APAH - AP Course Structure

This course is structured around the big ideas and essential questions from the AP Art History Course and Exam Description.


Big Idea 1: Artists manipulate materials and ideas to create an aesthetic object, act, or event.
Essential Question: What is art and how is it made?

• Learning Objective 1.1: Students differentiate the components of form, function, content, and/or context of a work of art. 
  
• Learning Objective 1.2: Students explain how artistic decisions about art making shape a work of art. 
  
• Learning Objective 1.3: Students describe how context influences artistic decisions about creating a work of art. 
  
• Learning Objective 1.4: Students analyze form, function, content, and/or context to infer or explain the possible intentions for creating a work of art. 
  

Big Idea 2: Art making is shaped by tradition and change.
Essential Question: Why and how does art change?

• Learning Objective 2.1: Students describe features of tradition and/or change in a single work of art or in a group of related works. 
  
• Learning Objective 2.2: Students explain how and why specific traditions and/or changes are demonstrated in a single work or group of related works. 
  
• Learning Objective 2.3: Students analyze the influence of a single work of art or group of related works on other artistic production. 
  

Big Idea 3: Interpretations of art are variable.
Essential Question: How do we describe our thinking about art?

• Learning Objective 3.1: Students identify a work of art. 
  
• Learning Objective 3.2: Students analyze how formal qualities and/or content of a work of art elicit(s) a response. 
  
• Learning Objective 3.3: Students analyze how contextual variables lead to different interpretations of a work of art. 
  
• Learning Objective 3.4: Students justify attribution of an unknown work of art. 
  
• Learning Objective 3.5: Students analyze relationships between works of art based on their similarities and differences.