Please click on the links below to read more about the different subjects we are able to offer our students here at The Blue Coat School.
- Stimulate and maintain student interest and enjoyment in biology
- Offer students a broad and balanced curriculum, and where possible to provide opportunities to develop skills and gain an understanding of science concepts through first hand experience
- Make learning in biology relevant to every day life and the world of work
- Provide opportunities for students to carry out investigations on their own and in groups to foster team work
- To develop practical skills and techniques that can be employed in a variety of situations as well as those necessary to complete the ISA tests at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5
- Employ teaching methods and resources which allow students equal access to biology (irrespective of their gender, ethnicity or ability)
- Encourage students to be thoughtful citizens by offering them opportunities to reflect on how scientific and technological developments impinge on the environment, personal health and ethics
- Contribute to the development of the specialist science status of the school.
Key Stages 3
The department follows the AQA suite of examinations. In Year 7 and Year 8 a “fast track” course has been developed to prepare our able students for GCSE Biology which they will start in Year 9.
- Year 7
Students will explore some of the key biological themes during this course. These include cell biology, reproduction, the environment and digestion. They will also start to develop some of the key skills which underpin the study of biology at KS4 eg. How to analyse and interpret data and how scientists work.
- Year 8
This course begins with an understanding of the main body systems. The effects of poor lifestyle choices are investigated and this is followed with a study of disease and disease prevention. Plants are not forgotten and the crucial process of photosynthesis is covered during the summer term.
Key Stage 4
We study GCSE Biology as a separate science. This means we will cover more content than the GCSE combined science courses. The new AQA GCSE Biology provides a perfect preparation for AS and A- level without duplicating or overlapping the content.
The main topics taught over the 3 year course are:
- Cell Biology
- Infection and response
- Homeostasis and response
- Inheritance, variation and evolution
Practical work remains at the heart of biology and there are eight required practical’s that students have to carry out, although the department will cover many more than this.
There are two terminal examination papers. They will both assess knowledge and understanding from the seven different topics.
The new AQA specification will help to nurture a passion for biology and provide the ideal foundation for further study of the biological sciences or medicine.
Preconditions for taking the course
A grade B or above in GCSE Biology and a grade B or above in Mathematics are needed or at least a grade A in core and a grade A in Additional science if you have not taken separate sciences.
Overall, at least 10% of the marks in assessments will require the use of mathematical skills. These skills will be applied in biological contexts and will be at least the standard of higher tier GCSE mathematics.
You are strongly advised to take another science or mathematics with your AS biology course. Students who choose arts based subjects and biology alone will struggle at this level.
Students will sit all of their external examinations at the end of the A- level course at the end of Year 13.
The core content topics are:
- Biological molecules
- Organisms exchange substances with their environment
- Genetic information, variation and relationships between organisms
- Energy transfer in and between organisms
- Organisms respond to changes in the environment
- Genetics, populations, evolution and ecosystems
- The control of gene expression
Key Stage 3
Each year the Biology Department holds a Year 7 Flanimals competition. This is based on the book series written by the comedian Ricky Gervais. Students are asked to design an animal with specific and unusual adaptations to a particular habitat. It is judged by the Department and the three most imaginative designs based on sound biology, win a copy of the first book in the series.
Key Stage 5
The department appoints a number of biology prefects each year. This is an opportunity for students who are passionate about biology to develop their leadership and communication skills. The prefects are involved in developing revision seminars for struggling students and act as ambassadors for the department at open and information evenings.
Over the years, many students have had the opportunity to attend field trips to local conservation areas and zoos. More recently, biology staff have taken students to South Africa to take part in Operation Wallacea. As well as developing leadership and team work skills, students on this trip also learn about specific scientific techniques related to conservation and ecology.
The Chemistry Department is dedicated to engendering in its students a sense of excitement in the face of the complex wonder of the nature of matter.
The Department seeks to give deeper understanding through scientific enquiry as exciting and absorbing as those who work in the Department sincerely believe it to be. Equally, the Department is determined that each student should achieve his or her full academic potential, not least in terms of examination success at all levels, and we aim to give personal encouragement and support unstintingly to all students.
We employ a variety of teaching methods, with the aim of stretching and challenging all students and there is a strong emphasis on practical chemistry and putting chemistry into context.
Key Stage 3
Almost all lessons in Year 7 and Year 8 involve either class practical work or teacher demonstration and seek to enthuse students whilst giving a good understanding of basic chemical concepts. There is emphasis on appropriate recording of scientific enquiry.
Key Stage 4
Students have three years in which to study the AQA GCSE Chemistry specification. This allows for solid grounding in the more difficult concepts and opportunities to study some ares more deeply or widely as dictated by student’s interests.
In the sixth form, AQA AS and A2 modular courses are offered, running in parallel: (i) Physical/ Theoretical Chemistry; (ii) Organic/ Inorganic Chemistry. Practical Examinations taken at the end of the lower and upper sixth years make up 12.5% of the total marks.
These courses of study promote the acquisition of deep and detailed scientific knowledge and insight. Further, students learn an advanced degree of refinement in the practice of analytical techniques, both instrumental and experimental.
Students are given enthusiastic encouragement to pursue the subject beyond A2 level. The School is a regular participant in The Chemistry Olympiad, having won gold, silver and bronze medals and recently having a student reach the final group for International Olympiad selection. Year 12 students participate in the “Young Analyst of the Year” Competition and the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. Our Year 9-11 students regularly perform well in the National “Top of the Bench” Competition in which we have been placed first and, most recently, ninth in the country. Every year 4 Year 10 students attend Salter’s Chemistry Camps at a variety of Universities and younger students compete in local Salter’s competitions.
A variety of university lab experiences and trips to museums and industry are also offered.
At all Key Stages we aim to foster a love of literature, writing and oracy. We seek to encourage the individual student to take responsibility for his or her work and progress.
Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3, we offer a range of modules, each devised to promote varied language activities, and each containing tasks designed to address the requirements of the National Curriculum. Thus we are confident that all students are supported and challenged in their learning. Literature is at the heart of all Key Stages and we aim to give Year 7 and 8 students an overview of the development of literature in English including the principle achievements in poetry and prose. Two Shakespeare plays are studied during the Key Stage. We foster the students’ own creative writing and aim to help them develop their skills and style through the promotion of accurate grammar and spelling.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4, (GCSE), all students are entered for both WJEC English Language and English Literature. In the final year of the course, practice in doing comprehension exercises, answering questions on the literature set texts and writing discursive, informative and short descriptive pieces are activities which are systematically undertaken. The overwhelming majority of students achieve at least grade A in both Language and Literature.
At Key Stage 5, we offer two A level courses for sixth-formers, following AQA English Literature Syllabus B and AQA English Language and Literature. In English Literature, texts under the umbrella theme of tragedy are studied such as “Othello”, the poetry of John Keats and Arthur Miller’s play “The Death of a Salesman”.
A level English Language and Literature involves the study of an Anthology of thematically linked spoken and written texts which offer candidates the opportunity to consider the three major literary genres and a range of non-literary texts. It also involves a study of set texts such as “Frankenstein” and the poetry of Robert Browning. The syllabus has a strong creative writing element which asks students to re-cast aspects of the set texts in different forms. The ways in which meaning is conveyed in spoken language and how power is displayed through language are also considered.
At Key Stage 5, students are given a strong intellectual lead, and then are encouraged to become increasingly discerning, increasingly independent readers. They learn, in line with current tendencies in scholarship, to appreciate literature in the context of social and historical change, and in the process understanding, and critically evaluating, literary conventions and theories.
Each year several students who have studied an English A level at Blue Coat go on to take English at degree level. Individual tuition is offered to students who wish to apply for Oxbridge entrance.
The Department promotes a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including a creative writing club and close involvement with the annual school show. Theatre visits and other educational trips are also organised for the benefit and enjoyment of students. Students are encouraged to write in both creative and journalistic modes for a range of local publications and competitions (such as the School Magazine “The Squirrel”, various poetry anthologies and an annual young journalism competition).
A book club meets monthly to discuss students’ book choices and includes members from across the Key Stages.
The department is an official partner of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres allowing access to a range of theatre workshops, theatre tours and technical assistance with shows. The department is also taking part in “Work Bard Play Bard”, a project run by the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres in association with Shakespeare’s Globe, London.
Geography at The Blue Coat School encourages students to find out about the world around them and look at how natural and human environments act together. We have a passion for our subject and how it affects all our everyday lives. We take great pride in developing the very best resources and fieldwork to enable students to thoroughly enjoy lessons and want to follow the subject right through to GCSE and A Level.
Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3, Schemes of Work are designed to deliver the requisite knowledge in a clear and systematic fashion. The Department provides an enquiry-based approach to geographical themes and concepts. Students will develop the skills of recognising and describing patterns of the inter-relatedness of factors which affect the local, national, and global environment.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4 (GCSE), students study AQA Syllabus B, covering topics relating the UK, the EU, and some wider, global issues. Students will develop an awareness of Physical, Human and Environmental forces which operate in the world today, and begin to develop a mature understanding of how they may be dealt with by the people of our age. They will also receive a grounding in the techniques and skills which are needed to perform serious and scientific geographical enquiries.
Geography is a popular choice at A-Level. Topics in physical geography include: volcanoes, earthquakes and tropical storms. There is a separate unit on glaciation as well as a new topic on the importance of water and carbon to the planet system. In human geography we shall explore the economic, political and social changes associated with globalisation. We examine in detail a local place in the Liverpool area and another contrasting place. We also look at the emergence of megacities and the opportunities and problems that may arise. There are six days of new fieldwork to be arranged.
Geography deals practically all of the major issues in the world today. These are included in lessons and ‘Geography in the News’ discussions and displays.
In its academic work, the focus is on providing a breadth of musical experiences through music-making. Investment in computer programs has ensured that every student can move easily and naturally from imagining notes in the head to testing them on the ear. Classes will listen to music of different styles and periods; they will be involved in practical music-making; they will develop both their critical and creative skills through their own compositions.
Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4
Those who opt to study Music for GCSE will compose music in a range of different styles, and gain some insight into the theory of musical composition. They will begin to assess music using formal criteria, and play music either as a soloist, or member of an ensemble.
Music can be studied at both AS and A2 Levels, and those who choose to do so, rapidly develop their technical skills as composers, learn analytical skills in the study of famous pieces, and are given the opportunity to study a musical area of personal interest. Many choose to develop their performance skills even further.
The Department also oversees the work of peripatetic music teachers, so that any Blue Coat student who is committed to progressing with his or her instrument has the opportunity – and day-to-day encouragement – to do so.
Personal Development lessons at The Blue Coat School aim to help equip and develop students’ knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safe, productive and responsible lives.
Personal Development encompasses the statutory requirements for Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), Citizenship education and Careers IAG (information, advice and guidance). It is a planned programme to help children and young people develop fully as individuals and as members of families and social and economic communities.
Teaching will develop students’ understanding of democracy, government and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. Students will use and apply their knowledge and understanding whilst developing skills to research and interrogate evidence, debate and evaluate viewpoints, present reasoned arguments and take informed action. They will experience and evaluate different ways that citizens can act together to solve problems and contribute to society.
Across all 3 key stages students reflect on and evaluate their achievements and strengths in all areas of their lives and recognise their own worth. They will learn about respecting the differences between people. They will learn to recognise some strong emotions and identify ways of managing these emotions positively (for example talking with a friend or teacher about their feelings on divorce or falling in love). Students will work on career plans and be prepared for the world of work and managing their personal finances.
Healthy Body and Mind
Students will learn how to stay physically and mentally healthy. They should be able to make informed choices to maintain their health and well-being, and explain reasons for these choices regarding healthy lifestyles, travel and personal safety. Students will study health disorders such as stress and depression, including the link between eating disorders and self-image and be able to identify strategies for preventing and addressing these. The dangers and laws relating to alcohol, tobacco and legal and illegal drugs will be taught whilst equipping students with the resilience skills to resist negative pressure, including from their peers. They will discuss the importance of relationships to marriage, parenthood and family life. They will learn how to assess the risks and benefits associated with lifestyle choices such as sexual activity.
Students will learn to recognise difference and diversity (for example in culture, lifestyles, sexuality or relationships) and demonstrate understanding and empathy towards others who live their lives in different ways. They will learn to assertively challenge prejudice and discrimination (for example that relate to gender, race, disability, etc.)
Society and Politics
Students will be taught about the political system of democratic government in the United Kingdom, including the roles of citizens, Parliament and the monarchy. They will learn how voting and elections work and the role of political parties. Students will learn about laws and the justice system and take part in a mock trial. There will be the opportunity to contribute to community and school-based voluntary activities.
Key Stage 5
In Key Stage 5 students follow a comprehensive programme that has been designed specifically to meet the needs of Blue Coat students. Much of the focus is around preparing for life after Blue Coat, at University or in the world of work. Students will be given advice and guidance on the various post-18 options available, spend time working on developing their speaking and leadership skills and learn, develop interview skills for both work and university and practise these and be guided through the university application process. They will explore a range of life skill topics such as applying for loans and booking holidays. In addition to this students will learn how to stay safe in social situations and when abroad. There will be some basic first aid training and an introduction to the key skills required for living independently.
As most students reach the age when they can vote, practical advice will be given and students will be guided in how to make informed decisions. Students will revisit issues surrounding diversity, different ethnicities and the issues surrounding radicalisation and extremism.
The philosophy of the Physical Education Department is aptly summed up in the familiar slogan, ‘Sport for All’. We seek to promote all aspects of P.E. and active recreation, and encourage our students to develop physically, personally, socially and morally. To these ends, all teaching and learning styles are employed (including the traditional academic, as an aspect of sixth form study). Group and independent learning are central to our work.
Key Stage 3
At Key Stage 3, we set about building upon the foundation of the previous Key Stage, and further develop our pupils’ skills relating to the six areas of prescribed study: dance, gymnastics, swimming, athletics, outdoor education, and games (the last being compulsory for all). Pupils’ knowledge base is considerably extended, new skills are acquired, and insight is gained into sporting tactics and decision-making.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4, students begin to specialise, following their own preferences, and opting for two of the areas studied at Key Stage 3. Physical activity is clearly (and practically) related to issues of health and well-being: training, fitness, and dietary techniques are demonstrated and taught.
Skills are further developed and refined, and the mental and character-building aspects of physical striving are given due emphasis. Students are introduced to the sophisticated and rewarding arts of officiating and coaching.
The successes of the Blue Coat School in sporting competitions have been, over recent years, many and great. It is almost unknown for Blue Coat football and basketball teams not to figure in local and regional finals – generally in the role of outright winners!
Moreover, football and basketball teams have on several occasions returned triumphant with National trophies. The dedication and expertise of our teachers ensures that we have highly skilled and ambitious teams at all age levels in football, basketball, cricket and athletics, and are now seeing success in our hockey, netball and cross-country teams to the same standard.
The Aim of the Physics Department is two-fold. Firstly and most importantly to develop appreciation and understanding of the physical principles which both underpin and power the physical universe, from the most minute particles to the largest things which exist. Secondly to prepare students effectively to apply this understanding to achieve exam results at the highest grades. A range of teaching methods is employed, from the traditional to the innovative, all designed to introduce the key concepts of physics, and develop a critical and rigorously analytical approach to the study of the physical world. We value highly the academic standards our students achieve and so, unusually, all of the students are taught Physics from Year 7 to Year 13 by specialist Physics teachers only.
Key Stage 3
In common with other subjects the Key Stage three program of study is completed in years Seven and Eight. Following the Activate programme of study students meet, at a relatively basic level, all of the major branches of classical physics. They develop their understanding and knowledge of heat, light, electricity and magnetism, the effect of forces, and the position of the Earth in the universe. Students are thus enabled to acquire a primary knowledge of a wide range of physical phenomena, and develop the techniques and skills necessary to investigate them systematically.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage students study the topics introduced in Key Stage 3 in greater depth, and are introduced to radioactivity, and atomic and nuclear structure and stability. These studies follow, and lead towards, the AQA Physics GCSE which is part of the ‘trilogy’ suite of science GCSEs. At this Stage, students begin to perceive the links between seemingly disparate phenomena. In practical work, they develop their ability to investigate, scientifically, a quantitative relationship between variables by completion of a range of experiments and investigations, including a series of compulsory activities set down by the examination board.
In the Sixth Form, in following the AQA Physics Syllabus, students study the full range of the physical processes and effects addressed by physicists and the sometimes complex theoretical constructs used to understand them.
This course is characterised by an increase in the use of mathematical methods to gain a full understanding of the topics already familiar from Key Stages 3 and 4, and in addition students are introduced to fundamental particle physics, relativity, and quantum mechanics. These last two topics form the basis of the optional section of the final module of A’level entitled ‘Turning Points in Physics’
Practical skills are developed by regular experiments which serve to underline and illuminate the theoretical side and, equally importantly, develop the investigative skills expected at this level. These skills are assessed by the teacher according to strict criteria laid down by the examination boards and in questions appearing in the final examinations.
The skills and qualities developed in successfully completing this demanding A’level course are highly valued by employers and admissions tutors in a wide range of disciplines seeming unrelated to Physical sciences. In addition our Physics Department has a proven record of stretching and developing the most able students, and has prepared a large number of them for study of physics, engineering and related disciplines at prestigious universities.
With such a large number of Physics and Maths students it is, perhaps, not surprising that there are thriving Physics and Engineering societies. There are also opportunities for students to attend lectures and hear visiting speakers. We also have a large number of entries into the Physics Olympiad and Physics challenges at GCSE and A’level and have had a good deal of success in these competitions. A smaller number of students are selected as subject prefects and these form an important part of the department, organising activities for open days and academic support for students who need a helping hand.
Information coming soon.


In this easy-prep, “taste of engineering” activity, youngsters see the separation of ink into its components. They place permanent marker ink on coffee filter paper that is dipped into isopropyl alcohol; then they repeat with water to see if the results are different. The process—called chromatography—is a way to look at complex mixtures by separating them into their components. It’s not a chemical process; it’s a physical process because the mixture components are not chemically combined. To wrap up the 45-minute activity, students share their findings and learn that different inks have different properties such as how well they dissolve in certain types of solvents—which is important for many real-world applications like criminal evidence investigation and pollution cleanup. This engaging “sprinkle” is ideal for after-school clubs and scouts, and is also available in Spanish!
Glaciers, Water and Wind, Oh My! Activity
What is erosion and how does it relate to math and engineering? In this hands-on, math-enriched activity designed for fifth graders, students learn about five types of erosion (chemical, water, wind, glacier and temperature) as they rotate through stations and model each type on rocks, soils and minerals. Students learn about the effects of each erosion type and discover that engineers study erosion in order to design ways to protect our environment, structures and people’s lives. In a series of real-world scenarios (math word problems), students make calculations about the effects of erosion, including calculating erosion damage on forest, personal property and mountains, as well as determining the cost of damage. This activity includes two student worksheets and is part of a nine-lesson and 16-activity elementary-level unit called “Engineering for the Earth.” The activity meets several state and national math standards including CCMS, and science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA.
"I love this curriculum. It’s scalable for middle and high school students, and it’s an important skill that is typically overlooked," said one of our partner teachers. While years of research have linked spatial visualization skills to success in engineering, NEW research shows that spatial visualization skills can be LEARNED. To begin this lesson, students complete a 12-question, multiple-choice spatial visualization practice quiz. Then, through four associated activities, students work through hands-on, interactive and tangible exercises on the topics of isometric drawings and coded plans, orthographic views, one-axis rotations and two-axis rotations. Finally, students take the quiz again to see how they've improved. This curriculum is the result of years of testing with first-year engineering college students, and has proved successful in improving student spatial visualization skills—thereby setting them up for success in engineering. Bring SV into your classroom today!
How can engineers display data and results in an aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-understand way? In this high school lesson, students learn the value of—and connections between—art and writing in both science and engineering. They learn the principles of visual design (contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity) as well as the elements of visual design (line, color, texture, shape, size, value and space) to acquire the vocabulary to describe visual art and design. Engineers often need to convey their designs and ideas visually to create buy-in, appeal to clients or win research funding. So engineers must be able to creatively and clearly communicate their work and designs—often using art. Students also learn about the science and engineering research funding process and heat flow/thermal conductivity basics, which prepare them for the associated engineering design activity in which they create visual representations to communicate their collected experimental data. This lesson and activity meet many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA.
Just Breathe Activity
Breathe in. Breathe out. What is happening to your lungs as you inhale and exhale? In this popular hands-on activity, students learn about the respiratory system and explore the inhalation/exhalation process of the lungs. Using everyday materials (2-liter plastic bottles and balloons), students act as engineers and create model lungs to analyze their function and the overall breathing process. They learn that during inhalation, the volume of the thoracic cavity increases while pressure in the lungs decreases, and that during exhalation, the volume of the thoracic cavity decreases while pressure in the lungs increases. By studying the respiratory system, engineers have been able to create life-saving technologies such as the heart-lung machine that keeps patients alive during heart transplant procedures. Students learn about the many engineering advancements that have helped people who have respiratory system difficulties. At activity end, student teams demonstrate their models and explore what happens to the respiratory system if punctured. This upper elementary-level activity meets science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA.
Can you improve the efficiency of a fast-food restaurant through engineering analysis and design? In this thought-provoking activity, students attempt to improve the efficiency of a fast-food restaurant that is financially struggling due to inefficient daily routines by considering trade-offs and constraints. Acting as engineers, students identify strengths and weaknesses in the existing system and generate a plan to improve efficiency—such as restructuring employee responsibilities, revising a floor plan and delegating tasks—while following requirements and limitations. Students culminate their analyses by writing argumentative essays summarizing and defending their suggested changes and improvements. This activity is especially engaging for students with workforce experience, helping them make meaningful connections between their everyday experiences and engineering. The activity is suitable for middle and high school students and meets science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA.
Alloy the Way to Mars Activity
NASA needs your help! What alloy would you recommend they use for a new engine intended to transport astronauts to Mars? In this straightforward activity that requires few materials, students must think like real-world engineers to help NASA decide which material to use for its RS-25 engine and turbine design. Student groups work as engineering teams, taking various measurements and performing calculations to determine the specific strength of different alloys. Students test to look for a material that is both strong and lightweight and discover that a higher specific strength yields a stronger, more lightweight material. Students learn about the ultimate tensile strength, the maximum amount of stress a material can sustain before failing, and use that and the material density to calculate specific strength of the various alloys. The activity culminates in a creative writing project as students compose letters to the Deputy Program Manager at NASA outlining their recommendations. Geared towards middle school students, this activity meets science and technology standards including NGSS and ITEEA, and comes with a preparatory lesson.
Imagine one day that you open your eyes and realize that you can only see a small portion of your surroundings—much of your range of vision is gone! Many people with glaucoma experience this every day. In this engaging activity, middle school students experience how engineers help people; they act as biomedical engineers to design pressure sensors that measure eye pressure and use 3D software to design and print 3D prototypes of their sensors (or modeling clay as an alternative). Presented with personal stories of two people with glaucoma, student teams are challenged to develop prototypes that can help them identify pressure changes in the eyes. Students learn about radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology and conduct research on pressure gauges. They are given project requirements: designs must use RFID technology, be lightweight and small, and measure eye pressure. Over seven days, teams determine an appropriate pressure gauge, design an intraocular pressor sensor prototype given constraints, 3D print the prototypes, and present them to the class. This activity meets many STEM standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA.
Imagine you are a runner, but you lost a leg in an accident—how can you keep running? In this easy-to-prep informal learning "sprinkle," middle school students design, build and test prosthetic legs in two hours using ordinary household materials. First, students learn about prostheses, the importance of replacement legs for individuals who have lost their leg(s) to accident or injury, and are tasked to follow the steps of the engineering design process to make prosthetic leg prototypes. Student teams discuss important features of replacement legs and brainstorm design ideas. They choose fabrication materials from provided supplies, sketch their design plan and gain instructor design approval prior to constructing their prototypes. After building, students test the prosthetic limbs, making sure they can be used to walk successfully around the classroom (crude but functional!). Students improve their designs as necessary and present them to the class at the end. This engaging and fun "sprinkle" is also available in Spanish!
Growing and Graphing Activity
How tall are you? In this kindergarten activity, students get to meet older schoolmates and explore their schools while measuring the heights of the older students using large building blocks, which they later translate into pictorial bar graphs. This activity provides a fun and refreshing way to introduce young students to measurement and graphing at an early age; they learn how to take real-world measurements and then graph and examine the data. The kindergarteners visit second and fourth grade classes and work in pairs to make height measurements of students and adults by using large building blocks and keeping tallies. Back in their classroom, they glue pre-cut construction paper rectangles (~1-3 inches in size, representing the building blocks they used for measurement) onto lined chart paper to make bar graphs of the different height measurements. Then they compare the heights of second-graders, fourth-graders and adults—discussing the differences and patterns, sorting the heights from tallest to shortest and determining the median height. This activity meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA.
Right on Target: Catapult Game Activity
Ready, set, catapult! In this hands-on activity, student groups are tasked with designing and constructing precise and accurate catapults using everyday materials and guidance from the engineering design process. With the goal to launch ping-pong balls to hit different targets, student teams experiment with different designs. Will the catapult shoot the ping-pong ball far enough to hit the target? Students must apply an understanding of projectile motion to determine the best launch angle to travel the farthest distance. They analyze the different forces acting on their catapults and make their structures robust enough to withstand them. After constructing their catapults, students test their structures and see how many targets they can successfully hit. Teams earn points for hitting targets and tally their scores to determine a winning team. Students present their designs to the class, suggest improvements and discuss the characteristics of successful catapults. This engaging and playful activity meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA.
Physics of Roller Coasters Lesson
Ack! You are at the top of a roller coaster about to drop—then, thanks to physics and engineering, you make a safe landing despite all the jitters! In this lesson, middle school students learn about the physics behind roller coasters, investigating potential and kinetic energy as well as friction and gravity, and explore how engineers apply the basics of physics to roller coaster designs. They learn how the force of gravity drives roller coasters and that the conversion between potential and kinetic energy is essential to its motion. In addition, they learn how roller coasters slow down due to friction and the role that velocity and acceleration play in the motion of these exhilarating rides. This imaginative lesson provides the necessary background knowledge for its associated activity, "Building Roller Coasters," in which students design and build model roller coasters. This lesson geared towards upper middle school students meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA.
Zero-Energy Housing Activity
Brrr! It's a chilly March night—can you think of a way to heat your house without using an electric or gas heater? In this hands-on activity, teens design and construct one-bedroom model houses within specified constraints (and a variety of material options) and are challenged to warm up their houses as much as they can and maintain the heated temperatures for as long as possible using passive solar heating design techniques. Students learn about solar heating (including how insulation, window placement, thermal mass, surface colors and site orientation are all essential in design), and apply learned concepts to the design and construction of their model houses. After constructing, students test their model homes during simulated daytime and nighttime conditions to examine thermal gains and losses. Finally, students present and compare their designs and suggest improvements. This engaging high school activity meets multiple science and technology standards, and is NGSS and ITEEA aligned.
Quick! The power is out, you're in the dark and immediately grab your flashlight. Ever wondered how flashlights work? What makes them light up so easily? In this easy-prep informal learning sprinkle, elementary students design, build and test their own flashlights. Student first learn and discuss the essential components of flashlights: the importance of a switch, how flashlights are composed of a simple series circuit, and that the batteries and switch must be correctly oriented to work. Given a list of available supplies, they sketch their own flashlight designs that incorporate a switch, a reflector-enhanced light (such as with foil) and batteries contained in a paper tube. After building, students test for reliability, checking to see if the light can be turned on three times in a row. Students improve their designs as necessary and present their flashlights to the class at the end. This is a great starter engineering project—good for afterschool clubs and rainy afternoons. Also available in Spanish!
Engineering a Mountain Rescue Litter Activity
Imagine hiking in the mountains, suddenly getting injured and being unable to walk. In this hands-on design challenge, elementary-age students consider this situation and act as engineers to create rescue litters/baskets for use in hard-to-get-to places such as mountainous terrain. Using a potato to model an injured person, teams build small-sized prototypes that meet given criteria and constraints: lightweight and inexpensive, break down to be small and portable, quick assembly and stable transport of an injured body. They learn about the human bodys nerves and spinal cord and the importance of protecting it. They "purchase" ordinary building materials such as toothpicks, paper towels, craft sticks, foil and sponges to design and build prototypes. Through timed tests, they assess their design success in assembly and transport of the injured person (potato). Then students compare statistics (litter mass, cost, stability and rescue time) and graph all team data, analyzing the results to determine which designs performed best. Part of a biomedical engineering unit, this engaging activity meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA.
Clearing a Path to the Heart Activity
Can you think of a way to unclog blood vessels? In this open-ended design project, student teams act as biomedical engineers to create and build devices capable of removing and/or flattening plaque build-up inside artery walls. They follow the steps of the engineering design process, apply their knowledge of the circulatory system and learn about existing methods to treat blocked arteries (angioplasty/stent and coronary bypass surgery). First they gain an understanding of the need (chest pain, heart attacks), then brainstorm ideas, design and plan, create and test a prototype, and then refine their designs. Students assess their success by first observing how two liters of water flows through model clogged arteries (tubes with play dough or peanut butter in them) and then timing how fast the water flows through the cleared arteries. Students present their designs to the class, explaining what worked and what improvements are needed. This middle school activity is part of a larger biomedical engineering unit and meets many math, science and technology standards, including CCMS, NGSS and ITEEA.
Mars Rover App Creation Activity
Did you know that the Mars Curiosity rover discovered water on Mars?! How do engineers develop such an intelligent vehicle capable of such vast exploration? In this activity, students explore the programming and technology realms to discover and create Android apps capable of controlling LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robots to simulate a planetary rover remote sensing task. Using MIT's App Inventor software, student teams create their own mobile applications that they execute on Android devices to control specific aspects of an NXT robot. They might program actions such as driving the robot, moving an arm, detecting objects, applying a game or using a light sensor. Student teams follow the steps of the software/systems design process and gain programming design experience. Groups present their apps to the class and demonstrate how they control a robot. This middle/high school activity meets many science and technology standards, including NGSS and ITEEA.
Most people take no notice of above-ground storage tanks in their communities! The tanks might contain water or petrochemicals in liquid or gas form, or other industrial explosive and toxic materials. What's important is that engineers design the tanks to be structurally sound—and hopefully strong enough to remain intact during major storms and hurricanes! In this activity, teens act as engineers in design teams tasked to examine the stability of certain above-ground storage tanks (and demonstrate their understanding of Archimedes' principle and Pascal's law). Guided by worksheets and during five class periods, they derive equations and make analyses to determine whether the storage tanks will displace or remain stationary in the event of flooding. Then they are challenged to think of improved designs to prevent displacement and buckling. They present their results and design ideas to the class. This high school activity concludes the Above-Ground Storage Tanks in the Houston Ship Channel lesson, which is part of The Physics of Fluid Mechanics unit, and meets many science, math and technology standards, including NGSS and Common Core Math.
Youngsters know the foods they eat and the clothes they wear, but may have never made the connection to climate. In this elementary-level lesson, students learn the effects of climate on our food options and water sources, as well as on our clothing and shelter types. In small groups, students role-play families living in different regions around the globe and determine where they live based on their clothing and food (provided on notecards). They discuss factors that affect the climate such as latitude, elevation, land features and weather, and learn about different climates such as tropical, desert, alpine, oceanic. They also learn how engineers develop technologies to predict and be protected from weather and climate. In the associated activity, students learn the steps of the engineering design process as they explore ways to provide water to a (hypothetical) community facing a water crisis. This lesson is part of a nine-lesson unit, "Engineering for the Earth."
What happens to trash when you throw it away? What does it mean to be "environmentally friendly"? Elementary school students build and then observe small model landfills over five days as a way to learn about biodegradability and the processes that engineers use to reduce solid waste. The simple model landfills are created in cut-apart two-liter plastic bottles with four garbage samples tested: paper, apple, lettuce and plastic. Students make predictions and then note how the different items biodegrade over time. From this, they learn that engineers optimize the composting process and improve landfills so food, animal and other waste are converted into high-nutrient soil. They experience modeling; a common engineering approach to understand and improve how things work. This fun activity meets many science, math and technology standards, including NGSS and Common Core Math.
What is an anemometer? And how is it useful? In this easy-prep informal learning sprinkle (which takes less than an hour to conduct!) student pairs build and use simple paper-cup anemometers to measure wind speed as if they were engineers identifying good locations for wind turbines. Elementary students are able to determine relative speeds by counting rotations of the spinning paper cups. By measuring wind speed at five outside locations, students see how it varies and where it is strongest, which helps them understand how knowing wind speed at multiple locations is important. For wind turbines, stronger winds generate more electricity! Real-time wind speed data collected at airports helps pilots safely take off and land. Continuously measuring wind speed at uncountable locations around the planet provides essential data for weather prediction and public safety alerts.
Animals and Engineering Lesson
What do animals have to do with engineering? Some students might be surprised to hear that animals are directly related to engineering! In fact, some of the most remarkable engineering innovations were inspired by animals and nature. In this lesson, students learn the role of animals in engineering innovation, particularly how animal characteristics and features are mimicked in engineering design to create new technologies—otherwise known as biomimicry. Such examples of biomimicry include airplanes, boats, underwater sea vessels, and antibiotics and healing drugs. Additionally, students learn about animal interactions and the basic animal classifications to better understanding how animals live and to relate the natural world to engineering innovation. This informative and interesting lesson, targeted for elementary school students, meets both NGSS and Common Core Math standards. Image source: Dreamstime.com
Ice, Ice, PV! Activity
As the use of renewable energy grows, most teenagers have seen photovoltaic solar panels in their communities and on everyday items such as back packs, battery chargers and outdoor lighting devices. These photovoltaic (PV) solar panels generate power that can be used in many applications in their lives. In this activity, students explore variables that affect the power output of PV panels to answer the question: “If engineers installed the exact same power plant in Las Vegas, NV, and Fargo, ND, would it produce the exact same amount of power over the course of a year?” Student teams collect data in this engaging hands-on activity and apply mathematical equations based on electrical power and the temperature coefficient to learn how temperature and climate affect PV panels and to predict the power output of PV panels at different temperatures. This activity also meets NGSS and Common Core Math standards. Photo credit: Candice Nyando, Black Rock Solar.
Imagine having to carry water dozens of miles, up and around mountains, just to be able to boil that water for cooking and cleaning! Students learn the important role engineers play in the management of groundwater, and the importance of clean, accessible water. The realities of how water is acquired, and subsequently used, for daily survival—especially in developing countries—can be a new concept for students, especially Americans used to readily available clean water. Creating a system to transport water, helps “water poor” populations whose water does not come directly from a faucet! Students learn exactly how such a water transportation system is developed and used. This middle school-level activity meets one NGSS design problem standard.
Making solar ovens is a classic, fun and delicious engineering activity—and one with great potential to help others worldwide. Middle school students learn the value of solar ovens as they use cardboard, insulation, foil and Plexiglas to design, construct and test devices that apply their understanding of thermal energy transfer. Student teams devise solutions to meet problem criteria and constraints, as well as collect and analyze data to determine the effectiveness of their designs. Then, expand students' context for how a project like this can help others by showing them a video clip about Infinity Bakery—a low-cost solar oven design being prototyped in Burundi to enable smoke-free and fuel-free cooking and baking. This activity fits into many areas of study, including energy, social studies, planets and seasons, graphing and analysis—and meets many NGSS and Common Core Math standards.
In this NGSS-aligned unit, high school students learn about environmental and biomedical engineering through the study of nanotechnology and its relationship to skin cancer. Through three lessons and three associated activities, students learn about the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelengths and how the ozone helps block ultraviolet radiation; how repeated exposure to ultraviolet radiation impacts our skin with harmful, long-lasting effects; and how persons with skin cancer are treated with nanoparticles, a result of modern technological advancements employed by engineers around the world. After this unit, students will have an understanding of the causes, diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer and an appreciation of the vital role biomedical engineers and nanoparticle research play in preventing humans from the (oftentimes life-threatening) condition of skin cancer. This unit requires approximately 12 days (60-minute periods) to complete.
Sugar Spill! (for Informal Learning) Sprinkle
Oh no! There has been a major pollutant spill, and environmental engineers must clean it up fast. How can it be done? What can be used to "soak up" the spill? In this informal learning sprinkle, students see how environmental spills are contained through "bioremediation"—a process that plays an important role for engineers to quickly and efficiently clean up toxic (or non-toxic, but messy) spills. Through the use of common household products—in this case sugar, yeast and vinegar—students learn that engineers do not actually "soak up" environmental spills, but use chemicals to safely degrade (or "eat up") harmful bacteria to restore balance to an area affected by a contaminant.
Oil on the Ocean Activity
Engineering design activities can play an important role in helping students make connections among the STEM subjects. This activity does that by engaging fifth-grade students in a fun, hands-on project to design, build, and re-design prototype oil booms to contain oil spills. This project weaves together a range of scientific concepts and topics, including ecosystems, material properties, density and pollution as well as considerations for the impact on wildlife, habitat and food supplies, related economic and political issues, and the use of technology by humans. Over three, hour-long class periods, student teams experience the full engineering design process, from understanding the problem and brainstorming solutions to drawing, prototyping, testing and redesigning solutions. Like real-world engineers, students work within given requirements and constraints, use assorted ordinary materials—duct tape, cotton balls, straws, sponges—and test their designs in miniature oil spill simulations. As a bonus, teaching this activity meets numerous NGSS (science) and ITEEA (technology) educational standards.
Solar Water Heater Activity
It is easy to take for granted the luxury of a hot shower or bath. An engineering mind wonders: How did the water get heated? How much energy is used? What types of energy are used? Could we use energy from the sun to heat it? Ask your high school students these questions to engage them in this NGSS- and Common Core Math-aligned activity to create miniature solar water heaters. In the process, they deepen their understanding of conduction, convection and radiation—each of which plays a role in the heater design. After the hands-on design/build projects are completed, students perform efficiency calculations, compare designs and think of improvements—just like engineers—thereby also experiencing the analysis phase of the engineering design process. This activity also passed the extensive review process of the Climate Literacy & Energy Network (CLEAN).
Power, Work and the Waterwheel Activity
Water is one of our world's most precious resources. Imagine if water could be put to work to make even another resource. Well it can! Water, on its own has a lot of power, but create a mechanism to harness that water power, and you can generate a lot of electrical energy. Why do we care about using water for creating energy? Well, energy is another precious resource for the inhabitants of our planet. This hands-on activity teaches middle school students about the power of water and why we care about harnessing water for energy use. Using simple supplies found at home or at a recycling center, students design and build their own water wheels, simulating hydroelectric power plants. They learn how engineers measure water power, and troubleshoot ways to increase that power. This activity is aligned to numerous standards, including NGSS, Common Core Math and ITEEA.


A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that's drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made after the earliest times, it isn't until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work. With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, a large number of painters, sculptors and printmakers tried a few form of self-portraiture. Portrait of a Man in a Turban by Jan van Eyck of 1433 might well be the earliest known panel self-portrait. He painted a separate portrait of his wife, and he belonged to the social group that had begun to commission portraits, already more common among wealthy Netherlanders than south of the Alps. The genre is venerable, but not until the Renaissance, with increased wealth and interest in the individual as a subject, did it become truly popular.
A self-portrait might be a portrait of the artist, or a portrait included in a larger work, including a group portrait. Many painters are said to have included depictions of specific individuals, including themselves, in painting figures in religious or additional types of composition. Such paintings weren't intended publicly to depict the actual persons as themselves, but the facts would have been known at the time to artist and patron, creating a talking point as well as a public test of the artist's skill.
In the earliest surviving examples of mediaeval and renaissance self-portraiture, historical or mythical scenes (from the Bible or classical literature) were depicted using a number of actual persons as models, often including the artist, giving the work a multiple function as portraiture, self-portraiture and history/myth painting. In these works, the artist usually appears as a face in the crowd or group, often towards the edges or corner of the work and behind the main participants. Rubens's The Four Philosophers (1611–12) is a good example. This culminated in the seventeenth century with the work of Jan de Bray. Many artistic media have been used; apart from paintings, drawings and prints have been especially important.
In the famous Arnolfini Portrait (1434), Jan van Eyck is probably one of two figures glimpsed in a mirror – a surprisingly modern conceit. The Van Eyck painting might have inspired Diego Velázquez to depict himself in full view as the painter creating Las Meninas (1656), as the Van Eyck hung in the palace in Madrid where he worked. This was another modern flourish, given that he appears as the painter (previously unseen in official royal portraiture) and standing close to the King's family group who were the supposed main subjects of the painting.
In what might be one of the earliest childhood self-portraits now surviving, Albrecht Dürer depicts himself as in naturalistic style as a 13-year-old boy in 1484. In later years he appears variously as a merchant in the background of Biblical scenes and as Christ.
In the seventeenth century, Rembrandt painted a range of self-portraits. In The Prodigal Son in the Tavern (c1637), one of the earliest self-portraits with family, the painting probably includes Saskia, Rembrandt's wife, one of the earliest depictions of a family member by a famous artist. Family and professional group paintings, including the artist's depiction, became increasingly common from the seventeenth century on. From the later twentieth century on, video plays an increasing part in self-portraiture, and adds the dimension of audio as well, allowing the person to speak to us in their own voice.
Gallery: Inserted self-portraits
Women artists are notable producers of self-portraits; almost all significant women painters have left an example, from Caterina van Hemessen to the prolific Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, and Frida Kahlo, as well as Alice Neel, Paula Modersohn-Becker and Jenny Saville who painted themselves in the nude. Vigée-Lebrun painted a total of 37 self-portraits, a large number of of which were copies of earlier ones, painted for sale. Until the twentieth century women were usually unable to train in drawing the nude, which made it difficult for them to paint large figure compositions, leading a large number of artists to specialise in portrait work. Women artists have historically embodied a number of roles within their self-portraiture. Most common is the artist at work, showing themselves in the act of painting, or at least holding a brush and palette. Often, the viewer wonders if the clothes worn were those they normally painted in, as the elaborate nature of a large number of ensembles was an artistic choice to show her skill at fine detail.
Images of artists at work are encountered in Ancient Egyptian painting, and sculpture and additionally on Ancient Greek vases. One of the first self-portraits was made by the Pharaoh Akhenaten's chief sculptor Bak in 1365 BC. Plutarch mentions that the Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias had included a likeness of himself in a number of characters in the "Battle of the Amazons" on the Parthenon, and there are classical references to painted self-portraits, none of which have survived.
Portraits and self-portraits have a longer continuous history in Asian art than in Europe. Many in the scholar gentleman tradition are quite small, depicting the artist in a large landscape, illustrating a poem in calligraphy on his experience of the scene. An Additional tradition, associated with Zen Buddhism, produced lively semi-caricatured self-portraits, whilst others remain closer to the conventions of the formal portrait.
Illuminated manuscripts contain a number of obvious self-portraits, notably those of Saint Dunstan and Matthew Paris. Most of these either show the artist at work, or presenting the finished book to either a donor or a sacred figure, or venerating such a figure. Orcagna is believed to have painted himself as a figure in a fresco of 1359, which became, at least according to art historians — Vasari records a number of such traditions — a common practise of artists. Notwithstanding for earlier artists, with no additional portrait to compare to, these descriptions are necessarily rather speculative. Among the earliest self-portraits are additionally two frescos by Johannes Aquila, one in Velemér (1378), western Hungary, and one in Martjanci (1392), northeastern Slovenia. In Italy Giotto di Bondone (1267–1337) included himself in the cycle of "eminent men" in the Castle of Naples, Masaccio (1401–1428) depicted himself as one of the apostles in the painting of the Brancacci Chapel, and Benozzo Gozzoli includes himself, with additional portraits, in the Palazzo Medici Procession of the Magi (1459), with his name written on his hat. This is imitated a few years later by Sandro Botticelli, as a spectator of the Adoration of the Magi (1475), who turns from the scene to look at us. Fourteenth-century sculpted portrait busts of and by the Parler family in Prague Cathedral include self-portraits, and are among the earliest such busts of non-royal figures. Ghiberti included a small head of himself in his most famous work. Notably, the earliest self-portrait painted in England, additional than in a manuscript, is the miniature painted in oils on panel by the German artist Gerlach Flicke, 1554.
Albrecht Dürer, 1471–1528, the first prolific self-portraitist
Albrecht Dürer was an artist highly conscious of his public image and reputation, whose main income came from his old master prints, all containing his famous monogram, which were sold throughout Europe. He probably depicted himself more often than any artist before him, producing at least twelve images, including three oil portraits, and figures in four altarpieces. The earliest is a silverpoint drawing created when he was thirteen years old. At twenty-two Dürer painted the Self-portrait with Carnation (1493, Louvre), probably to send to his new fiancée. The Madrid self-portrait (1498, Prado) depicts Dürer as a dandy in fashionable Italian dress, reflecting the international success he had achieved by then. In his last self-portrait, sold or given to the city of Nuremberg, and displayed publicly, which quite few portraits then were, the artist depicted himself with an unmistakable resemblance to Jesus Christ (Munich, Alte Pinakothek). He later re-used the face in a religious engraving of, revealingly, the Veil of Veronica, Christ's own "self-portrait" (B.25). A self-portrait in gouache he sent to Raphael hasn't survived. A woodcut of a bathhouse and a drawing show virtually nude self-portraits.
Renaissance and Baroque
The great Italian painters of the Renaissance made comparatively few formal painted self-portraits, but often included themselves in larger works. Most individual self-portraits they have left were straightforward depictions; Dürer's showmanship was rarely followed, although a controversially attributed Self-portrait as David by Giorgione would have something of the same spirit, if it is a self-portrait. There is a portrait by Pietro Perugino of about 1500 (Collegio del Cambio of Perugia), and one by the young Parmigianino showing the view in a convex mirror. There is additionally a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci (1512), and self-portraits in larger works by Michelangelo, who gave his face to the skin of St. Bartholomew in the Last Judgement of the Sistine Chapel (1536–1541), and Raphael who's seen in the characters of School of Athens 1510, or with a friend who holds his shoulder (1518). Also notable are two portraits of Titian as an old man in the 1560s. Paolo Veronese appears as a violinist clothed in white in his Marriage at Cana, accompanied by Titian on the bass viol (1562). Northern artists continued to make more individual portraits, often looking quite much like their additional bourgeois sitters. Johan Gregor van der Schardt produced a painted terracotta bust of himself (c.1573).
Titian's Allegory of Prudence (c. 1565–70) is thought to depict Titian, his son Orazio, and a young cousin, Marco Vecellio. Titian additionally painted a late self-portrait in 1567; apparently his first. Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi's La Pittura (Self-portrait as the allegory of painting) presents herself embodying the classical allegorical representation of Painting, seen in the dramatic mask worn around Gentileschi's neck which Painting often carries. The artist's focus on her work, away from the viewer, highlights the drama of the Baroque period, and the changing role of the artist from craftsperson to singular innovator. Caravaggio painted himself in Bacchus at the beginning of his career, then appears in the staffage of a few of his larger paintings. Finally, the head of Goliath held by David (1605–10, Galleria Borghese) is Caravaggio's own.
Rembrandt and the seventeenth century in Northern Europe
In the seventeenth century, Flemish and Dutch artists painted themselves far more often; by this date most successful artists had a position in society where a member of any trade would consider having their portrait painted. Many additionally include their families, again following the normal practise for the middle-classes. Mary Beale, Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens gave us numerous images of themselves, the latter additionally often painting his family. This practise was especially common for women artists, whose inclusion of their families was often a deliberate attempt to mitigate criticism of their profession causing distraction from their "natural role" as mothers.
Rembrandt was the most frequent self-portraitist, at least until the self-obsessed modern period, additionally often painting his wife, son and mistress. At one time about ninety paintings were counted as Rembrandt self-portraits, but it is now known that he had his students copy his own self-portraits as part of their training. Modern scholarship has reduced the autograph count to something over forty paintings, as well as a few drawings and thirty-one etchings, which include a large number of of the most remarkable images of the group. Many show him posing in quasi-historical fancy dress, or pulling faces at himself. His oil paintings trace the progress from an uncertain young man to the dapper and quite successful portrait-painter of the 1630s to the troubled but massively powerful portraits of his old age.
In Spain, there were self-portraits of Bartolomé Estéban Murillo and Diego Velázquez. Francisco de Zurbarán represented himself in Luke the Evangelist at the feet of Christ on the cross (around 1635). In the nineteenth century, Goya painted himself numerous times. French self-portraits, at least after Nicolas Poussin tend to show the social status of the artist, although Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin and a few additional instead showed their real working costume quite realistically. This was a decision all 18th-century self-portraitists needed to make, although a large number of painted themselves in both formal and informal costume in different paintings. Thereafter, one can say that most significant painters left us at least one self-portrait, even after the decline of the painted portrait with the arrival of photography. Gustave Courbet (see below) was perhaps the most creative self-portraitist of the nineteenth century, and The Artist's studio and Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet are perhaps the largest self-portraits ever painted. Both contain a large number of figures, but are firmly centred on the heroic figure of the artist.
Prolific modern self-portraitists
One of the most famous and most prolific of self-portraitists was Vincent van Gogh, who drew and painted himself more than 43 times between 1886 and 1889. In all of these self-portraits one is struck that the gaze of the painter is seldom directed at us; even when it is a fixed gaze, he seems to look elsewhere. These paintings vary in intensity and colour and a few portray the artist with bandages; representing the episode in which he severed one of his ears.
The a large number of self-portraits of Egon Schiele set new standards of openness, or perhaps exhibitionism, representing him naked in a large number of positions, at times masturbating or with an erection, as in Eros (1911). Stanley Spencer was to follow somewhat in this vein. Max Beckmann was a prolific painter of self-portraits as was Edvard Munch who made great numbers of self-portrait paintings (70), prints (20) and drawings or watercolours (over 100) throughout his life, a large number of showing him being badly treated by life, and especially by women. Obsessively using the self-portrait as a personal and introspective artistic expression was Horst Janssen, who produced hundreds of self-portraits depicting him a wide range of contexts most notably in relation to sickness, moodyness and death. The 2004 exhibition "Schiele, Janssen. Selbstinszenierung, Eros, Tod" (Schiele, Janssen: Self-dramatisation, Eros, Death) at the Leopold Museum in Vienna paralleled the works of Egon Schiele and Horst Janssen, both heavily drawing on sujets of erotica and death in combination with relentless self-portraiture. Frida Kahlo, who following a terrible accident spent a large number of years bedridden, with only herself for a model, was another painter whose self-portraits depict great pain, in her case physical as well as mental. Her 55-odd self-portraits include a large number of of herself from the waist up, and additionally a few nightmarish representations which symbolise her physical sufferings.
Throughout his long career, Pablo Picasso often used self-portraits to depict himself in the a large number of different guises, disguises and incarnations of his autobiographical artistic persona. From the young unknown "Yo Picasso" period to the "Minotaur in the Labyrinth" period, to the "old Cavalier" and the "lecherous old artist and model" periods. Often Picasso's self-portraits depicted and revealed complicated psychological insights, both personal and profound about the inner state and well being of the artist. An Additional artist who painted interestingly personal and revealing self-portraits throughout his career was Pierre Bonnard. Bonnard additionally painted dozens of portraits of his wife Marthe throughout her life as well. Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Egon Schiele and Horst Janssen in particular made intense (at times disturbingly so) and self-revealing self-portraits throughout their careers.
Self-portraits in general
Gallery: painters at work
Many of the mediaeval portraits show the artist at work, and Jan van Eyck (above) his chaperon hat has the parts normally hanging loose tied up on his head, giving the misleading impression he's wearing a turban, presumably for convenience whilst he paints. In the early modern period, increasingly, men as well as women who painted themselves at work had to choose whether to present themselves in their best clothes, and best room, or to depict studio practise realistically. See additionally the Gallery of Women painters above.
Art critic Galina Vasilyeva-Shlyapina separates two basic forms of the self-portrait: "professional" portraits, in which the artist is depicted at work, and "personal" portraits, which reveal moral and psychological features. She additionally proposes a more detailed taxonomy: (1) the "insertable" self-portrait, where the artist inserts their own portrait into, for example, a group of characters related to a few subject; (2) the "prestigious, or symbolic" self-portrait, where an artist depicts him- or herself in the guise of a historical person or religious hero; (3) the "group portrait" where artist is depicted with members of family or additional real persons; (4) the "separate or natural" self-portrait, where the artist is depicted alone. However it might be thought these classes are rather rigid; a large number of portraits manage to combine several of them.
With new media came a chance to create different kinds of self-portraits besides simply static painting or photographs. Many people, especially teens, use social networking sites to form their own personal identity on the internet. Still others use blogs or create personal web pages to create a space for self-expression and self-portraiture.
Mirrors and poses
The self-portrait supposes in theory the use of a mirror; glass mirrors became available in Europe in the fifteenth century. The first mirrors used were convex, introducing deformations that the artist at times preserved. A painting by Parmigianino in 1524 Self-portrait in a mirror, demonstrates the phenomenon. Mirrors permit surprising compositions like the Triple self-portrait by Johannes Gumpp (1646), or more recently that of Salvador Dalí shown from the back painting his wife, Gala (1972–73). This use of the mirror often results in right-handed painters representing themselves as left-handed (and vice versa). Usually the face painted is therefore a mirror image of that the rest of the world saw, unless two mirrors were used. Most of Rembrandt's self-portraits before 1660 show only one hand – the painting hand is left unpainted. He appears to have bought a larger mirror in about 1652, after which his self-portraits become larger. In 1658 a large mirror in a wood frame broke whilst being transported to his house; nonetheless, in this year he completed his Frick self-portrait, his largest.
The size of single-sheet mirrors was restricted until technical advances made in France in 1688 by Bernard Perrot. They additionally remained quite fragile, and large ones were much more expensive pro-rata than small ones – the breakages were recut into small pieces. About 80 cm, or two and a half feet, seems to have been the maximum size until then – roughly the size of the palace mirror in Las Meninas (the convex mirror in the Arnolfini Portrait is considered by historians impractically large, one of Van Eyck's a large number of cunning distortions of scale). Largely for this reason, most early self-portraits show painters at no more than half-length.
Self-portraits of the artist at work were, as mentioned above, the commonest form of mediaeval self-portrait, and these have continued to be popular, with a specially large number from the eighteenth century on. One particular type in the mediaeval and Renaissance periods was the artist shown as Saint Luke (patron saint of artists) painting the Virgin Mary. Many of these were presented to the local Guild of Saint Luke, to be placed in their chapel. A famous large view of the artist in his studio is The Artist's Studio by Gustave Courbet (1855), an immense "Allegory" of objects and characters amid which the painter sits.
Gallery: mortality in the self-portrait
Other meanings, storytelling
The self-portraits of a large number of Contemporary artists and Modernists often are characterised by a strong sense of narrative, often but not strictly limited to vignettes from the artists life-story. Sometimes the narrative resembles fantasy, roleplaying and fiction. Besides Diego Velázquez, (in his painting Las Meninas), Rembrandt Van Rijn, Jan de Bray, Gustave Courbet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin additional artists whose self-portraits reveal complex narratives include Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Lucian Freud, Arshile Gorky, Alice Neel, Pablo Picasso, Lucas Samaras, Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and Gilbert and George.
The self-portrait can be a quite effective form of advertising for an artist, especially of course for a portrait painter. Dürer wasn't really interested in portraits commercially, but made good use of his extraordinary self-portraits to advertise himself as an artist, something he was quite sophisticated in doing. Sofonisba Anguissola painted intricate miniatures which served as advertisements for her skill as well as novelty items, considered such because the rarity of successful women painters provided them with an oddity quality. Rembrandt made his living principally from portrait-painting throughout his most successful period, and like Van Dyck and Joshua Reynolds, a large number of of his portraits were certainly intended to advertise his skills. With the advent of regular Academy shows, a large number of artists tried to produce memorable self-portraits to make an impression on the artistic stage. A recent exhibition at the National Gallery, London, Rebels and Martyrs, didn't shrink from the comic bathos that at times resulted. An example from the twenty-first century is Arnaud Prinstet, an otherwise little-known contemporary artist who has generated good amounts of publicity by undertaking to paint his self-portrait every day. On the additional hand, a few artists depicted themselves quite much as they did additional clients.
Diagnosing the self-portrait
Some artists who suffered neurological or physical diseases have left self-portraits of themselves that have allowed later physicians to attempt to analyse disruptions of mental processes; and a large number of of these analyses have entered into the textbooks of neurology.
The self-portraits of artists who suffered mental illnesses give a unique possibility to physicians for investigating self-perception in people with psychological, psychiatric or neurologic disturbances.
Russian sexologist Igor Kon in his article about masturbation notes that a habit of masturbating might be depicted in works of art, particularly paintings. So Austrian artist Egon Schiele depicted himself so occupied in one of his self-portraits. Kon observes that this painting doesn't portray pleasure from the masturbation, but a feeling of solitude. Creations of Schiele are analysed by additional researchers in terms of sexuality, and particularly pedophilia.
One of the most distinguished, and oldest, collections of self-portraits is in the Vasari Corridor of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was originally the collection by the Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici in the second part of the seventeenth century and has been maintained and expanded until the present time. It is mostly not on view for general visitors, although a few paintings are shown in the main galleries. Many famous artists haven't been able to resist an invitation to donate a self-portrait to the collection. It comprises more than 200 portraits, in particular those of Pietro da Cortona, Charles Le Brun, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Marc Chagall. Other important collections are housed at the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom) in London (with various satellite outstations elsewhere), and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C..
Two methods of obtaining photographic self-portraits are widespread. One is photographing a reflection in the mirror, and the additional photographing one's self with the camera in an outstretched hand. Eleazar Langman photographed his reflection on the surface of a nickel-plated teapot.
Another method involves setting the camera or capture device upon a tripod, or surface. One might then set the camera's timer, or use a remote controlled shutter release.
Finally, setting up the camera, entering the scene and having an assistant release the shutter (i.e., if the presence of a cable release is unwanted in the photo) can arguably be regarded as a photographic self-portrait, as well. The speed of creating photographic self-portraits allowed for a range of images with more of a "play" atmosphere than traditional methods. One such example is Frances Benjamin Johnson's Self-Portrait, c. 1896, an image which demonstrates the photo-portrait's ability to play with gender roles.