Education Commons^™

Imagery And Photography : Enhancers In The Learning Cycle, Dandi Li

Masters Theses

This thesis highlights the importance of visuals and photography as significant enhancers in the learning process for students of all ages. There is both scientific and anecdotal evidence that illustrates the compelling impact of imagery and photography on not only academic education, but for the personal development and growth for students. Photography is often a medium for exercising creativity and self-reflection. As an activity, photography stimulates imagination while also exercising the ability to follow fundamental principles and limitations (timing, lighting, etc.) in order to take that perfect shot. As humans, we are driven primarily by our vision as both biological …

The Creative Process : Gathering For Meaning, Charity Appell Mcnabb

Masters Theses

The creative process of visual artists is not a well-understood methodology for intellectual inquiry. In particular, there are amorphous and individual aspects of it that defy narrow categorization. These aspects, like the gathering and associating labors, which vary from artist to artist, are nonetheless fundamental to our practices. The author investigates how the creative process has been defined and how the creative process is being used outside the traditional artistic context. Artists exist in a space where categories and definitions can be abandoned, where thought is advanced through the act of making, where worldviews can be imagined, where apparent contradictions …

The Artist, The Object And The Meaning Between : An Exploration Of The Joys Of Incorporating Meaningful Objects Into Art Practice And Teaching Pedagogy, Sarah Leis

Masters Theses

The Artist, the Object and the Meaning Between begins by exploring the human motivation and delight in keeping physical ephemera, tokens, specimen, souvenirs, relics, etc. Material things can be tools to understand and interact with the world around us; a name for this is “Object-based Learning”. I use Qualitative and Arts-based research to make the case for object-based learning as a complement to digital resources. Though anyone may benefit from these practices, the focus of the thesis is the teaching artist and her opportunity to encourage in her students a rich experience of the three-dimensional in a world that seems …

The Art Of The Wilderness : A Field Guide To Integrating Art + Outdoor Education, Rachel Dranoff

Masters Theses

This thesis serves as both a comprehensive review of the fields of art and outdoor education, and as a practical handbook. Through an exploration of the definitions of art and wilderness to the pedagogy of art, outdoor, and experimental education, this thesis endeavors to make evident meaningful ways of learning. Interdisciplinary learning and multiple intelligence theory support a holistic and interconnected approach to education. Place-based and project-based learning emphasize a multidimensional line of inquiry rooted within a meaningful and personal context. The goal of integrating art + outdoor education is to design learning adventures that cultivate: creativity, leadership, problem-solving, collaboration, …

Intrigues And Priorities : Critical Thinking And Contemporary Art In Visual Arts Education, Connor Phillips

Masters Theses

This thesis looks at how arts education can respond to the context of the 21st century by focusing on critical thinking and contemporary art in visual arts education. I argue that art as a subject has the potential to educate youth beyond mere aesthetic, formal art skills. Its inherent flexibility to encompass all interests, cultures, and backgrounds makes it a truly inclusive subject and the multiplicity that follows provides students with opportunities for cross-associative and critical thinking. If utilized in an education context, it can be the necessary conduit for engaging students, respecting their intrigues, and offering a space to …

Researching + Observing + Reflecting Of Chinese And American Landscape Architecture Pedagogy : Focusing On Department Of Landscape Architecture In Risd And Bfu, Change Gao

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on the Chinese and American landscape architecture education, typically in Beijing Forestry University (China) and Rhode Island School of Design (USA). By relecting back to author’s graduate and undergraduate study in landscape architecture in these two schools, this thesis provides a view of an observer and outsider instead of an experiencer and insider to look through the teaching and learning in landscape architecture. Through the voice from students and academia in both schools, this thesis functions as a platform sharing the learning and teaching experience, providing a cross-culture access to other people’s experience and as a chatbox …

Interdisciplinary Arts As An Agent For Community Building In A U.S. Public School, Ida Pappas

Educational Studies Dissertations

The aim of my dissertation research is to understand the relationship between interdisciplinary arts experiences and the establishment of a community culture in a mainstream public high school in northeast United States. With this research, I hope to provide evidence to support the inclusion of interdisciplinary arts projects in the fabric of students’ high school curricular and extra-curricular experiences. Through engagement in design, art, video, music, dance, theater and the close study of a minority culture, high school participants provided regular responses to planned survey questions and open-ended survey questions (Experience Sampling), as well as through interviews, written prompts and …

Better Alternatives For Youth: Peace, Education And Human Rights, Abraham Jones

Master's Theses

Many urban youth in the United States live in what are identified as high stress neighborhoods, where trauma is a normative reality within which common life themes permeate. Colloquially, the communities in these high stress areas reclaim space by naming them as hoods, barrios and ghettos. However, depending on one’s perception, these words can have a negative connotation. Even when these communities hold various forms of community cultural wealth and capital, urban narratives are often dominated by false common perceptions that associate these spaces with the violence that occurs within them. There is a need for spaces that produce counter …

The Mirror Up To Nature: Identity Exploration Through Drama For English Language Learners, Grace Hudkins

Master's Projects and Capstones

It is widely accepted that language acquisition through content, arts integration, and identity development in concert with foreign or second language development are all important and valid approaches to ESOL education. However, there is a lack of literature addressing these three elements in concert. This project attempts to bridge this gap through the creation of an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) unit that addresses language acquisition, drama integration, and personal and cultural identity development. The unit also promotes intercultural understanding, as students share their personal and cultural identity backgrounds with one another throughout the course of the unit …

Black Matter, Kahlil Irving

Graduate School of Art Theses

History as we know it, is inherited. Racism, fascism, white supremacy, and Eurocentric dominance have been presented as normal and acceptable within our society for many years. This has allowed police officers to execute Black American’s and not be acquitted for their horrendous crimes. As an activist I want to challenge the status quo. As an artist I am interested in investigating how I can present ideas embody or reflect contemporary issues and concerns. Using different colors can aggressively change how an object is perceived. Historical objects hold many important.

I explore many mediums, but an anchor material that I …

English Learners In Virginia's Secondary Art Classrooms, Alexandra M. Mamatas

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this study is to examine effective strategies for accommodating and differentiating secondary art education curricula for English learners. This thesis documents the gap in research on adolescent English learner (EL) students in secondary art classrooms, and investigates classroom strategies implemented by secondary art educators. The literature review analyzed a historical perspective on English learners in the United States, as well as state standards. Triangulation of the literature review, online survey, and follow-up interviews were utilized in this research. The survey was disseminated to 338 secondary members of the Virginia Art Education Association to examine state, school, and …

A Best Practice Guide For Teaching Artists: The Planning And Implementation Of Arts-Integrated Partnerships With Classroom Teachers, Lauren Patricia Ehrhart

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This Integrative Master's Project is a guide for Teaching Artists to use when planning and implementing arts-integrated partnerships with classroom teachers. This paper discusses the process of creating five original resources based on best practices of experienced arts-integration professionals. The resources are the product of ten interviews with experienced teaching artists and administrators of cultural organizations, who employ teaching artists in interdisciplinary school partnerships. These resources are in the form of worksheets, spreadsheets and charts and aim to help guide-teaching artists in the creation of successful collaborations with classroom teachers.

Art Power!: Exploring The Black Arts Movement, Imani Parkinson

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Art Power! is a curriculum guide designed for educators of early adolescents who are interested in integrating art history, cultural institutions, and art making into their curricula. The guide seeks to highlight two New York City based institutions: The Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture and The Studio Museum in Harlem. In addition, the intended audience is for middle school students in New York City. It is believed this audience would benefit from learning about the history of African American culture related to New York City’s neighborhoods and the exposure to cultural institutions who value this narrative. Art Power! includes …

Lacuna: Transcendence Of The Human Body Through The Space Between, Anica Bottom

Honors Theses

This essay examines the author’s choreography, Lacuna, and research integral to its representation. During the choreographic process, experimentation of how the human body moves in relation to different architectural space was observed. In collaboration with the cast of dancers, cohesion of personal experiences in particular locations was evaluated: specifically, investigation of how environments has the ability to trigger habits or patterns of movement from both past and present experiences. A closer look at how the body responds on a visceral level to the physical and emotional sense of place is described. Although the choreographic piece, Lacuna, came to …

The Benefits Of Music Education On Academic, Behavioral, And Communicative Skills With Middle School Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sarah V. Foley

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Music education has an important place for students with special needs. Through community based arts education programs, student benefits range from social to academic. The problem is that too often music education, among arts programs, is not taught in special education classrooms. The purpose of this study was to identify benefits that music education has on students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), focusing specifically on academic, behavioral, and communicative skills.

A review of the literature revealed that music is beneficial to students in a variety of ways, when they are provided the opportunity to engage in music education. Through this …

The Benefits Of Music In Child Development, Dulce-Paola Ixtupe

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Music is a subject that does not limit children to simply having fun, although “fun” is an essential component when trying to engage children in learning activities. Music further enhances a series of transferable skills and can help children with their learning experience in other subjects. By being part of a fun activity such as music, children are able to acquire affective, cognitive, and evaluative skills, which will further reinforce a variety of areas of their development. When engaged in an activity where recognition and expression of feelings are required, they learn that having feelings is perfectly normal and that …

On Craft, William Lentjes

KSU Journey Honors College Capstones and Theses

Craft is a relationship - a dialogue - between craftsman, tool, and material. Craft begins with the intent of all of these loci, and all of these loci are rooted in Being.

Being is known through the consciousness, awareness, and perception of a subject. Being is the inherent existence and totality of "what is."

Being crafts us; Craft imbues Being.

This thesis re-examines the pedagogical approach of an architectural education. The focus is placed on craft through presuppositionless phenomenology.

In an age of endless mechanized production and spiritless materialism, the practice of craft can teach us to return to the …

Investigating Steam: Integrating Art And Stem To Spark Innovation, Sara L. Hayman

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of STEAM instruction in K-12 classrooms emphasizes the teaching of 21st century learning skills using innovative thinking to solve real-world problems and specifically combines the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (Claymier, 2014; Gjovik and Skophammer, 2013). This study investigated how teaching children to recognize connections among subject areas using STEAM promotes innovation in students by using art to teach flexibility and fluidity in thinking. The goal was to determine if integrating art into a STEM project influences the attitude students have towards themselves and their abilities, their attitudes towards how different skill sets work together, …

Visual Rhetoric And Semiotics In Scenic Design: A Pedagogical Analysis, Chris Guzzardo

Masters Theses

Scenic designers are professionals in theatre who design sets for the stage that communicate aspects of a performance, such as time of day, location, and era. Sets are supposed to lay a foundation to performances as they communicate information to audiences through visual design. Since visual rhetoric and semiotics play a big part in the successful completion of transmitting messages, knowledge of both concepts should be taught to scenic designers. This thesis provides a content analysis of ten popular books used by scenic designers and their respective education programs. The analysis provides a structured search for visual rhetoric and semiotic …

The Benefits Of Music Education In The Mild To Moderate Special Education Classroom, Grades 3-5, Kimberly Lloyd

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Though extensive studies exist regarding the use of the arts in general education settings, a comparable amount of research is still needed to support the need for the use of the arts in special education settings. This research study investigated how a once a week music class impacted 3^rd - 5^th grade students with mild to moderate disabilities in developing their academic, social and behavioral goals as identified in their Individualized Education Programs (IEP). This qualitative research study utilized multiple data forms, including classroom observations of both music and non-music instruction and interviews with teachers, artists, and parents …

Dance Education In An Urban Kindergarten Classroom, Anna M. Veelman

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Incorporating arts education can be a valuable intervention for students in an urban setting. Teaching through the arts can act as an initial, Tier One intervention, for students who exhibit disruptive behaviors in the classroom, due to trauma, as well as benefit the overall classroom culture. The arts curriculum has a restorative power that allows students to learn social-emotional regulation skills, bodily-awareness, and expression.

This study examines dance as an art form. Dance is a form of art that allows students to express their emotions and release energy to support positive behavior in the classroom. Data were collected on 25 …

Bearing Witness To My Creativity: Exploring My Artist Identity Through A Practice Of A/R/Tography, Tamara K. Doleman

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This master’s project follows the personal journey of a creative studies master’s student as she engages in an a/r/tographical process paired with a weekly practice of mindfulness, meditation and Lectio-Divina to explore and restore her artistic practice. The author shares creativity routines, her sketchbook, mini artworks, ideas, culminating collaborative artwork and key insights that enabled her to consolidate her seemingly disparate roles of artist-researcher-teacher. Insights made over the course of the investigation have resulted in the realization that creative expression is a dynamic construct that expands, contracts and evolves in relationship and in response to its host’s experiences.

Engagement Of Early College Students In The Graphic Design Classroom, Kelly Ann Vander Kley

Masters Theses

This thesis creates recommendations for methods to increase classroom engagement, specifically in classrooms consisting of art/design students within a dual enrollment setting. The recommendations follow the investigation of literature and the examination of studies related to engagement features of young college students who are studying graphic design. This thesis examines factors that potentially reduce classroom connectivity, and looks deeper into how those factors play a role in the engagement levels of students. I begin with a focus on overall classroom engagement followed by a closer look at engagement of early college students in the graphic design classroom. After an examination …

Middle Level Multicultural/Social Justice Art Education Curriculum, Meghan E. G. Andrews

Masters Theses

The way in which children are taught matters a great deal and influences not only their worldview, but also how they view themselves with that world. Through my experiences as an art teacher, I have witnessed a growing need for teaching students in a way that focuses on multicultural and social justices issues in order to help students gain a more well-rounded world view. The art classroom has to power to serve as a safe and effective place to explore these issues. Determining why there is a growing need for a multicultural and social justice oriented art curriculum was important …

Drama For Social Justice: Embodying Identity And Emotion In Elt, Riah Werner

MA TESOL Collection

In this thesis, the author makes the case that drama is a powerful tool for language acquisition because it develops and engages embodiment, emotion and identity, important aspects of learning and communication that are often neglected in traditional language classrooms. The thesis establishes a theoretical foundation for the use of drama in the social justice-oriented language classroom, reviews research on drama for language learning and describes common drama techniques. The author connects the theories of embodied cognition and multiliteracies to an intersectional model of identity and argues that drama helps students re-examine the way society positions them based on their …

Music Times: A Music Learning Game, Emily Woo

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Music Times is a two dimensional educational video game with the purpose of gamifying learning of musical concepts. It has elements of adventure and visual novel games, and incentivizes the player to learn music to explore new levels. It is developed in the Unity game engine, scripted in C#, and targeted for mobile devices. It has six working levels: three lesson levels and three corresponding challenge levels. Each level contains slight differences in visual and aural feel.

"The Whole Building Is A Classroom": An Oral History Of A School's Role In The Culture Of The Community, Valerie Free Jones

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Edward Lee and Lulu McClain gave the gift of a new high school to the rural Appalachian community of Greenfield, Ohio, in 1915. Inspired in part by John Dewey’s Progressive theories of education, the school became the center of the community, both literally and figuratively, providing the best, most modern education for its students. The school was particularly unique in its focus on the arts, with its spaces carefully crafted and developed; its halls and classrooms filled with over 200 pieces of classic and original art, including murals, sculpture, and other works; and its curriculum inspired by art-based ideas of …

Understanding The Expressive Cartoon Drawings Of A Student With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Michael S. Collins

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the highly expressive comic drawings of Amy, a child with autism. This study connects larger fields of research: the study of how people with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] process faces and emotions; and, research about artists with ASD. Amy's understanding of emotion was analyzed by asking her to view and identify humans and cartoon characters expressing different emotions. Her ability to illustrate emotion is tested by asking her to respond to various drawing prompts. The study concluded that Amy has difficulty identifying the emotions of humans and cartoons, but she does have the ability to illustrate …

Does Increased Access To The Arts In High Schools In The Los Angeles Unified School District Affect Graduation Rates?, Elizabeth K. Gile

Scripps Senior Theses

Determining whether the arts are beneficial to a student’s education is a widely, and hotly debated topic every year in the United States, with many studies published each year demonstrating the impact that the arts have on various educational outcomes, from increased test scores to higher graduation rates. This paper examines previous research on the efficacy of incentives and how students’ participation in extracurricular activities, from sports to the arts, could impact graduation rates. It also develops a model for analyzing the present value of a high school education to a student using a discounted present value analysis and conducts …

ผลการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือกที่มีต่อทักษะการคิดอย่างมีวิจารณญาณในการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานของนักเรียนชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ 4, ณชนก หล่อสมบูรณ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การวิจัยครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อ1) ออกแบบแผนการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือก 2) ศึกษาทักษะการคิดอย่างมีวิจารณญาณของนักเรียนชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ 4 โดยการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือก 3) ศึกษาการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานของนักเรียนชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ 4 โดยการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือก และ4) ศึกษาความพึงพอใจของนักเรียนชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ 4 ที่มีต่อการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือก กลุ่มเป้าหมายคือ นักเรียนชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ 4 โรงเรียนศศิภา จำนวน 16 คน เครื่องมือที่ใช้ในการวิจัย ได้แก่ 1) แบบสัมภาษณ์ความคิดเห็นของผู้เชี่ยวชาญที่มีต่อการจัดการเรียนรู้วิชาศิลปะ 2) แผนการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือก 3) แบบประเมินทักษะการคิดอย่างมีวิจารณญาณ 4) แบบประเมินการสร้างสรรค์ผลงาน 5) แบบสอบถามและแบบสัมภาษณ์ความพึงพอใจนักเรียนที่มีต่อการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือก วิเคราะห์ข้อมูลโดยการหาค่าเฉลี่ยเลขคณิต ค่าร้อยละ ค่าส่วนเบี่ยงเบนมาตรฐาน สถิติ Repeated Measured ANOVA และการวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลเชิงเนื้อหา ผลการวิจัยพบว่า 1 )แผนการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือกมีความเหมาะสมกับนักเรียนชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ 4 โดยกระบวนการจัดการเรียนรู้ประกอบด้วย 4 ขั้นตอน ได้แก่ (1) ขั้นสาธิต (Demonstration) สามารถส่งเสริมทักษะการคิดอย่างมีวิจารณญาณได้จากการตั้งคำถามของผู้สอน และการเปิดโอกาสให้ผู้เรียนได้แสดงความคิดเห็น รวมถึงสามารถส่งเสริมการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานจากการสาธิตเทคนิควิธีการต่างๆของผู้สอน (2) ขั้นสตูดิโอ (Studio Time) สามารถส่งเสริมทักษะการคิดอย่างมีวิจารณญาณด้วยการฝึกให้ผู้เรียนได้วางแผน ร่างแบบจากการศึกษาค้นคว้าข้อมูลเพิ่มเติม เพื่อใช้ในการตัดสินใจเลือกวัสดุ อุปกรณ์และตั้งชื่อผลงาน และเปิดโอกาสให้ผู้เรียนแลกเปลี่ยนความคิดระหว่างกันเพื่อนำมาพัฒนาการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานเป็นการส่งเสริมการสร้างสรรค์ผลงาน นอกเหนือจากการให้ผู้เรียนได้ลงมือปฏิบัติ เพื่อค้นพบเทคนิควิธีการใหม่ๆ (3) ขั้นคลีนอัพ (Cleanup) เป็นการส่งเสริมการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานให้ผู้เรียนรู้จักทำความสะอาดและเก็บวัสดุอุปกรณ์ และ(4) ขั้นวัดผล (Assessment) ส่งเสริมทักษะการคิดอย่างมีวิจารณญาณและการสร้างสรรค์งานผลงานโดยให้ผู้เรียนระบุปัญหาและหาแนวทางแก้ไขปัญหาอย่างรอบคอบ อีกทั้งผู้เรียนสามารถนำเสนอเทคนิคและวิธีการใหม่ๆที่ค้นพบ และการประเมินผลงานของตนเองและเพื่อน 2) การจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือกทำให้ผู้เรียนมีพัฒนาการทักษะการคิดอย่างมีวิจารณญาณสูงขึ้น อย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับ .05 3) การจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือกทำให้ผู้เรียนมีพัฒนาการการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานสูงขึ้น อย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับ .05 และ4) ระดับความพึงพอใจของนักเรียนชั้นประถมศึกษาปีที่ 4 ที่มีต่อการจัดการเรียนรู้ศิลปศึกษาบนฐานทางเลือกอยู่ในระดับมาก ( σ = 4.38)