Artedworld’s Weblog

Enduring ideas are not anything new to the teaching arena. Apparently, however, they are relatively new to the Art Education arena… What is an enduring idea? Also called ‘Big Ideas’, the definition goes something like this…Similar to themes, topics or issues that reflect big questions about the human experience and have been investigated over time. They are broad umbrella-like ideas that guide students in understanding what it means to be human, to live along side of others and in the natural world.

Some examples of big ideas are:

• Identity
• Humans and nature
• War
• Creativity
• Humans and their relationship to others
• Communication
• Cultural diversity
• Memories
• Responsibility
• Survival
• Power
• Conflict
• Spirituality
• Cooperation
• Value
• Search for meaning
• Reality and Fantasy
• Life and Death
• Good and Evil
• Interdependence
• Life cycles
• Rites of passage
• Change

So what does all of this mean?

Enduring/big ideas are very useful in creating units and lessons.  When you use an enduring idea as the basis for a unit, and create all of your lessons around this one ‘big’ idea, the unit has more cohesion and tends to link to your student’s lives in a more personal way.  They link academic subject matter with life focused issues.  Your students will find their learning more meaningful and often will learn more.  See some of my example lesson plans to get an idea of how to implement big ideas into your classroom.