The purpose of this investigation was to observe the effect of supplemental art activities on classroom management. Supplemental art activities are assignments designed to replace "busy work" with meaningful, interesting learning projects for students. The supplemental activities allowed students who completed their regular work to direct free time to developing appropriate work habits and creative thinking. The investigation showed that additional prepared learning activities help to reduce classroom discipline problems. Students were required to continue the normal learning routine without surpassing the slower members of the class. Planned activities did not solve all classroom problems but did serve to educationally involve the faster students.

This thesis tries to understand and to have a better insight into adolescence and it is interested in options of forming personality of a young person with a mental disability. Based on the qualitative research, it tries to describe the development of personality particular aspects in the group of people in a two-year practical school. Sub themes of personality development are elaborated on the basis of cross-section theme Personality and social education in art lessons, where they are using the benefit of the art work, feeling and reflection as a formative element by creating self-identity in the behavioral-educational process. Thesis describes ways, which simplify the self-knowledge, strengthen the self-concept, operate in the area of psycho-hygiene and help to reveal the hidden potentials, which specify and focus the life course of a young person with a mental disability on the edge of adulthood. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This study examined the effectiveness of a combination of seven different visual art activities, hat decoration, collage, embossing, painting, ceramics, photography, and printmaking, on quality of life for eight veterans with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The eight veterans were selected from the population of residents at the Thomson‐ Hood Veterans facility in Wilmore, Kentucky. These veterans were administered the seven art activities mentioned above, which ranged from less difficult to increasing difficulty. Three standard self‐reporting instruments, the Quality of Life‐AD, the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale, and the Smiley‐Face Mood Assessment, as well as systematic observation and surveys were used to explore the effectiveness of the activities in improving quality of life and to identify other relevant domains. The results suggest that the combination of art activities improved the quality of life of the participants, including observed domains of focus and concentration, problem‐solving skills, memory, imagination, motor skills, self‐esteem, mood, and social interaction. The educational approach used simple to more complex problem‐solving skills and seemed to enhance cognitive performance and contribute to improved quality of life.

The main purpose of the study is to investigate how children act and make meaning in art activities in the Swedish preschool. The study is a contribution to the new social studies of childhood. Children are seen as active participants in the construction and reconstruction of society. Pictures are understood as both culturally and socially produced. They are made in social contexts and earlier pictures are used as raw material. The investigation has an ethnographical approach and two preschools were visited for five weeks each. In all 36 children aged four to six years participated. Data were gathered through participant observations and comprise 37 hours of videotaped art activities, videotaped informal interviews, field notes and documented pictures. Both teacher-guided and unsolicited activities were observed, but in both cases the children's meaning making was in focus. The analyses show that the children use a wide range of pictorial genres. The pictures are produced in dialogue with other pictures: primarily pictures produced by other children, but also the staff's pedagogical illustrations and media pictures. The art activities have different purposes such as exploration of materials, making narrative accounts or producing pictures needed in fantasy play. The production of pictures is connected in several ways to the children's play projects. Girls and boys produce largely different pictures - making pictures could be seen as a way of doing gender. Aesthetic purposes seem to be important to the children. They prefer perfectly shaped forms and use a variety of strategies to accomplish such pictures. The admiration of perfect forms could be understood in relation to children's positions in the society. The social category 'child' is constructed in relation to adults and understood as a deficiency in size, age and abilities. There is a strong positive value connected to growing older and being 'big'. The use of methods that allow one to produce pictures similar to those that older children or adults can produce is one way of appearing as 'big' and competent. One paradox is that the methods used to make pictures attractive in the children's eyes make them less valuable in adults' eyes. Copying or using templates goes against central values that traditionally have dominated art pedagogy, where authenticity is valued and thought of as originating from the individual artist (or child). This contradiction is connected to another contradiction concerning individualism and collectivism. While adults often think of art activities as individual, the children mostly engage in art activities collectively. They sit together with other children when making pictures, they interact with each other during the activities and they produce similar pictures. The children's picture production is part of their peer cultures, and they share and practice what could be understood as their own pictorial cultures.

In response to the recent political decision in Sweden in 2023 to reduce the allocation of hours for visual art education in Swedish Schools Högstadiet (grade 7-9), this study is motivated by a commitment to substantiate our stance against this policy through scientific rationale. This paper undertakes a literature review to explore the significance of visual arts within the evolving landscape of educational curricula. Focusing on the domain of teaching and education, our main objective is to investigate the positive impact visual art education provides. The approach employed involves an analysis of existing studies and research findings related to art and art education. The findings of this study highlight the multifaceted benefits of visual art education in schools. By thoughtfully combining various scholarly insights, this investigation asserts that art education bestows a range of favorable outcomes upon students, equipping them with essential tools to navigate the expanding visual environment in both current and future societal contexts.

This thesis considers the role of aesthetic meaning-making in elementary school science learning. Children’s aesthetic experiences are traced through their use of aesthetic judgements, spontaneous metaphors and art activities. The thesis is based on four empirical studies: the first two examining children’s language use, i.e. the role of aesthetic judgements and the significance of spontaneous metaphors while learning science and the latter two dealing with how art activities mediate what elementary school children learn in science and what a variety of art activities with different purposes afford elementary school children to learn in science. The theoretical stance emanates from pragmatist theories and includes Dewey’s definition of an aesthetic experience, Wittgenstein’s later work on language-games, and socio-cultural perspectives. The analytic approach used is a practical epistemology analysis developed by Wickman and Östman. The empirical data consists of audio- and video recordings of elementary school children’s (aged 6–10 years) discussions in pairs or small groups during science lessons and photographs of children’s pictures, sculptures and poems from a total of 14 different elementary school classes. The main findings of the empirical studies show how aesthetic meaning-making is continuous with elementary school children’s scientific learning. The thesis shows how elementary school children’s aesthetic experiences are related to whole activities and are crucial for the direction that learning takes. Aesthetic experience is important in terms of how and what elementary school children learn aesthetically and normatively in science class, which has consequences for cognitive learning, the possibility of participating in science class and learning the genre of science. Moreover, it can be seen how children’s prior experiences are recurrently reconstructed and transformed through imaginative processes.

Forskning visar att bildskapande kan användas på många olika sätt. I fritidshemmet är det vanligt att man utgår ifrån läroplanen när man planerar aktiviteter som rör bild. Även elevers intressen och behov ligger till grund för hur man arbetar. Utifrån de syften pedagoger har med en bildaktivitet formas aktiviteten. Med hjälp av denna studie ville vi få en djupare förståelse för varför fritidslärare arbetar med bild. Ämnet har undersökts genom intervjuer med fem lärare i fritidshem. Resultatet visar att bildaktiviteter i fritidshemmet kan användas för att ge elever utvecklad förståelse för människors olika förutsättningar och att elevernas intresse ofta ligger till grund för vilka aktiviteter som genomförs. Även pedagogens utbildning i och intresse av bild påverkar arbetet.

The thesis, entitled "What I like to watch?" is aimed at inquiry of preschool age children's visual preferences. Whole work purpose is to realize a didactical project in the kindergarden and find out preschool children's visual preferences through art activites and artefiletics. Parents' information are also very important contribution because it contains important facts about preschool children's visual preferences.

This thesis deals with the application of the fine arts with much focus on the development of personality on people serving prison sentences. The content of this thesis is divided into theoretical and practical chapters. First part defines some key terms of including the program of rehabilitation and pedagogical events that are used in this specific environment. The practical chapters are devoted to the realization of own longer-term didactic project named ?Kordelie? which is concerned with the positive thinking, values, and the development of competences at the target group of occupationally unclassified sentenced women in the custodial prison České Budějovice. Based on the application of these sets of activities and their consequent evaluation, I am obliged to observe the real possibility of fine art inclusion in didactic projects to individuals in correctional facility.

The subject of diploma paper was anallysis of perception children and youth related to visual art. In the first chapter of theoretic part diploma paper I explain definitions related to the subject, i.e. that is fine art, aesthetics, culture, kitsch and relation of this species to the human being. In next chapters I acte problems, definition, delimitation of the odd time and I explain possibilities of transmission visual art to children and young people. The theoretic part of diploma paper is dedicated to possibilities of confrontation children and youth people with the visual art through various cultural institutions. This part of diploma paper is ended with basic dividing of spare-time activitity organizations. The practical part of diploma paper is dedicated to visual art project {\clq}qWho knows Piaristic square``, {\clq}qConversation`` and {\clq}qEntities in the nature``. Visual art expression of subjective experience evoked by visual perception of concrete image is the aim of this project. The project is intended for the children and youth in age between 8 and 24 years. I confront by means of projects both various components of visual art (painting, sculpture and architecture) and various movement epoch (gothic style, baroque and modern style). I wanted find the way how to transmit visual art to children and youth enjoyable, educational with aesthetic value. The end of the diploma paper summaries pieces of knowledge and perceptions from the visual art courses and projects.