Art Education Research Research Articles

The History of American Art Education: Learning about Art in American Schools

Smith, P. (1996). The History of American Art Education: Learning About Art in American schools. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press. 252 pages. (ISBN 0-313-29870-X). For many people, reading history is often boring, dry, or hard to follow. I always struggle not to fall asleep when countless facts and dates are used, and I force myself to maintain a visual image of the timeline being presented in order to enhance my memory. This is not the case with Peter Smith's history. I found it to be daring in its content and fascinating with its teaching-like approach to comparative analysis. It struck me that the author had extensive first-hand knowledge of the subject based on both primary source research and personal experience and involvement. This is by no means a complete history of art education in America, but it certainly expands the reader's viewpoint and understanding of the field. Smith explores the writings of contemporaries including Eisner, Efland, Zimmerman, and Stankiewicz and questions the validity of some of their specific contentions. This is what makes this book so daring. The author comments on theories, philosophies, or findings of many historians who are still prominent. For example, in the introduction Smith takes issue with Eisner's assertion that art education history studies (or any other art education research for that matter) should aid practically in the correction of current problems. Instead Smith suggests that art education historical research serves as a framework from which to judge through critical examination. He asks the question, What does this event, person, or movement tell us about learning about visual art in America (p. 10). He explores the context in which individuals' philosophies and teaching methods were used. He explores the language in which materials were originally written. He gives sources and introduces important paradigms to be considered in doing research. The main contention is that historical research might affect the way art teaching and learning is conceptualized as it is practiced at the present (p. 6). While the ultimate question seems to be: What is the basis of American art education and from where did it come? each of the 12 chapters focuses on a specific issue related to this major question. For example, Chapter 1 is a refreshing discussion about cultural concerns in the recording of art education in America. Smith recognizes that people of the dominant culture regard the United States as a nation of white persons of European origin, and have therefore discounted the voices of Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and others. These cultures have produced aesthetic objects and images as an integral part of their experiences. Throughout the book Smith focuses on the Germanic foundations of American art education and on the American art educator's ignorance of the assumptions behind many present-day teaching practices. Although some are speculative, his contentions are eye opening, questioning, and convincingly plausible. Smith suggests that the German influence was due to intellectuals fleeing from Nazi control. Smith states: that a vast area of fundamental importance to art education has been hidden from Americans who cannot read German. Much German language material that served as the basis of art education publications in the United States remains to be translated, and only if it is will Americans be able to build a complete picture of the foundations on which American art education stands. This is the material on which Lowenfeld, Schaefer-Simmern, and Rudolf Arnheim built. (p. 56) I found Chapter 2 particularly interesting. Smith compares the writings of seven historians as a framework to explore the contributions of Walter Smith. The author leads the reader to the conclusion that even though educational historians may use interpretive methods derived from historic evidence, these historians may arrive at different conclusions that are not necessarily subjective, but rather provide an explanation that could help us understand our times. …

Professional Attitudes to Research in Art Education

Professional Attitudes to Research in Art Education

Legotalk in the Research Park

Templeton's recent article (1996) on the nature and role of research in art education was a timely if unflattering account of how we are faring in our attempts to stiffen our theoretical base for both internal consistency and external credibility. It is healthy to use a wide-angle lens from time to time. Marantz reflected on the state of our scholarship in 1988, and I wrote an admittedly preachy Canadian editorial on the same subject at the same time (Webb, 1988). This time around, the NAEA Agenda for Research (1993) provides all of us with a trigger for further comment. Templeton begins by noting that 35 years of research has made little impact on our practice. The suggested cause is our inability to let go of our artistic inclinations. More specifically, we transfer our interests in personal expression and originality from art to research. The result is an esoteric and inconsistent literature, wherein research is rarely reproducible. But Templeton also focuses on the form of our research, arguing that by concentrating on form, rather than meaning, we perpetuate the dull and hollow arts of academic style and convention. Templeton gives us some prescriptions including the idea that graduate students might take courses in journalism to give a snappy bearing to their work. Whereas Templeton talks a lot about research and a little about language, I would like to respond with a lot about language and a little about research. My focus is less on the aesthetics or even the efficiencies of our writing and more on the politics of language. My context is perhaps broader than Templeton's, since the point I want to emphasize is that our motivations and aspirations as art educators can be fed, as much by the prevailing political ethos as by our internal literatuure. For example, the actions and attitudes of a global corporate sector are provoking unsettling commentaries on the nature and role of cultural pursuits including the arts and education. McRorie (1996) notes Barber's Jihad vs McWorld (1995), and the impact of homogenized communication. There are two implications here. First, that our sense of what counts as art educational research needs to be broader. Second, that the motivations for our currently vigorous interest in research require as much probing as the form such research takes. But this is large agenda for a commentary in Studies, and so I shall settle for underscoring the power of language to limit as well as expand our capacity for thought. The only prescription I will suggest is that we innoculate ourselves against the language of management and administration. Most of us have bristled over bad English. Such effrontery occurs in many contexts: the stereotypical prose of cheap novels, confusions between adjectives and adverbs, the use of jargon, the izationalizing of adjectives and verbs. It is safe to assume that speakers of languages other than English have similar opportunities for complaint; the French would perhaps add anglicization to their list. A relatively new book by Uwe Poerksen (1988, trans. 1995), demonstrates that Germany, too, has language sentries. But Poerksen's theme is not born just of aesthetic sensitivity or a robust sense of correctness, but of a conviction that language, and specifically the vernacular, is a power tool that can inflict social as well as intellectual damage. Advocates of gender-neutral language understand this. Although I may rue the fact that the English language has no neutral pronoun, and that I have to work so hard to be fair, I am won over to the broad notion that attitudes can be quietly molded by language, or as Orwell put it in 1945, ...if corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought (in Weismuth, 1966, p. 106). Orwell recognized a growing use of prefabricated phrases that made language less precise, but easier to write because assembly of the kit was easier than crafting the pieces. Fifty years later, Poerksen points to a potent new strain of this linguistic virus that many of us have noticed but not researched. …

Editorial: Questions about Questions: Research in Art Education

Editorial: Questions about Questions: Research in Art Education

Who Ever Said Studying Art Would Be Easy? The Growing Cognitive Demands of Understanding Works of Art in the Information Age

The impact of the information age on teaching and learning in the arts has been largely ignored by researchers in art education. As with other fields of study, arts disciplines are rapidly expanding-generating a vast body of new works for students to study and comprehend. The proliferation of new art knowledge (including works of art and art scholarship) along with existing art content, dramatically increases the heavy demands already placed on art teachers and students. The cognitive and curricular consequences of this change are questioned in this paper. Special attention is paid to discussing facets of art cognition and the contextual conditions that surround the study of artwork. Finally, recommendations are offered to guide the direction of future research on art learning and curriculum development. Understanding the arts-or anything for that matter-is more demanding today than ever before due to the staggering volume of new material to teach and learn about. Existing and emerging computer technologies offer exciting opportunities for reconceptualizing educational experiences in the arts and other disciplines. However, technological advances also can inhibit understanding by speeding the production and delivery of new information and knowledge at an incomprehensible rate. Few art educators are prepared to cope with the challenges brought on by the information age because we have not fully considered the cognitive consequences of our curricula and teaching practices. We have not adequately examined how current practices help or hinder our students' success in comprehending art content, let alone the growing magnitude of what will soon exist to be learned about the arts. My purpose in writing this paper is to focus on these issues by discussing research on learning and art cognition and by questioning long-standing beliefs about professional practice (curriculum decision-making most especially). Why question art learning in the information age? There are many reasons why it is interesting and important for art educators to take a hard look at the cognitive demands of learning today and to anticipate what the future may bring. We should be cognizant of the fact that as each day passes, there are more works of art-old and new-to teach and learn about.

Approaches to Multiculturalism in Art Education Curriculum Products: Business as Usual

- The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between multicultural art education theory and multicultural art education curriculum products. The current proliferation of multicultural art prints, books, videos, audiocassettes, slides, transparencies, postcards, packaged lessons, and other instructional materials signals industry response to our growing interest in multicultural art education. Despite extensive work in multicultural art education theory development, research, curricular recommendations, and advocacy, serious problems persist in the curriculum products industry. As this article indicates, many educational products appear to be advocating multicultural art education practices that may not be supportable, perpetuating stereotypical misconceptions, reinforcing monocultural myths, and miseducating students about art and artists. Multicultural Theory and Research in Art Education Theoretical and historical writings dealing with multicultural art education reflect varying interests. A review of these writings reveals commonalities worth noting: (a) a call for greater diversity of artists considered in programs of study and for an effort to engage students in historical/contextua1 inquiry, (b) a need to expand and revise central notions in art history, criticism, and aesthetics and the manner in which we study the artistic exemplars of diverse cultural groups, and (c) a concern for the underlying frameworks that perpetuate patterns of social injustice.' The following discussion highlights these commonalities.

Voices from Arizona's Classrooms: Teaching Dilemmas in Visual Arts Education

AbstractThis paper reports on a round‐table dialogue that took place in 1993 in Tucson, Arizona. The participants ‐ eight educators involved in teaching the visual arts and acting as representatives of voices from Arizona's classrooms ‐ were asked to identify and discuss problematic and practical teaching issues and dilemmas which surfaced in their diverse and multicultural classrooms during the past school year. The specific aims of the paper are two‐fold: first, to present the reader with a series of themes, voiced in the form of questions, generated by the teachers themselves as they described their dilemmas and reasons for concern; secondly, to analyse the teachers' comments further, in relation to research with reference to research in the field. This work was supported by a research grant from The Arizona Arts Education Research Institute for 1992–93.

Partial Tales of Three Translators: An Essay

Four approaches to research in art education: cultural transmission, cultural reproduction, cultural (re)production, and cultural translation are explored in the paper. We believe the first three m...

Reflections on the Relationships among Art, Life, and Research

There is one major idea that underlies this paper: want to try to illustrate relationship between one's research and one's life. wish to echo Foucault who said, in an interview about his book, Archeology of Knowledge, I believe someone ... who is a writer is not simply doing his work in his books, but that his major work is, in end, himself in process of writing his books. He went on to say the work includes whole life as well as text (Ryan, 1993, p. 14). Although an active research life is composed of many parts, in end, a researcher would like to see his or her own interests, values, and assumptions about life and human purpose interwoven with themes and topics of one's inquiry so that their tapestry has a vivid pattern of meaning-for researcher and readers of research. Although we research what we are, what we think, value, and feel, others may not see patterns and connections to our lives that we, researchers, do. Then again, it is possible we have only imaged patterns. wish to take a retrospective look at my research as it relates to a larger life in art and to point to patterns that think are there. To make my points, I'll present a diagram and tell some brief stories about some of people, ideas, times, and places that have given form my research. wish, at end of paper, to point to educational research would like to see as we approach 21st century. Art Educational Campaigns have a long-standing aversion to military metaphors, and yet wish to refer to a disastrous campaign that resulted in what is perhaps most elegant visual display of information ever drawn. In 1861 Charles Joseph Minard drew a diagram that in one four inch by seven inch rectangle captures with brutal eloquence (Tufte, 1983, p. 40) Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812. Tufte (1983) suggests diagram may well be best statistical graphic ever drawn and describes it in this way: Minard's graphic tells a rich, coherent story with its multivariate data, far more enlightening than just a single number bouncing along over time. Six variables are plotted: size of army, its location on a two-dimensional surface, direction of army's movement, and temperature on various dates during retreat from Moscow. (p. 40) On receiving invitation to present Studies Lecture began to envision a graphic that would capture multivariate relationships among components of my research and inquiry in art and art education. However, wanted my diagram to be reverse of what Minard showed in his. He visualized a thick band that represented Napoleon's army of 422,000 men as it invaded Russia in June of 1812. By September, when it reached sacked and deserted Moscow, army had declined to 100,000 men. An increasingly narrower black band shows tragic loss of human life as army retreated to its starting point-arriving at Polish/Russian

Interpretive Decision Making in Research

This paper examines key junctures at which researchers make interpretive decisions. Our underlying assumption is that all research is interpretive, and reality is being constructed at every stage of a research process. Our purpose is to explore three research constructs, role of the researcher, research questions, and underlying assumptions, as these affect the process of research. We address two questions: When are meanings constructed in social science and educational research, and Why do researchers from varied interpretive traditions develop simultaneously viable, even though disparate, meanings? Our focus is on the hermeneutic orientation to research. Literature from the study of construct validity, in particular the work of Cherryholmes (1988), provides a foundation for the development of an interpretive framework. We conclude with a brief application of this framework used as a tool to examine selected examples of research in art education.

Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning. A Project of the Music Educators National Conference

SECTION ONE: ISSUES AND RESEARCH 1. Policy Frameworks, Research and K-12 Schooling 2. MENC: A Case in Point 3. Recent Trends and Issue in Policy-making 4. Law Research and Music Education INTRODUCTION: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE 'AIMS OF MUSIC EDUCATION' 1. Contemporary Curriculum Practices and Their Theoretical Bases 2. Theory, Research, and the Improvement of Music Education 3. A Comparative Review of Human Ability Theory: Context, Structure, and Development 4. Critical Thinking 5. Improvisation 6. Improvisation and Curriculum Reform 7. Adult Education 8. Music and Early Childhood Education 9. Systematic Research in Studio Instruction in Music 10. Philosophical Issues in Curriculum 11. Educating Musically 12. Distance Learning and Collaboration in Music Education SECTION THREE: MUSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING Introduction: Issues in Perception, Cognition, and Development 1. Learning Theories as Roots of Current Musical Practice and Research 2. Systematic Instruction 3. Behavioural Research on Direct Music Instruction 4. Self-Regulation of Musical Learning: A Social Cognitive Perspective 5. Motivation and Achievement 6. Developmental Characteristics of Music Learners 7. Creative Research in Music, Visual Arts, Theater, and Dance 8. Computer-based Technology and Music Teaching and Learning SECTION FOUR: MUSICAL COGNITION 1. The Neurobiology of Music Cognition and Learning 2. Cognitive Constraints on Music Listening 3. The Development of Musical Abilities 4. Making Music and Making Sense of Music: Expressive Performance and Communication 5. Taking an Acquired Skills Perspective on Music Performance SECTION FIVE: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS 1. The Sociology of Education and Connections to Music Education Research 2. Sociology of Music 3. Social Psychology and Music Education 4. Music, Culture, Curriculum and Instruction 5. Feminism, Feminist Research and Gender Research in Music Education 6. The Social Construction of Music Teacher Identity in Undergraduate Music Education Majors 7. Transforming Research in Music Education History 8. Music Transmission and Learning: A Conspectus of Ethnographic Research in Ethnomusicology and Music Education 9. Community Music: Toward an International Overview SECTION SIX: TEACHER EDUCATION Introduction: Fuzzy Teacher Education 1. Reform-minded Music Teachers: A More Comprehensive Image of Teaching for Music Teacher Education 2. Teaching as a Profession: Two Variations on a Theme 3. Changing Concepts of Teacher Education 4. Strengthening the Teaching of Music Educators in Higher Education 5. Research by Teachers on Teacher Education 6. Research in Music Student Teaching 7. Professional Development SECTION SEVEN: MUSIC EDUCATION CONNECTIONS Introduction: The Growing Impact of Partnerships: A Reason for Research 1. Policy Issues Connecting Music Education and Arts Education 2. The Evaluation of Arts Partnerships and Learning Through the Arts 3. The 'Use and Abuse' of Arts Advocacy and its Consequences for Music Education 4. Research in Visual Arts Education: Implications for Music Education 5. A Review of Research in Theater, Dance, and Other Performing Arts Education: Implications for Music SECTION EIGHT: NEUROSCIENCE, MEDICINE, AND MUSIC 1. Music and Neuroscience 2. Performing arts Medicine 3. Musicians' Health MIRIAM HENOCH, AND JOHN HIPPLE SECTION NINE: INSTRUMENTAL OUTCOMES 1. Nonmusical Outcomes of Music Education: Historical Considerations 2. Teaching Other Subjects Through Music 3. Research: A Foundation for Arts Education Advocacy SECTION TEN: RESEARCH DESIGN, CRITICISM, AND ASSESSMENT IN MUSIC EDUCATION 1. Philosophical Perspectives on Research 2. Maintaining Quality in Research and Reporting 3. Trends in Data Acquisition and Knowledge Development 4. Assessment's Potential in Music Education 5. Contemporary Issues in Qualitative Research and Music Education

Visual art in primary grades: A portrait and analysis

This article examines visual art as it is conceived of, and practiced by, classroom teachers. Based on a 3-year study (conducted under the auspices of the National Arts Education Research Center), data sources included intensive observations of art teaching in Grades K-3 in three elementary schools, semistructured interviews with teachers and principals, and analysis of materials. The study of art programs in the schools unravels a chasm between teachers' advocacies on the one hand, and their classroom practice on the other. This chasm can be understood within the contexts in which art programs operate, in particular, the incompatibility of teachers' views of art with the broader values and goals of the schools.

Text Analysis as a Guide for Research in Art Education

Text Analysis as a Guide for Research in Art Education

Policies, Agendas, and Arts Education Research

Policies, Agendas, and Arts Education Research

Research in Art Education as a Form of Educational Consumer Protection

An examination of art education research is undertaken on the assumption that having an adequate research base is important if informed educational decisions are to be made. The purposes of this paper are to focus attention on the reality-constructing nature of art education research, on the need for research agendas supportive of diverse approaches and alternative interpretations, and on the importance of incorporating in research studies self-critical components that acknowledge biases and limitations. To examine the ways in which research both proceeds from sociopolitical assumptions and, in turn, shapes our perceptions of the field and guides actions, the following are discussed: (1) art education research trends, (2) the sociopolitical nature of research, (3) prescriptions for research within a critical perspective, and (4) research deficiencies in art education.

The Use of Language in Ceramics Lessons

Journal of Art & Design EducationVolume 5, Issue 3 p. 273-292 The Use of Language in Ceramics Lessons ROY SPARKES, ROY SPARKES ROY SPAKER is Associate Professor of Art at Cleveland State University, Ohio, USA. After gaining BS in Art Education at SUNY College New York in 1969, and MS at Massachusetts College of Art in 1976, she was awarded D.Ed at Pennsylvania State University in 1981. She has had numerous papers published in Art Education and other journals, and is on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Multi-Cultural and Cross-Cultural Research in Art Education. Her distinguishedd reputation in art education has led to her inclusion in Who's Who in American Art.Search for more papers by this author ROY SPARKES, ROY SPARKES ROY SPAKER is Associate Professor of Art at Cleveland State University, Ohio, USA. After gaining BS in Art Education at SUNY College New York in 1969, and MS at Massachusetts College of Art in 1976, she was awarded D.Ed at Pennsylvania State University in 1981. She has had numerous papers published in Art Education and other journals, and is on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Multi-Cultural and Cross-Cultural Research in Art Education. Her distinguishedd reputation in art education has led to her inclusion in Who's Who in American Art.Search for more papers by this author First published: December 1986 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1476-8070.1986.tb00208.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Volume5, Issue3December 1986Pages 273-292 RelatedInformation

Understanding the Significance of Technology in Art Education

he significance of technology in art education is a timely and important issue that must be addressed. I have been studying and writing about this topic, with specific emphasis on computers, for more than ten years. Two general areas have held my attention: 1. How may computers be applied in art education research, instruction, administration, and as a tool for composition and creation? 2. How may individuals schooled in the arts and humanities contribute to understanding and direction of new technologies with emphasis on aesthetic and ethical values? These two questions address how new technologies may be used to understand and direct their applications in a larger socio-aesthetic sense. It is evident that I regard art education as an integral part of general education with responsibilities for meeting goals of general education. Due to this, I have cooperated with the National Science Foundation to create a

The Journal of Multi-Cultural Research in Art Education

The Journal of Multi-Cultural Research in Art Education

Book and Journal Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:Editorial: Inspiration, Creation, and CreativityThe Journal of Multi‐Cultural and Cross‐Cultural Research in Art Education

An Analysis of the Goal, Structure, and Social Context of the 1965 Penn State Seminar and the 1983 Getty Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts

This paper compares the social contexts and purposes of the 1965 Seminar in Art Education for Research and Curriculum Development and the 1983 Getty Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts. The Penn State Seminar grew out of the need for quality research in art education. It was generative in nature, structured on invitational papers from nationally recognized scholars. Art was viewed in a broad, interdisciplinary context. The Getty Institute sought to establish visual art, defined as including art history, art criticism, studio production, and aesthetic perception, as a discipline-based subject in elementary schools. The Institute was demonstrative in nature, designed to implement a particular art education position in the classroom.