The mosaic art of Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations was the core of this interdisciplinary unit combining concepts and processes from language arts, history, math and art. The project also involved the business sector in our community.

The students studied Greek, Roman and Egyptian culture and researched a variety of art forms and artifacts. They discovered that the technique of mosaic art was common to all cultures.

Research Techniques

The students brought in pictures of historical and present-day mosaic artifacts and references. Then, they made comparisons to contemporary uses of mosaic techniques such as tabletops, kitchen and bathroom floors, and mosaics in public buildings and churches.

The students practiced methods of art historical inquiry as they researched and wrote about selected topics from a history timeline they developed. From the research, the students selected an artifact image or fragment they liked. Using enlarged photocopies, they rendered the image as a contour drawing using pencils on 18 x 24" (46 x 61 cm) paper. Then, the students cut and ripped colored construction paper and foil paper into squares and sorted the squares into egg cartons. …