Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Portable Art Gallery: Facilitating Student Autonomy And Ownership Through Exhibiting Artwork, Jethro D. Gillespie

Theses and Dissertations

In an attempt to help a class of high school AP Studio Art students find a more authentic sense of autonomy and ownership with their own art projects, the author has constructed a portable art gallery space designated for the exhibition of student artwork. Through a theoretical framework of post-structuralism, as well as a hybrid methodological approach, including tenets of both action research and grounded theory, he was able to explore how de-centralizing traditional, pedagogical notions of power in the classroom and utilizing contemporary art education practices affected AP Studio Art students' experience in the art classroom. By placing an …

A Qualitative Action Research Project Documenting Student Perceptions Of The Effects Of Visual Culture On Identity, Jessica M. Miccichi

Art Education Projects

I have conducted a qualitative action research project focusing on student perceptions of the impact of visual culture on teens including popular media. Students especially in high schools are bombarded with visual imagery through various technology sources. While working with high school juniors and seniors I noticed a rise in teen pregnancy and sexual confusion among this population. I wondered how much their exposure to sexually explicit imagery effected their identity and choices.

I started off planning research through a feminist and engaged pedagogical lens, specifically adhering to bell hook’s (1994) principals of “holistic teaching”, which focuses on emotional as …

A Participatory Action Study Investigating Implementing Democratic Teaching Practices In An Eighth Grade Art Classroom Using Critical Pedagogy, Kari M. Achatz

Art Education Projects

This qualitative action research study investigated the question "What might an eighth grade art classroom look like in practice? For eight weeks, 20 middle school students participated in a democratic art classroom. Using a theoretical lens of critical pedagogy I employed democratic teaching practices and asked students to create a work of art based on a social issue that they were passionate about. Through the course of this study students used their art as a way to voice their concerns about social issues and social injustices in the world. My research included data gathered from student interviews, student response papers, …

Phronesis Through Praxis: Cultivating The Habit Of A Rhetorical Disposition In Positive Deviance Action Research, Lucia Dura

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Positive deviance is an asset-based, community-driven, problem-solving approach to social change premised on the idea that in every community there are certain individuals or groups whose uncommon behaviors and strategies enable them to find better solutions to problems than their peers, while having access to the same resources and facing similar or worse challenges (www.positivedeviance.org). Positive deviance has been used in over 40 countries to address issues as diverse as productivity in the workplace, infection and disease prevention, education, and child trafficking. This dissertation situates positive deviance within the areas of social change and change studies in the discipline of …