<p> This Q methodological study addresses the subjective opinions of arts educators concerning the values the arts bring to the school curriculum and to society. In order to effectively defend the inclusion of the arts in budget-constrained schools, to clarify confusing and contradictory rationale for arts education and potentially to guide teacher training decisions, it was considered necessary to identify what opinions arts educators hold in terms of value orientations. A review of relevant literature in education, aesthetics, psychology, sociology and related fields was conducted to identify the breadth of the field and to develop an initial interview protocol. Six arts educators representing visual arts, music and drama were subsequently interviewed. The results of the interviews and the literature review were used to construct a 47 statement Q set which was sorted by 25 arts educators. PQMethod software was used to analyze the results and a three factor solution resulted. In addition to the comparison of statement positions on each factor, narrative input provided by the participants and interview commentary provided by interviewees who defined the factors aided in the interpretation of the results. The three factors were interpreted to be Arts Orientation, Student Orientation and Equity Orientation. Themes in the Arts value orientation included passion for the arts and quality of life; whereas Student orientation values the connectedness of the arts to other subjects, academic benefits and the learning environment. Equity orientation values the arts for bringing cultural equity into the schools and values accessibility for all. Common perspectives amongst the factors were associated with creativity and problem solving, communication roles, and rejecting the value of an art for only its excellence in the art. Demographic data was solicited addressing age, gender, education and discipline taught. An orientation distinction between visual and performing arts educators is suggested.</p>

Computer technology represents a virtually unexplored medium and has brought architecture to the threshold of what could potentially be one of the greatest revolutions in its history. Precedents of all creative endeavors reveal how humans typically respond to such new mediums in terms of time and application. Once recognized as a new architectural medium, computer technology promises to establish a boundless environment which will redefine human interaction.

The subject of Like and like is the everyday, in particular ordinary designed objects that we all come in contact with. For pragmatic reasons, they make an easier target. We all see them. They have a universal quality to them. At first I wanted to pick an object that we design for. I also picked a designed object that has so many characteristics and provokes so much change. Transportation, moving through space, is one of the fundamental principles of architecture. During the 19th and 20th century this mobility has been one of the most important catalysts for change. The first objects I choose to compare were transport vehicles. This grew out into a large comparison of other elements in the city such as housing, office buildings, parking garages, etc. The project Like and like is about the similarities and differences in the world around us. The point of my thesis investigation is looking at the similarities and revealing their differences. For me, the most interesting manifestation of this exchange between similar and different is in the designed object and designed environment. This is important because the differences relate to identity; my task is to point this identity out. Identity is brought out through the use of the designed object. Using photography as my method, I started to compare "like" things. In photographing them I produced a new way of seeing: seeing as an act of stilling "like" things and therefore I could examine them. Through documenting moments in our cities I could compare like against like.

<p>The use of quantitative data-driven instruction and assessment in the visual arts curriculum could impact the outcome of student creativity if employed within the visual arts, a content area that uses primarily qualitative pedagogy and assessment. In this paper I examine the effect upon measured creativity resulting from the use of Quantitative Data-Driven Assessment compared to the use of Authentic Assessment in the Visual Arts curriculum. This initial experimental research exposed eighth grade Visual Arts students to Authentic Assessment in one group, and Quantitative Data-Driven Assessment in another. Two experiments were conducted from the results. In the first experiment, both groups of student post-test art works are compared for mean creativity scores as defined by an independent expert panel of Art Educators. The second experiment compares for gains in pre-test/post-test creativity as the teacher assessed. Gains in mean creativity scores are compared between groups. Difference in assessment motivations are discussed as possible influencing factors.

<p> Seeing Eye to Eye is a case study connecting relationships between aesthetics, aesthetic development, and gender. This study identifies major trends of aesthetic experience unique to sexual difference and gender. Viewers develop frameworks for making meaning from artworks that consist of epistemologies accumulated through education, socialization and individual experience. The dominant pedagogy is a logical tradition that teaches universal meaning. Emergent themes in student responses showed that ways of viewing and speaking about artworks are usually extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic approaches privilege individual artistic agency, action, contrast and shadows, message delivery, and technical fabrication of an image. Intrinsic frameworks for viewing favor creative narration and characterization, details and textures, and personal emotional metaphor. The model created from the research equalizes a variety of aesthetic strengths, while recognizing when an individual is in possession of many strengths in looking at and talking about works of art. I created a model that catalogues extrinsic and intrinsic approaches to making meaning from artworks. Under this model, the art viewer may have varying degrees of expertise with major categories such as visual analysis or creative narrative and also use extrinsic or intrinsic frameworks for image deconstruction. The search for meaning is ever universal for humankind. This model is for teaching a pluralistic approach to education and promotes an ideal of encouraging a culture of dialoguing in civic education. Art educators should use this model for identifying and teaching to a variety of aesthetics strengths. Drawing from extrinsic and intrinsic frameworks for making meaning, art experiences in the classroom can be tailored to develop a curriculum that promotes and teaches diverse aesthetic meaning.</p>

<p> Examining the design education climate of Los Angeles results in finding a broken art education system and misconceived notions about graphic design. The struggle to implement design education into the lives of high school students leads to some students who have access to art classes with an emphasis on technical digital art and some students who have never taken an art or design class. This project is the work of bringing design education to students in the Los Angeles area. This design curriculum was created to promote creative process, problem solving, play and experimentation, and a deeper understanding of the use of graphic design as a communication tool. This curriculum was implemented at the High School Institutes at Inner-City Arts, a nonprofit that provides free arts education to thousands of youth in Los Angeles.</p>

<p>Attempting to discover the utility of the Semantic Differential in determining learner needs and preferences at the outset of a 9-week beginner art-appreciation class, the researcher surveyed her students&rsquo; affective responses to 30 portraits. Over a one-year period, thirty-two at-risk young adults completed the survey using 16 bi-polar adjective pairs (good: bad | beautiful: ugly, etc.) to indicate how they felt about each portrait. The respondents had one minute to rate each portrait or thirty minutes total. Supported by research on the cross-cultural validity of the survey tool, the universal relevance of portraiture alongside curriculum, cognitive and visual culture theory, the student responses reveal that (1) the survey mechanism itself is useful to the art educator; and (2) there is a wealth of information on student preferences in terms of style, media, and subject. </p><p> Responses to the portraits reveal near total engagement with the process as well as interesting patterns and divergences: in one example, two portraits created 1,000 years apart were ranked &ldquo;positively&rdquo; by all respondents. Other examples reveal a complexity of responses across media and style as well as race, gender and age of subject. </p><p> While it has yet to be demonstrated whether the survey results can be generalizable across a population of similarly-situated individuals, the researcher believes the real value may lie in the survey&rsquo;s use in creating a dialogue based on immediate information about student preferences; where, within a community, students can mine the degree to which they have been influenced by their material culture. The dialogue will serve as a safe jumping off point to explore their identity and their role in society through discussion, art production and interpretation. </p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2005. / (UnM)AAI3206298. Adviser: Leila E. Villaverde. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-02, Section: A, page: 0376.

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-111). Also available online.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, l988. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Harold F. Abeles. Dissertation Committee: Mary Jane Bolin. Bibliography: leaves 135-140.