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The Phillips Collection Unveils PRISM.K12, an Arts-Integrated Teaching Tool for K-12 Educators

March 25, 2015
Photograph of two women smiling in a room with art supplies

Prism.K12 provides teachers with tools to enhance learning and engagement through arts-integrated lessons

Washington, DC—The Phillips Collection announced today a new education initiative, Prism.K12, which connects the 21st-century museum to K-12 education by focusing on the integration of the visual arts with core subject areas. Prism.K12 grew out of the museum’s award-winning work in the field of K-12 teaching and learning, and includes multimedia teaching kits, national educator initiatives, and comprehensive local school partnerships.

The Phillips developed Prism.K12 in response to what it saw as a national need for easily-accessible, low-risk arts integration strategies in the classroom. The six Prism.K12 strategies or “rays”—identify, compare, connect, express, emphathize, and sympathize—were developed over 10 years of investigation, discussion, and collaboration with researchers and K-12 educators around the country. Using the Prism.K12 rays to brainstorm arts-integrated lessons, teachers can readily craft and implement arts-integrated lessons that seamlessly innovate and enhance their curricula, regardless of the subject matter.

In a national, independent, formative evaluation conducted in 2011–2012, teachers rated Prism.K12 a 7.24 on an eight-point scale, or “highly likely” to be used with clear and flexible strategies. “I start with the thematic elements or subject I want to cover; then I think about how art fits in,” says Inspired Teaching School pre-kindergarten teacher Hannah Salisbury. “For me, using the Prism.K12 strategies bridges the gap between the elements of a lesson and what I need or want them to learn.”

“Arts integration blends arts education and other core curriculum areas, such as language arts, science, and social studies, in a symbiotic way that increases student engagement and learning,” says Phillips Director of Education Suzanne Wright. “The Phillips has espoused this national educational pedagogy for more than a decade, part of a long-held commitment to rigorous and meaningful teaching and learning.”

 

THE PRISM.K12 WEBSITE



In an effort to provide global access to the Prism.K12 methodology, resources, and training, the Phillips has launched a Prism.K12 website, an interactive space for educators to learn more about teaching with the initiative’s six strategies, access works of art and teaching resources from the Phillips, and connect with a community of arts integration practitioners. The website also links to Prism.K12 Pinterest pages, where teachers can pin images of arts-integrated lessons in action.

Through the Prism.K12 website and social media platforms, the Phillips is:

  • Defining rigorous arts integration methodology through the six Prism.K12 teaching strategies

  • Creating a national community of K-12 educators who implement Prism.K12, practice arts integration, and participate in a robust exchange of ideas

  •  Highlighting the work of the Phillips’s best-practice “Inspiring Educators,” who pioneer teaching with Prism.K12 around the country

  • Sharing high-resolution artworks from the museum’s permanent collection for teachers to download, compare, share, and use in their classrooms along with related contextual information

    Prism.K12 has the potential to impact K-12 teaching and learning on a global scale. While currently using works of art from The Phillips Collection, Prism.K12 is designed to be used with any artwork. As thePrism.K12 initiative continues to grow, the Phillips will:

  • Develop a game-based brainstorming tool for teachers, activating Prism.K12 with any artwork

  • Create robust online Prism.K12 professional development workshops, informing educators

    globally about arts integration

  •  Continue to inspire a global group of K-12 educators to become arts integrators through social media and a robust discussion forum

  • Visit the Prism.K12 website: teachers.phillipscollection.org

    Find Prism.K12 on social media and use #TeachwithManRay to view conversations from a recent educators’ workshop, where teachers utilized the Prism.K12 website in exploring ways to integrate ManRay’s work into their curriculum.

    www.twitter.com/prismk12

    www.pinterest.com/prismk12