Digital Commons Network^™

Evolving Art In Junior High, Randal Charles Marsh

Theses and Dissertations

A junior high teacher and artist altered the curriculum of his Art Foundations II course and his own artistic practice in response to complexity thinking. This teacher-artist-researcher uses the arts-based methodology a/r/tography to make meaning of the relationship between his art and pedagogy. The a/r/tographer explains the impact of complexity on the philosophy of education, a/r/tography as a methodology, and the meaning making that occurred are included. Evolution was used as a methodology for art making and as constraint for developing artworks in the classroom and in the author's own art. The teacher-artist-researcher conceptualizes art as an emergent complex cultural …

A Case Study Investigating How Art Education Fosters Collaboration In An Urban Environment Through The Lens Of Public Pedagogy, Tracy Fox

Art Education Projects

This case study examines how one particular after-school arts program in an urban environment bridges the gap between a university campus and the community it serves, creating opportunities for collaboration via the arts. The study was conducted at a community center run by Buffalo State.

Over the course of the study, ten interviews were conducted with a variety of people connected to the Community Arts Center’s (CAC) arts programs, including partners in the public arts initiative. The data was collected and analyzed over the course of eight weeks through the lens of Henry Giroux’s public pedagogy, which focuses on educational …

Embracing Identity And Narrative In Art For Self-Empowerment, Zalika Perkins

Art and Design Theses

This arts-based thesis will explore ethnic identity and narrative in symbolic self-portraiture as themes for a body of work. This paper will discuss how identity and narrative play an important role in the empowerment of the artist and viewer. It will also show how this can be incorporated into an art classroom engaged in multicultural learning and the study of visual culture to empower students and give them opportunities to narrate their life stories.

Influence Of Guided Drawing Curriculum On Drawing Development In Children, Alison Paige Myers

Master's Theses

This paper presents a case study of three first grade visual art classes over the course of one school year. In order to gauge the effectiveness and degree to which a visual art curriculum that embeds guided drawing experiences will accelerate the natural developmental stages of drawing, all classes engaged in various guided drawing experiences as well as three independent self-portrait drawing experiences. The study also examined the opinions of art educators regarding the effectiveness of such instruction. The study showed that although guided drawing can be an influential factor in children’s artistic development, there is not a causal relationship …

Qualitative Narrative Research Investigating The Value Of Visual Art Education Captured Through The Stories Of High School Students Labeled At-Risk, Leah C. Peca

Art Education Projects

My personal and professional experiences in education led me to develop a unique perspective on the value of the visual arts. Existing literature about the impact of visual art education on students is written primarily from the point of view of educators and researchers. I wondered what the stories of high school students who have been labeled at-risk might reveal about their visual art experiences. As a participant-observer, I studied my own students using a postmodern approach to qualitative narrative research. I chose six students, three of whom were labeled at-risk, to share their stories and opinions about their visual …

Thinking Through The Box: The Art Teacher's Role In Setting Ideationally Generative Assignment Parameters, And Expanding Students' Problem-Finding Strategies, Brad James Conklin

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the nature of generative parameters, and their present – as well as their much greater potential – function in visual art assignments. An effort of thoughtful self-study, it examines important questions that were revealed during the teaching of a fifth grade art unit. Collaboration and chance were used in that unit as productive constraints. Bringing together insights gathered from a number of sources and my own classroom action research, a theory of teaching for creative behavior is offered with suggestions for good practices in the art room. Promoting creative thinking in the art classroom does not require …

Art Education And The Encouragement Of Affective And Cognitive Empathy In Early Childhood, Luke Meeken

Theses and Dissertations

This study constructs a theoretical framework for exploring the relationship between art education practice and the development of empathy in early childhood. In this study, I construct a schema for the experience of empathy in kindergarten-aged students, derived from the work of Martin Hoffman, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Vittorio Gallese, which acknowledges both the affective and cognitive dimensions of the experience of empathy. This schema is examined within the context of aesthetic and artistic experience, as distinguished from each other by John Dewey. I articulate several ways that art education’s cultivation of subtle aesthetic perception may encourage affective empathy, and its …

Inquiry Based Curriculum In A Public School Art Room: Aesthetic Education And Lincoln Center Institute, Jacqueline Denaway

Masters Theses

This thesis takes an in-depth look at the history of the Lincoln Center Institute (LCI), specifically its aesthetic education philosophy and practices. Included is analysis of the origin of aesthetic education and important philosophical views related to it. Emphasis is placed on the ideas of Maxine Greene, whose philosophy is the core of Lincoln Center Institute, as well as the key skills that are acquired when learning through aesthetic means. Lincoln Center Institute has been a leader in arts education and aesthetic education for several decades. This paper will explore how LCI's philosophy of aesthetic education differs from other philosophies …

Understanding Children's Art Making Preferences: Implications For Art Therapy, Amy Morrison

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This study employed a phenomenological, qualitative approach to investigate children’s art making preferences. The researcher was curious about the meaning that creating two-dimensional and three-dimensional art forms held for children. Influences and contributions to children’s art making preferences were explored. Lastly the study questioned what children’s artistic preferences mean for the field of art therapy. Theories of art therapy, artistic development, and child development informed the study. Thirteen children ages 5 to 11, four boys and nine girls participated. The researcher requested the children choose a subject and create the subject in both two and three dimensions. A range of …

Lessons In And Out Of School, Mary K. Maloney Johnson

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

What are we saying to children when we leave the creativity to others in a visual environment, infused with “attitude”, snobbery, acquisitiveness and Pollyanna innocence? We’re saying that we approve this message. Visual arts teach media literacy in an atmosphere that implicitly uses vices to secure attention. School experiences cannot compete. Parents and teachers, pleading incompetence, pass undiscerning choices to the next generation. Educational illustration typically amounts to copy-machine ready, poorly drawn, saccharin cartoons. Standards exemplified by the likes of Szyk, Holling and others lie hidden on the shelves. Dismay and consternation over the failure to plumb the depths of …

Arts And Crafts In Elementary School : Blending With Curriculum, Caitlin Tungate

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Art integration in primary school classrooms has become less common in recent years due to the No Child Left Behind Act, the increased demand for standardized testing and the lack of funding present in school districts nationwide. The use of art in the classroom, whether blended into the curriculum and/or taught separately, has been proven to motivate children to use their creative minds and in turn increase student success in the academic arena. Students from two different kindergarten classrooms were observed during regular class time and assessed based on how the use of art in the classroom aided in their …

[Threshold]: Understanding Noise Through Play, Cecil Decker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis documents the theoretical underpinnings of my culminating project, the video game [threshold]. It describes the subject of the game--noise --and the method of its discussion--play. The goal of this game is to encourage players to re-contextualize noise, away from interference and error, as the source code of the universe. This new viewpoint forces us to focus on all of the data we filter out. By assessing this data, we can gain a deeper understanding of the world around us.