ART AND DESIGN What is the nature of Art at IGCSE level? IGCSE Art and Design is a two year course that encourages students to think creatively through visual investigation and technical practice. We follow the Cambridge course that offers one year to develop understanding and technique, and one year to complete all assessed coursework and a timed exam.
What is the approach to learning? Students will learn to use a wide variety of materials and techniques during the first year, through demonstration, workshop, practice, individual and group work. All homework is to support and enrich the class work. Students learn about a large number of artists, artistic movements and art from different cultures, and learn how to apply these techniques and processes to their own work. All this knowledge is applied to the coursework and exam assignments, which the students work on individually. Students will visit different areas of Singapore to make observational drawings through a number of field trips. Galleries will also be visited when required for the course.
What is the subject content? The projects during the first year encourage personal expression, imagination, sensitivity, conceptual thinking, powers of observation, an analytical ability and practical attitudes. Students will learn how to use and communicate with a wide variety of materials, techniques and processes, and will create a diverse portfolio of work. In the second half of the first year, students will create their assessed coursework portfolio and their externally set exam portfolio, ending with a timed piece of work undertaken in exam conditions. Students who choose art usually spend a large amount of their free time working either in the art room or at home in their spare time.
WHAT DOES THE COURSE LOOK LIKE… Grade 9 Jan – Sept – Non assessed (for the final IGCSE Grade) part of the course. UNITS OF WORK in Grade 9: Unit 1 – Architecture and structures Unit 2 – The Natural world In these units, the students learn many of the skills, techniques and critical thinking techniques that they will need for their coursework and exam later in Grade 9 and in Grade 10. In Architecture and Structures they will: 32
