Art educators perceive a state of disjuncture in the field when what is persistently practiced in elementary schools as art stands in opposition to basic tenets about the teaching and learning of art. Two reasons are given to explain this sense of disjuncture. First, art education orientations and research associated scholarship are posited to be less than successful in disclosing to teachers what is educationally relevant. Neither a child-centered nor a discipline-centered orientation seems to have considered the adjustive effort teachers make in translating intended purposes into classroom practice. Second, a school art orientation is perceived to be in opposition to art education ideals. Recent studies suggest that features of the classroom setting and the strategies teachers use to make them comprehensible may have an impact on the outcome of instruction in art. Guided by a theoretical stance developed from the literature on commonsense knowledge, I adopted a method of approach to investigate teachers' interpretive accounts of the teaching and learning of art. Observation and interview strategies were used. I discovered two guidelines teachers consulted, and I examined the context in which the guidelines and events mutually elaborate one another. 1. When properly programmed, an art task guides the synchronization of an aggregate of recognizable and approved action, and 2. The use of the art classificatory scheme of structured and experimental art activities in practice is contingent on maintaining this programmatic course of action. Teachers' accounts revealed four features useful in making their work recognizable and approved: pacing and phasing of action, physical conditions, thematic content, and effort. The features elaborated a proper programmatic effect and structured art activities over experimental ones as a way of achieving this effect. This kind of activity was described as school-like and successfully addresses the problem of how to regulate the efforts of an aggregate of children over a specified period of time with due respect for order. The prescription for a preformulated content and stylistic form of art determined acceptable effort. Ideally, experimental art activities were understood to heighten personal awareness by encouraging the child to be more of a task determiner. With less opportunity to rely on stock responses, because the relevance of idiosyncratic action had to be determined anew whenever this kind of activity was undertaken, teachers chose to set this kind of activity aside until conditions became ideal. The difficulty children had in deciding what was intended by the invitation to experiment was not recognized as significant. Choice of structured art activities appears to be attributed to two related factors: a taken-for-granted conception of the requirements for organizational control and an unresolved conception of experimental art activities in the context of this organizational structure. This in-school orientation does not seem to indicate a rejection of formally approved art education orientations, but rather an unquestioning acceptance of the practical necessity of organizational control acquired as a result of teaching experience. These demands determined what is possible in art. Basic tenets of art education intended to have educational consequences have been indefinitely set aside, unwittingly reducing children's involvement in art and teachers' responsibility to assist children in interacting with the discipline. Reified conventions such as freedom of expression and experimentation have made art education remote by creating a chasm between theory and practice, implying that art education can be dealt with at a theoretical level without consideration of how teachers handle everyday experience. Reasonable conclusions to be drawn from evidence provided in this study are that educators need an approach to art education that will not artificially produce the gap that structured art activities have come to fill. It would have to bridge the gap in a manner that recognizes art education orientations (theory) and what teachers do with them (practice) as aspects of the same thing. The present study is a first step toward reflective intervention in the taken-for-granted ways teachers and art educators think about what they do. If it is important for children to interact with the developed structure of the art education discipline, and if teachers are to take responsibility for ensuring that the art education experience takes place, then change would have to be urged by apprising teachers, art educators, and others of the state of disjuncture reported here, and how factors associated with it have come to complement and contradict the interchange between the goals of art education and the school as a workplace. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This thesis provides an analysis of video recordings and written observations of four preschool-aged children as they spontaneously explored art materials within a group setting. The focus of analysis is the extent to which subjects interacted with other children and adults during art material use, and the effect of interaction on the subjects' uses of materials. For each subject, data are categorized and presented according to location, type, and approximate length of activity; presence or absence of others; and types of interactive behavior: watching, verbal interaction; imitation; and distraction from the activity. Descriptive passages are presented which detail specific episodes of interaction, and behaviors of adults interacting with subjects are also described. The conclusions argue for heightened awareness of social interaction as a factor in children's art experiences. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to discover similarities and differences in opinions held by secondary art teachers, secondary art students and animators on the role and character of animation in art education. The problem was to determine whether the relative neglect of animation as a part of the art curriculum has come about because the techniques and concepts associated with it are seen as difficult and/or unnecessary to implement by teachers; or whether students are unfamiliar and uninterested in animation as a field of study; or whether animation, in the opinion of professional animators, is not a suitable subject for study. The study was conducted with five secondary art teachers, nine secondary art students and three professional animators. Informants responded verbally to questions posed by the researcher. These responses were documented on a tape recorder and later transcribed for analysis. Responses from the informants generated data relating to five areas of animation: 1) defining animation, 2) potent images, 3) popular culture, 4) careers and 5) backgrounds. The study showed that although animation is a part of students1 popular culture and students are interested in it, teachers are not currently teaching it. Technical difficulties prevent them from doing so, despite the fact that they acknowledge animation as an important art form. The other findings in this study are that both teachers and students are often not consciously aware that they are watching animation; and that there are many misconceptions and prejudices associated with the medium. Implications for art education are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This dissertation examines visual art programming and art education practices within the contexts of two community recreation centres in an urban Canadian West Coast Parks and Recreation Department. Addressing the academic communities of both education and recreation/leisure studies, it questions the dichotomy of education and recreation and looks at leisure institutions as pedagogical environments. This research considers the question, "What is the context into which art programming in community recreation centres is expected to fit, and how does that context position and affect art teaching and art experience?" It uses interview transcripts, documents, visual data, and field notes to identify themes pertaining to the ideological and structural environments in which art programming practice occurs. The perspectives of staff7administrators are contrasted with those of art instructors, and elaborated by evidence related to participants' experiences and the physical/visual/symbolic environments of the settings. The study is positioned within sociological literatures of art, leisure, and education—including feminist analysis and critical theory—and draws particularly on the work of Pierre Bourdieu. Analysis suggests numerous contradictions to the construction of leisure as freedom, pleasure, and non-education, and draws attention to the particular ways that these recreation centre sites frame and influence art encounters. For example, although one description of art education practice in these settings is that it is "wrapped in fun", it can alternatively be understood as occurring within the frenzied and fragmented temporal patterns of contemporary North American life; commodified and negotiated in expectations of pleasure; imbued with a formal lack of authority; and positioned within an environment which tends to privilege physical and male-dominated forms of leisure. The study suggests that informal institutional practices and tacit messages act to contravene a formal arts policy intended to increase recreational arts programming, ultimately maintaining the status quo. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This thesis represents the writer's belief that art possesses unique qualities which make it indispensable in general education. In the attempt to show that this view of art as a vital agent for learning is not new, he points to historical example. He claims that organized society has since antiquity given art a primary role in education, and that this concept is supported by the pronouncements of some of the greatest philosophers and educators in the history of mankind. In arguing the case for a re-appraisal of the aims of art education, the point is made that, in spite of its great potential as a dynamic force in our school curricula, art is barely tolerated as a "fringe" subject by today's administrators. Believing that the choice for art educators lies between the two conflicting positions of "integration or isolation," the writer declares his support for the principle of integration. He claims that important gains have been made in the past by those art educators who have, by interpreting the writings of Sir Herbert Read, followed a policy of education through art. In calling for a vigorous exposition of this policy, the view is advanced that the present-day ills which beset art education will need drastic treatment if art is to realize its full potential as a major component in education. Generalists, as well as specialist art teachers, will have to be convinced of the strong catalystic value of art in the learning process. One way in which teachers might be helped to educate through art, the writer suggests, would be through curriculum materials designed for that purpose and developed for use in teacher education programmes and school classrooms generally. With this central thesis of education through art in mind, the writer describes the development of a proto-type curriculum kit, "The Mask." Data is gathered through field-work in the public school system and in teacher education programmes, with the researcher directly involved as a participant/observer. Consisting of slides, taped music and teaching notes, the kit is aimed at an integrated approach to learning through art. Although the theme has the needs of elementary school social studies in view, the researcher stresses the flexibility of purpose which he intends for the materials. Despite the necessarily limited number of opinions he was able to gather, the encouraging response from student-teachers, art teachers, and teacher educators leads the researcher to the conclusion that there is a need for curriculum materials that will help teachers to educate through art. Ha further concludes that the need exists, not only at elementary level, but in secondary schools, as well as in teacher education programmes. In terms of future action, the main implication is that an attempt should be made to satisfy that need. This will involve the development of a series of curriculum packages, diverse of theme, but united in their underlying purpose of education through art. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

No description available.

The study explored the returning experience of six Chinese art education practitioners after they received their graduate degrees in the United States and moved back to China. It was grounded on the assumption that when art education returnees try to translate what they learned into the new system of art education in another country, their efforts will be shaped by the different cultural context, and conflicts will emerge with multiple and interrelated dimensions. The dissertation employed a qualitative cross-case approach. Six returned art education practitioners were selected and interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol in 2019. I mainly worked as a non-participant researcher, obtaining information from the conversations with the participants. In addition, I collected blog entries, photos, and online articles related to what and how an interviewee responded to a question. The findings of the research suggested that returnees move along diverse trajectories of professional development, and their professional ideas all contradict local traditions to some extent. Collectively, they experienced multiple challenges concerning professional, administrative, and interpersonal, as well as some minor challenges in their returning process. In coping with the challenges, they made two-way changes: they changed their own expectations and behaviors, while also changing art education in China in terms of teaching methods, space, and people involved. This study aimed to provide educational implications for future art education returnees, international art programs, and China as the home country. It also provides implications for the developing art education programs in China. New thoughts sparked by the process of collecting data and writing the dissertation are also presented as suggestions for future studies.

This was a study of teachers’ responses concerning art workshop experiences in a summer demonstration school. Three major aspects of the study were: (1) to determine the relative values that teachers placed on selected art experiences, (2) to determine from teachers’ responses the effectiveness of the art workshop program, (3) to identify possible improvements as indicated by the participants in a questionnaire to be described later.

The objective of this research is to elicit and analyze the use of visual response created by art therapists and its implications for their resiliency. As part of the mental health community, art therapists are exposed to trauma histories and traumatic events, their empathetic nature making them susceptible to the negative effects stress, which over time can accumulate and lead to clinician burnout. Although there is ample literature on the detrimental effects of the burnout syndrome on the helping professions, the literature is limited when it comes to art therapists and their distinct needs and resources. The current study used mixed methods to better understand the role of visual response art as it was used by participating art therapists in building and maintaining resilient and restorative self-care practices. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / . / June 29, 2015. / art therapy, burnout, mental health, resilience, response art, self-care / Includes bibliographical references. / David Gussak, Professor Directing Dissertation; Carolyn Henne, University Representative; Sara Scott Shields, Committee Member; Marcia Rosal, Committee Member.

This study sought to determine the effectiveness of portrait drawing as an art therapy intervention for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a way to improve communication and social skills as well as increase an understanding of facial expressions and social cues. Participants consisted of two females with ASD from a center for autism at a major university in the southeast United States. The participants took part in six weekly art therapy sessions where the Face Stimulus Assessment (FSA) was administered as a pre and post test. A modified version of the Formal Elements of Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) was used to score the FSA drawings. Additionally, questionnaires based on the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) was used to measure the impact of portrait drawing on the participants' weekly behavior. The sessions incorporated the concept of the 'Interactive Square' (Bragge & Fenner, 2009) as an approach to art therapy with the more structured directive of portrait drawing. The participants were asked to create self-portraits before drawing the researcher's portrait. Next, participants with ASD engaged in portrait drawing with neurotypical peers. Qualitative and quantitative results showed the portrait drawing is an effective technique for adults with ASD. Quantitative and qualitative data are discussed. Artwork is used to illustrate the qualitative data. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester 2015. / June 23, 2015. / Art Therapy, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Communication, Interpersonal Relationships, Portrait Drawing, Social Skills / Includes bibliographical references. / Marcia Rosal, Professor Directing Thesis; David Gussak, Committee Member; Theresa van Lith, Committee Member.