Art Product Characteristics of Elementary Education Majors Measuring High in Flexibility

Abstract

Art educators have expressed the opinion that art experiences help a person become more flexible, but gaps exist in the knowledge of how flexibility operates in or could be identified through art products. This study was concerned with observing if differences exist in the art products of elementary education majors who measured high from those who measured low on tests of flexibility. Flexibility, a dispositional and intellectual trait, operates to change sets when divergent solutions to problems are produced, when repetition is avoided in producing a variety of class ideas, and when problems are solved by striking out in new directions with transformations and redefinitions. The characteristic of flexibility is a familiar and increasingly valid concern today. Artists have long advocated a flexibility of attitude when creating art. Klee, for example, wrote of the importance of varying the elements of art, of natural forms, and, in fact, one's whole viewpoint.' Malevich cited the importance of being able to shift familiar, established things into new orders.2 Pollock, in describing his own working process, spoke of the need to destroy old images for new ones when necessary.3 Picasso recommends a creative process which lets a picture grow and change as one's thoughts change.' Accompanying rapid social and technological change, the need for both personal and corporate flexibility has been stressed in many fields.5 6 7 8 9 Educational leaders particularly advocate the development of flexibility for persons planning to teach children. McFee and Taylor have said that teachers need to be flexible in their planning, procedures, and responses to the variable behavior or divergent thinking of children.' Theoretically, flexibility on the part of the teachers should encourage creativity in the students. In separate studies, both Joyce and Sprinthall found a relationship between flexibility and successful teaching.2 13 Although the potential for flexibility may be pervasive in nature, Ghiselin,4 Gelker,' Burgart,'6 and Hoffa have concluded that experience is a variable which effects evidence of this trait with varying content. Davis and Torrance reported that art teachers are more accepting of the child who demonstrates creative characteristics in the classroom than are elementary teachers. This finding contributed to the hypothesis of a previous study by the author that art experiences would have the effect of increasing the flexibility of a group of future teachers.9 In that study, a significantly greater proportion of students participating in art experiences made high gains in flexibility than students not having experiences in art.20 Elementary education students come to art education classes with experience in verbal and symbolic expression, but relatively little experience in manipulative experiences with figural content such as is common when using art media. Their art instructors observe, and they themselves realize, that they are often timid or threatened by dealing with the concrete visual aspects and figural content of communication and expression. This timidity may effect their flexibility in dealing with art in their classrooms if it is not overcome. However, little empirical evidence can be cited to justify the existence of art experiences and their role in increasing this