Visual Arts Classes Research Articles

An Interactive Approach to Learning and Teaching in Visual Arts Education

The present research focuses on modernising the approach to learning and teaching the visual arts in teaching practice, as well as examining the performance of an interactive approach to learning and teaching in visual arts classes with the use of a combination of general and specific (visual arts) teaching methods. The study uses quantitative analysis of data on the basis of results obtained from a pedagogical experiment. The subjects of the research were 285 second- and fourth-grade students from four primary schools in the city of Rijeka, Croatia. Paintings made by the students in the initial and final stage of the pedagogical experiment were evaluated. The research results confirmed the hypotheses about the positive effect of interactive approaches to learning and teaching on the following variables: (1) knowledge and understanding of visual arts terms, (2) abilities and skills in the use of art materials and techniques within the framework of planned painting tasks, and (3) creativity in solving visual arts problems. The research results can help shape an optimised model for the planning and performance of visual arts education, and provide guidelines for planning professional development and the further professional education of teachers, with the aim of establishing more efficient learning and teaching of the visual arts in primary school.

Predictors of engagement in and transfer from acting training.

Studies of transfer effects from arts training to nonarts skills are often criticized for not using random assignment of students to type of training. At the same time, there is little to no research on differences among children who take various kinds of arts classes. The study reported here investigated differences between children enrolling in theater compared with visual arts classes on previous experience and parental-rated characteristics. Children in theater classes were found to have higher levels of previous experience in theater and social activities and higher parental-rated characteristics such as tendency to role play and pretend play than children enrolled in a year of visual arts classes. Previously, a year of theater classes had been associated with an increase in self-reported empathy for these children. The currently found differences between groups did not predict transfer outcomes in empathy. Implications for studies of the effects of arts training and profiles of children who take arts classes are discussed.

Painting with the Multiple Intelligences: Defining Student Success and Permanence in Art Class

Objectives of the study are to determine the effect of teaching based on multiple intelligence theory (TBMIT) in visual arts class on student success and permanence. Experimental design is used in the study. Study group is composed of students at 8 th grade in 2012-2013 educational term at Ataturk Secondary School in Igdir city centre. Experimental and control groups are made up of 32 and 31 students, respectively. In control group, conventional teaching method was used for expressing the subject of “miniature picture” in visual arts class while in experimental group a teaching method based on multiple intelligence theory (MIT) was applied for 3 weeks in both groups. Success test developed by the researchers was applied to measure success readily after and permanence of the knowledge learned 3 weeks after the experiment. In the comparison of the results obtained from Success and Permanence tests of experiment and control groups, t test was used by considering the statistical analyses of data obtained. It was found form the results that experimental group is more successful than control on the average. According to P test results, experimental group had larger P scores than the control. As a conclusion, MIT was found to affect Success and Permanence of 8 th grade students in miniature picture subject in visual arts class.

Dance and Special Education

Arts activities have been included in the educational curriculum of public schools for a number of years. Most often, course offerings in the arts consist of visual art, vocal music, and instrumental music classes. Although not as common, dance has also been included in the educational curriculum. Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that participating in dance activities can lead to positive student outcomes for students with and without exceptionalities. Dance activities appear to provide an alternative way to meet diverse learners’ educational needs. Research suggests that participation in dance may also lead to improved physical fitness, socioemotional gains, and academic gains.

Outros rumos na formação docente em artes visuais – Para onde caminhamos?

This paper is the result of analyses done at the project “What students learn in high school’s visual arts classes”. The focus of this investigation were classes given by initial formation teachers (on training at Visual Arts Bachelor of Education) using a typology of contents which was proposed by Zabala (1998). This project was initiated after a long field research (2006/2007 and 2008) seeking to check the context of visual arts education at public schools of Santa Maria/RS, through interviews with 56 teachers with formation and experience on visual arts area, and with 112 high school students. We followed (2008 and 2009) with the proposition of continued formation actions by Visual Arts Laboratory, CE/UFSM. After that (2009 and 2010) we initiated an accompaniment with initial formation teachers, motif of this paper, and on which it was possible to perceive the importance of the dialogs which were constructed starting from the perspective of visual culture at UFSM’s Visual Arts B.Ed. Visual culture studies have been contributing to new positions of the teachers at school and formative contexts, enabling situations of experience and collaboration between teachers and students.

Two randomized trials provide no consistent evidence for nonmusical cognitive benefits of brief preschool music enrichment.

Young children regularly engage in musical activities, but the effects of early music education on children's cognitive development are unknown. While some studies have found associations between musical training in childhood and later nonmusical cognitive outcomes, few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been employed to assess causal effects of music lessons on child cognition and no clear pattern of results has emerged. We conducted two RCTs with preschool children investigating the cognitive effects of a brief series of music classes, as compared to a similar but non-musical form of arts instruction (visual arts classes, Experiment 1) or to a no-treatment control (Experiment 2). Consistent with typical preschool arts enrichment programs, parents attended classes with their children, participating in a variety of developmentally appropriate arts activities. After six weeks of class, we assessed children's skills in four distinct cognitive areas in which older arts-trained students have been reported to excel: spatial-navigational reasoning, visual form analysis, numerical discrimination, and receptive vocabulary. We initially found that children from the music class showed greater spatial-navigational ability than did children from the visual arts class, while children from the visual arts class showed greater visual form analysis ability than children from the music class (Experiment 1). However, a partial replication attempt comparing music training to a no-treatment control failed to confirm these findings (Experiment 2), and the combined results of the two experiments were negative: overall, children provided with music classes performed no better than those with visual arts or no classes on any assessment. Our findings underscore the need for replication in RCTs, and suggest caution in interpreting the positive findings from past studies of cognitive effects of music instruction.

On Visual Arts Teachers’ Ideas about Positions of Visual Arts Education in Turkey

Abstract In this study, the teachers were asked for their opinions in order to determine the effects of new education system introduced in 2012 on visual arts classes. The study is a quantitative research conducted using interview method. The sample of the study includes 12 visual arts teachers working in the center of Kastamonu. The interview questions developed by the researcher were used as a means of data gathering. The findings of the study showed that teachers have negative opinions about the current situation of visual arts classes within the new compulsory education system. The teachers think that visual arts classes are overlooked in the new system; they do not find it right that it is elective for certain grades and they find course hours of compulsory classes inadequate.

Potential teaching model for applying novel approaches of renewed Estonian national curriculum into visual art classes in primary school

In 2010, the renewed national curriculum was legislated in Estonia. Major changes include a new list of cross-curricular topics, increased importance of integration and specification of the components of the art learning process. In this situation, the question arises – how to fully implement the challenges of the renewed curriculum in primary school visual art classes. One possibility is to use a consistent teaching model. This article gives an overview of such model as applied during an action research project, analysing the participation and involvement of the pupils and their study experiences.

Expressive suppression and acting classes.

Frequent use of expressive suppression to regulate one’s emotions can impair long-term health and well-being for both children and adults. Therefore, there are important pragmatic benefits to identifying contexts in which individuals learn to avoid expressive suppression. We hypothesized that individuals involved in acting classes—a context in which expression of emotion is highly valued—may use expressive suppression as an emotion regulation technique less than do other individuals. Study 1 showed that adolescents majoring in acting at a high school for the arts used suppression less than did adolescents majoring in other kinds of art classes (visual arts, music). Study 2 showed that after 10 months of acting (but not visual arts) classes, expressive suppression decreased in elementary school-age children. These findings suggest that experience in acting may be associated with a decrease in the use of expressive suppression, a relatively maladaptive emotion regulation strategy.

Envisioning a Thoughtful and Caring Child Welfare System

sidney goldberg studied at New York University and also with psychologist Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. He now works as a college counselor in New York City. The child welfare system in the United States is not living up to its name. Rather than nurturing the intellectual potential, capacity for joy, and emotional wellness of foster children, the system too often takes a narrow approach to maintaining only the children’s physical well-being. I speak from my experience as a caseworker, administrator, and creator of a unique program in child welfare. Twenty-five years of butting up against the constraints of this system have made clear to me that the problem is structural. The occasional caseworker who would seek to nurture a child’s potential interests or passions would usually be thwarted by the limited paradigm around which the system is constructed. Year after year, most caseworkers go through the motions, while heeding the entrenched and narrow mandates set forth by their agencies as the lives of children under their care stagnate. I believe another system is possible — one that starts from the foundational premise that all people are capable of building satisfying lives through the pursuit of their interests — and that is staffed by workers who treat children and their parents with deep care and respect. To create such a system, we will need to transform the entire structure and pedagogy of social work school, drawing on insights gained through a careful look at the problems with the current system.

Arts enrichment and preschool emotions for low-income children at risk

No studies to date examine the impact of arts-integrated preschool programming on the emotional functioning of low-income children at risk for school problems. The present study examines observed emotion expression and teacher-rated emotion regulation for low-income children attending Settlement Music School's Kaleidoscope Preschool Arts Enrichment Program. At a level of p<.001, results indicate the following. First, within Kaleidoscope, children showed greater observed positive emotions such as interest, happiness, and pride, in music, dance, and visual arts classes, as compared to traditional early learning classes. Second, children at Kaleidoscope showed greater observed positive emotions than peers attending a comparison preschool that did not include full integration of the arts. Third, across the school year, children at Kaleidoscope showed greater growth in teacher-rated levels of positive and negative emotion regulation. The implication is that arts enrichment may promote social–emotional readiness to learn for low-income children at risk for school problems.

The Effects of High-Stakes Testing Policy on Arts Education

This study examined high-stakes test scores for 37,222 eighth grade students enrolled in music and/or visual arts classes and those students not enrolled in arts courses. Students enrolled in music had significantly higher mean scores than those not enrolled in music (p < .001). Results for visual arts and dual arts were not as conclusive. Further research is required to determine the effectiveness of academic remediation held during the instructional day that thereby denies arts instruction to students. The practice of recommending that students devote more time to English and math in lieu of music should be evaluated.

Designing the Learning Process in Visual Art Classes in Primary School

Contemporary theories of art education are founded on constructive learning strategies. In Estonian primary schools, however, the teacher-centred approach prevails; therefore, it is important to modernise the process of learning. These kinds of changes are also encouraged by the new national curriculum. In this context, questions arise as to what should the main changes be and how can they be implemented. The report presents an overview of an action research project which explored this topic, and suggests several models for art learning processes. The study provides principles which help primary school teachers plan the learning process in art classes.

All is beautiful? Generality vs. specificity of word usage in visual aesthetics

A central problem in the literature on psychological aesthetics is a lack of precision in terminology regarding the description and measurement of aesthetic impressions. The current research project approached the problem of terminology empirically, by studying people's word usage to describe aesthetic impressions. For eight different object classes that are relevant in visual aesthetics, including visual art, landscapes, faces and different design classes, we examined which words people use to describe their aesthetic impressions, and which general conceptual dimensions might underlie similarities and differences between the classes. The results show an interplay between generality and specificity in aesthetic word usage. In line with results by Jacobsen, Buchta, Kohler, and Schroger (2004) beautiful and ugly seem to be the words with most general relevance, but in addition each object class has its own distinct pattern of relevant terms. Multidimensional scaling and correspondence analysis suggest that the most extreme positions in aesthetic word usage for the classes studied are taken by landscapes and geometric shapes and patterns. This research aims to develop a language of aesthetics for the visual modality. Such a common vocabulary should facilitate the development of cross-disciplinary models of aesthetics and create a basis for the construction of standardised aesthetic measures.

The A+ Schools: A New Look at Curriculum Integration

Abstract This study investigates the effectiveness of the A+ Schools Program, which holds that integration of the arts strengthens learning and creates a positive instructional environment. Participating schools exposed their students to visual art, music, drama, and dance classes each week in addition to integration of the arts with academic subjects. Surveys examined art teachers’ views regarding support and funding, in addition to school administrators’ reports of school attendance. Quantitative data representing the North Carolina End-of-Grade Tests (EOGs) in reading comprehension and mathematics provided insight into the academic success of the A+ schools relative to other public schools across the state. The data analysis demonstrated no statistically significant difference in the academic performance of students attending A+ schools. The results, based upon surveys of participating art teachers and administrators, suggest that the largest potential impact of the A+ schools may be in the affective domain, influencing students’ interest in school and creative expression.

Interacting in the Learning Community: “Build a Ballet”: A Cross-Disciplinary Collaborative Project for Students

ABSTRACT A format for a collaborative, real-world learning experience for students from a variety of disciplines is presented. The “Build a Ballet” project involved high school students in dance, drama, and visual arts classes who utilized concepts and skills in choreography, dance performance, playwriting, and design to create an original narrative ballet based on a short story selected prior to beginning the project. The educational goal was for the participating dance, drama, and visual arts students to have the opportunity to develop skills in and across their disciplines through participation in a project involving planning, designing, constructing, and producing an original performance work. The original libretto, written by students, was based on Kate Chopin's short story “The Story of an Hour.” After assigning tasks through collaborative discussion at an initial planning meeting, each class worked during their regular class time to create their contribution to the ballet. The final ballet was first performed and discussed at an informal showing in the dance studio where critical feedback from all participating students, faculty, and administration was discussed, and appropriate changes to choreography, costuming, and characterization were made. It was performed next at local middle schools and culminated with a public performance. Although the student participants found the process to be challenging, they expressed a sense of satisfaction with their final performance. The intended goal of utilizing discipline-specific skills and a realistic setting was achieved, and the students' struggle with the process is evidence of learning. Audience members appreciated seeing a narrative ballet that was unlike others they had seen before. The result was a learning experience in which students applied classroom skills in design, scriptwriting, choreography, and performance in a manner that mimics the work of professional artists in visual arts, drama, and dance.

A arte de ver o mundo com os próprios olhos. Mãos, narizes, ouvidos e línguas

Esse artigo apresenta um relato de experiência de estágio supervisionado no curso de Artes Visuais – Licenciatura plena em Desenho e Plástica, com ênfase no terceiro semestre de inserção em sala de aula. Trabalhamos, professor e alunos, com a utilização de imagens da arte e de outros meios, de objetos sensoriais e da linguagem como produtores de sentidos para abordarmos os modos de ver e interpretar a imagem visual e escrita.

Arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk

Arts enrichment provides varied channels for acquiring school readiness skills and may offer important educational opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs. Study 1 examined achievement within an arts enrichment preschool that served low-income children. Results indicated that students practiced school readiness skills through early learning, music, creative movement, and visual arts classes. Students who attended the preschool for 2 years demonstrated higher achievement than those who attended for 1 year, suggesting that maturation alone did not account for achievement gains. Across 2 years of program attendance and four time points of assessment, students improved in school readiness skills, and there were no significant effects of race/ethnicity or developmental level on achievement growth. Study 2 compared students attending the arts enrichment preschool to those attending a nearby alternative on a measure of receptive vocabulary that has been found to predict school success. At the end of 1 year of attendance, students in the arts program showed greater receptive vocabulary than those at the comparison preschool. Results suggest that arts enrichment may advance educational outcomes for children at risk.

A Renaissance on the Eastside: Motivating Inner-City Youth Through Art

Research tells us that children are more susceptible to temptations between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.-the hours following the end of the school day when parents are not yet home from work. This study looks at the "life histories" of child participants in the Artists in the Making (AIM) program-a program that aims to motivate inner-city youth through the use of visual arts classes. Despite the diversity of the children who participated in the AIM program, several common themes emerged from the interview process: self-discovery, problem-solving skills, opportunities for positive risk taking, and the mastery of artistic skills. This article proposes that community-based visual arts programs can help children develop protective factors that will allow them to be resilient.

Re-visioning NAEP: Amending a Performance Assessment for Middle School Art Students

The 1997 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the arts was the first national assessment of its kind in almost two decades. Results from the original assessment challenge the assumption that any exposure to art education has an impact on what middle school students know and can do in the visual arts. In 2000, an arts-magnet middle school adapted and readministered the Collage block from 1997 NAEP test as a means of assessing the performance of seventh- and eighth-grade students in visual art classes. A new rubric emphasized skill in recognizing and employing combinations of visual qualitative relationships for the construction of meaning. It was found that achievement on this test did not correlate to academic success in any other subject area. Furthermore, test results demonstrated an unusually low bias for social economic status. This suggests that results demonstrate cognitive achievement not captured through other existing forms of assessment. Thus, the new rubric provides a template for constructing an art curriculum that explicitly develops a distinctive dimension of thinking.