This thesis presents a qualitative case study based on interviews I conducted with contemporary Inuit artist and art educator Andrew Qappik. I traveled to Pangnirtung, Nunavut Territory, Canada in order to ask the 45-year-old "master printmaker" about the art education he received as a child and adult while living in a mostly Inuit town of approximately 1,300 in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Additionally, I interviewed Qappik about the art-teaching activities he has been providing to children and adults, in Pangnirtung and beyond, for the past fifteen years. My research sheds light not only on Qappik's personal experiences, but, by extension, on the nature of the art education models recently and currently operating in his local and regional communities. In this thesis, I present information about the "arctic-adapted" nature of art education within a unique borderland society--a location in which the traditions, values and contemporary practices of the indigenous Inuit culture are intertwined with those of the dominant, mainstream, Canadian culture. / text

The goal of this study is to create a qualitative resource guide of African American culture, art, and artists for an art education curriculum. This project encompasses four main themes to reflect an area of African American culture via a work of art created by an African American artist. These themes are, Family with the sub themes African American Male, Matriarch, and Children; Spirit with the sub themes Faith, Spirituality, and Inspiration; Identity with the sub themes Artist’s Voice, Triumph, and Hope and Vision; Community with the sub themes Ancestors, Social Issues, and Cultural Voice. These themes constitute a basis depictive of the African American culture at a deeper level as resounded by ethicist Peter J. Paris’s reflection of the culture’s foundational building blocks, God, community, family, and person (Paris, 2004). This thesis looks beyond the composition, artistic essentials, historical relevance, and biographical sketches of the artists, to create an accessible and effective way to approach African American culture thematically. The resource provides connecting elements into a culture that has contributed to the very essence of the larger American culture.

The purpose of this study was to discern the topical content and educational content level of selected presentations given at National Art Education Association conferences and to identify the gender, level of involvement, and occupational background of participants who provided this information. The printed content of nineteen national conference bulletins published from 1951 through 1980 was analyzed to identify presentations and participants that focused on art education teachers, students, and programs in preschool through grade twelve.

Public school educators strive to address a variety of student needs. Factors such as poverty, trauma, Limited English Proficiency, and the presence or risk of disabilities contribute to students' learning profiles and require educators to rely on the best practices of an interwoven network of specialists so that they can meet these needs. Utilizing a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, aimed at fostering school improvement and collaborative research, this study paints an in-depth, holistic cultural portrait of a diverse PreK-5 elementary school in the mountains of northern New England. The lead researcher collaborated with the leadership of the school with the goal of creating a more inclusive learning environment. The school studied is unique in that the arts are used as a vehicle for instruction and inclusion of students from diverse backgrounds, including students with disabilities. The study weaves together feminism, ethnography, arts integration, and disability studies to explore the potential multiple benefits of arts-based instruction and a social skills curriculum for meeting the needs of diverse learners. Through interviews, observations, document review, and reflective journaling, the study collaboratively explores the beliefs and practices of three interrelated micro-cultures within the school: school leaders, classroom teachers, and parents. This study -- conducted over the course of one school year -- provides a snapshot of how one unique school community worked to create an inclusive learning environment through arts integration and a social skills curriculum. Additionally, it documents the benefits and challenges of a PAR approach to supporting and sustaining school-wide change.

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program [IB PYP] is a student-driven, inquiry-based elementary school level educational program that has grown rapidly in the United States since its creation in 1997. This study explores how IB PYP art teachers define and implement inquiry-based instructional methods in their art rooms through a nation-wide, online survey of art teachers, coordinators, and administrators. The Survey consists of 22 questions which ask respondents to describe their classroom practices and provide examples of how they make use of inquiry-based methods in the art room. The responses to this survey were then value coded for four different phases of inquiry and three degrees of student-centeredness to analyze understandings of these practices. This study concludes that conceptions of these instructional methods vary greatly in occasionally contradictory ways. There is need for more robust lesson plans examples and increased frequency and access to subject specific training, in both physical and online settings.

The purpose of this document is to design and record a Kindergarten visual arts unit using the Activboard to determine how student achievement, motivation, and interest are impacted. Methods of data collection include both observational recording and student interviews. The Activboard facilitates a highly interactive study of the art curriculum and data collected throughout the unit indicates a positive impact on student achievement, motivation, and interest.

The purpose of this study is to explore the South Korean art education system in the context of history, culture and politics. This thesis provides further explanation on how history has impacted the South Korean art education system and affects current curriculum, theories and practices. Four highly qualified educators and professors from South Korea were interviewed to collect date relating to current practices in South Korean art education. The study focuses on Korean history, which affected the education policies, social perspective, art education theories and curriculum. This study also highlights the relationship of western art education theories and the traditional Korean theories. Understanding culture through history and policies can provide in-depth perspective on why and how South Korean art education has evolved to what it is today. This information may assist art teachers as they modify lessons to fit the needs of students who are immigrating from South Korea.

This thesis uses autoethnographic research of the Mexican American art community in Austin, Texas to demonstrate how edgewalkers, people to move between multiple cultural worlds yet retain their own identity, become informal art educators through the process of transculturation. The work describes this cyclical and on-going process that includes curiosity, knowledge gathering, and awareness of self and others and the summation of these elements, which leads to transculturation. For this research, four informal art educators practicing in Austin were interviewed. Each of the collaborators practices art in different media including visual art, curating of exhibitions, performance, and graphic design. The descriptions and analysis of the researcher’s experiences along with those of the informal art educators reveal a third landscape, or an alternative space and identity, where multiple cultural worlds overlap into bicultural, bilingual and/or biconceptual environments. This thesis demonstrates how informal art education, made possible through transcultural experiences, is an effective tool in art education and culturally responsive instruction. / text

Drawing upon rhetorical evidence of three art education activities in Worcester, Massachusetts at the close of the 19th century−The Public School Art League, evening drawing classes, and School Arts magazine−it is argued through this research that the many active facets of art education that occurred in Worcester at this time were constructed in great part as response to the economic climate of the city. This thesis argues that the activities were representative of art education for the improvement of public taste, patience, and the recognition of beauty. In this study, parallels are drawn between these three organizations and activities in Worcester, demonstrating many common initiators and motivations. Exploring art education motivations in Worcester at the turn of the 19th century, this investigation also advocates the need for the study of Japanese influence on art education activities in New England during this same period. / text

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission made their final recommendations for Canadian society to address cultural genocide: by affirming stories of survivors, taking personal and professional inventory of their practices and making concrete steps to meet the Calls to Action. In particular, the TRC recognized damage done by museums and art galleries to perpetuate colonialism and yet, believed that these institutions could be sites of justice, particularly in relation to arts and artists The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, an institution steeped in colonialism and under pressure to create accountable relationships with Indigenous communities, began to act by revamping their education program for school age children entitled the Gallery in the Schools art program. My study asked Indigenous artists and educators to contribute their ideas for a new art program. I used a blended research of community based and decolonizing research models, contextualized within decolonizing and critical theoretical frameworks. Overall, research findings suggest that process is as important as the end product in the context of reconciliation and decolonization. Significantly, relationships were esteemed over the concept of reconciliation. These finding further imply that a successful art program would ground pedagogical content within a critical historical framework, be informed by a fluid understanding of identity and search out possibilities of hope. The theoretical implications of this study support increased contributions by Indigenous artists as key policy makers, who will challenge the deeply embedded power structures of institutions and offer alternative ways to share power and support Indigenous envisioned futures. / Graduate