Big Picture Concepts (Quick Tip)

Big Picture Concepts

Big Picture Concepts are abstract ideas spanning grade level, subject area, content, and skill that relate in authentic ways to NCMA works of art and their historical contexts. K–12 educators representing math, science, social studies, language arts, and the fine arts have identified these concepts as critical aspects of their classroom instruction.

These concepts are meant to help you easily identify works of art, lesson plans, and concept maps that relate directly to what you want your students to learn. Click on each concept on the left to see how classroom content and art connect.

Change
The act, process or result of making or becoming different; transformation, transition, substitution.

Collaboration
Working with others, especially in an intellectual endeavor; cooperation.

Communication
An exchange of information; the process by which information is exchanged between individuals or groups through a common system of symbols, signs or behaviors; a technique for expressing ideas effectively.

Conflict
An extended struggle; a clash or sharp disagreement; a mental struggle resulting from needs, drives, wishes, or demands that are in opposition; the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in drama or fiction.

Cycle
A period of time taken up by a series of events or actions that repeat themselves regularly and in the same order; a series of events that happen again and again regularly and usually lead back the starting point; circular or spiral arrangement.

Environment
Surrounding conditions or forces; the whole complex of factors that influence a plant or animal’s form and the ability to survive; the social and cultural conditions that influence the life of a person or community.

Family
A group of individuals living under one roof; a group of persons of common ancestry; a group of things related by common characteristics; a group of related plants or animals.

Force
Strength or energy put forth; ability to persuade or convince; violence or power used on a person or thing; the quality of conveying impressions intensely in writing or speech; an influence that tends to produce a change in the speed or direction of motion of something.

Function
Professional job or duties, occupation; the particular purpose for which a person or thing is specially fitted or used or for which a thing exists; a large important ceremony or social affair; a mathematical relationship that assigns exactly one element of one set to each element of the same or another set.

Identity
The distinguishing character or personality of an individual; the condition of being exactly alike.

Impact
A striking together of two bodies; a forceful effect.

Interdependence
Relying on one another.

Investigation
The process of observing or studying by close examination and systematic inquiry.

Meaning
The thing one intends to convey, especially by language; something intended; the logical connotation of a word or phrase.

Movement
Change of place or posture; tendency or trend; a series of acts working toward a desired end; a section of a longer piece of music.

Observation
An act or instance of honoring or celebrating a custom, rule or law; an act of seeing or fixing the mind upon something; an act of gathering information by noting facts or occurrences; a judgment on or inference from what one has seen or noted.

Order
To arrange in a particular sequence; to command.

Part/Whole
The relation that holds between a fragment and a complete object; something determined in relation to something that includes it; a relation between meanings.

Perception
A result of observing; awareness of surrounding objects, conditions, or forces through sensation; capacity for understanding.

Perspective
The art or technique of painting or drawing a scene so that objects in it seem to have depth and distance; point of view; the power to understand things in their true relationship to each other; the appearance to the eye of objects in space with respect to their relative distance and position.

Persuasion
The act or process of winning over to a belief or to a course of action by argument or earnest request; the power or ability to do so; a way of believing.

Place
Physical environment or surroundings; a region, center of population, or location; a building, part of a building, or area occupied as a home; relative position in a scale or series.

Play
Engaging in activities that might include improvisation, experimentation, exploration for self-amusement that have behavorial, social and psychomotor rewards.

Power
The ability to act or do something; physical might; mental strength; possession of control, authority, or influence over others.

Problem-solving
The process of working through details of a problem to reach a solution; the thought processes involved in solving a problem.

Reflection
The return of light or sound waves from a surface; an image given back by a surface such as a mirror; careful thought; an opinion formed or a remark made after careful thought; a transformation of a figure in which each point is replaced by a point symmetric with respect to a line or place.

Ritual
Established form for a ceremony; ceremonial act or action; an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set manner according to religious law or social custom.

Storytelling
The social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics, or embellishment as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation or instilling moral values.

Subjectivity
The individuality of an artist as expressed through a work or performance; of, relating to, or arising within one’s self or mind; peculiar to a particular individual; affected by personal views, experience, or background.

Survival
The continuation of life or existence; the act or fact of living or continuing longer than another person or thing.

Technology
The use of science in solving problems; the practical application of knowledge in a particular area.

Variation
A change in form, position, or condition; amount of change or difference; repeating of a musical passage with a change in rhythm, tune; harmony, or key; a change in the characteristics that are usual for a species or group.

Work
The use of one’s strength or ability to get something done or to achieve a result; the duties done as one’s