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Learning With And Because Of Each Other: A High School Art Portfolio Class As A Community Of Practice, Gregory Robert Frederick

Dissertations (1934 -)

This educational criticism of a senior high school art portfolio class asks: In what ways does the community of practice developed within a successful studio art program at a high school contribute to an understanding of its success?

Interviews, documents, photographs, and classroom observations gathered over one year inform this qualitative study. Participants include three Portfolio co-teachers, twenty Portfolio students, and two younger art students. Analysis focuses on the interplay of structure and participation that shapes learning among the participants, both as a group and individually. Five themes emerge as valuable ways of understanding the community of practice: team teaching, …