, O. (2004). Postmodern principles: In search of a 21st century art education. Art Education,

57(1), 6-14

Hurwitz, A., & Day, M. (2007). Children and their art: Methods for the elementary school, (8th

ed.). Thompson Wadsworth