Matching Items (28)
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- All Subjects: Art Education
- Creators: Young, Bernard

Description
We live in a world of rapidly changing technologies that bathe us in visual images and information, not only challenging us to find connections and make sense of what we are learning, but also allowing us to learn and to collaborate in new ways. Art educators are using one of these new technologies, virtual worlds, to create educational environments and curricula. This study looks at how post-secondary art educators are using Second Life in their undergraduate and graduate level curricula and what perceived benefits, challenges, and unique learning experiences they feel this new educational venue offers. This study uses qualitative and participant observation methodologies, including qualitative interviews, observations, and collection of generated works, to look at the practices of six art educators teaching university level undergraduate and graduate courses. Data are compared internally between the participants and externally by correlating to current research. Art education in Second Life includes many curricula activities and strategies often seen in face-to-face classes, including writing reflections, essays, and papers, creating presentations and Power Points, conducting research, and creating art. Challenges include expense, student frustration and anxiety issues, and the transience of Second Life sites. Among the unique learning experiences are increased opportunities for field trips, student collaboration, access to guest speakers, and the ability to set up experiences not practical or possible in the real world. The experiences of these six art educators can be used as a guide for art educators just beginning exploration of virtual world education and encouragement when looking for new ways to teach that may increase our students' understanding and knowledge and their access and connections to others.
ContributorsSchlegel, Deborah (Author) / Stokrocki, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Erickson, Mary (Committee member) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014

Description
Through the disciplines of art education, anthropology and psychology the researcher examined research-based traits and characteristics of the creative process among a second year Title 1 urban high school art class. Within the theoretical framework of social justice, this micro-ethnographic study explored exactly what teaching and learning to be creative implies and proposes a potential resolution for art teachers learning how to enhance teaching children how to think creatively. The research proposition is that student creativity occurs as a function of a series of interrelated factors including a nurturing classroom context, strong teacher-student dialogue, strategic questioning, purposeful incorporation of visual culture, and manipulation of content in favor of student interests within the culturally situated context of the art classroom. Navigating teacher-student relationships at moments of creative origination produced results indicating that the art teacher alone is the single most influential factor for enhancing creative outcomes in a classroom. Through incorporation of a variety of collaborative activities and comparative analysis of dissimilar content-driven projects generated evidence that artistic skills and creativity do not necessarily go hand-in-hand. The study finds that the artworks produced evidence based nuances of the creative traits of originality, fluency, flexibility, and elaboration in which profoundly varied in character depending on the content and the context. The study concludes that creativity cannot be strictly taught or learned, but rather that it can be enhanced through teacher nurturing and manipulation of content to encompass a socially intelligent uptake in the culture of art-making. Broader implications are suggested focusing on the significance of creative education and the impact it can have for educational systems, schools and undergraduate programs in art education. The researcher proposes an art education curriculum model that fosters both creative thinking and the unique learning needs of Title 1 urban students. The curriculum suggests the art teacher begin initial instruction by teaching students about the traits, characteristics and obstructions of creativity prior to teaching artistic skills sets to serve as a foundation of creative awareness from the start.
ContributorsForeman, Angela (Author) / Young, Bernard (Thesis advisor) / Stokrocki, Mary (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014

Description
The following study is about the importance of including global art and art history in a bilingual/bicultural art classroom. The study was performed with twelve Navajo art students in a predominately Navajo high school located in a small urban town off the Navajo Reservation. Navajo students selected traditional and contemporary artworks they were curious to learn more about from four global cultures, familiar (Navajo and European) and unfamiliar (Maori and Benin). They also responded to art criticism questions and identified reasons they were curious about the artworks they selected. Students were curious about familiar (Navajo and European) artworks more than unfamiliar artworks (Maori and Benin). Of all student responses, 69% focused on the artwork selected; 16% focused on meaning and expression, and 15% focused on the artist. This study concludes by suggesting that there should be a middle ground about what to teach to Navajo children. I suggest that art education should include other cultural information within the Navajo philosophy of education.
ContributorsBegody, Chrystalee (Author) / Erickson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Stokrocki, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015

Description
The issue this study addresses is the need to extend the topic of gifted art education into the multicultural realm. The purpose was to assess accommodations for gifted art students of culturally diverse backgrounds, to see how socio-economic class and culture influence identification and opportunities for gifted art students, and to identify similarities and differences among gifted art students. The research took place at five public high schools containing a high percentage of culturally diverse students around the Phoenix rural and suburban areas. Participants included five high school art teachers and five artistically talented students that each teacher identified. I conducted, transcribed and analyzed interviews with the participants. Analysis of the data has led to many themes. Teacher interviews indicated universities attended by teachers in the study didn’t touch on diversity or gifted art education, although all art teachers have had a lot of experience teaching diverse students, and reported student diversity was growing. Teachers define artistically talented students as students with natural abilities, many times looking at the students' product. Teachers recommend the students to community art classes, such as the local center for the arts, or summer college courses. Teachers vary in support, some saying they have more than enough resources and support, others saying they need more space in the classroom and smaller class sizes, or want to take students to artist studios. Results from student interviews reveal that all students in the study were self-motivated to do art everyday, two mentioning especially after a big life event, such as depression or a father dying. Participating students think of art as something beautiful and something to which they can relate, defining art very vaguely, saying it could be anything or everything. All students have future plans to major or minor in art in college or continuing creating art in their free time. Participants had supportive and encouraging art teachers and parents and had art materials readily available. Universities and high school art teachers may benefit from the study because of the need to prepare for growing diversity. Art teachers may benefit from this study by gaining a better understanding of artistically talented students of diverse backgrounds and by challenging them, and getting parents involved in supporting their child.
ContributorsReeves, Audrey (Author) / Young, Bernard (Thesis advisor) / Stokrocki, Mary (Committee member) / Erickson, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016

Description
Black Rock City is a temporary city existing for one week in the harsh desert of northern Nevada. It plays host to the Burning Man festival with over 300 large-scale art installations and is considered to be the largest interactive art festival in the world. Besides the main burn, smaller local regional events have developed. These regional events encompass many of the same tenets as Burning Man including the presentation of large-scale art. Burn2 is the regional event held on the virtual world, Second Life. In 2013, both events used the theme of Cargo Cult as a stepping off point for the artists. Through the lens of spectacle, I used art criticism as a way to gain understanding of the artworks.
Art criticism is a means of interpreting and appreciating artwork and is often used in the art classroom. Edmund Feldman's method promotes a deeper understanding of art and consists of four steps: description, formal analysis, interpretation and judgment. Using Feldman's method, I analyzed three artworks from the 2013 Burning Man festival and three works from Burn2. From interviews, photographs, and personal observations I analyzed the artworks. I used external analysis to compare the literature on similar festivals and the artworks with other events held in the real life and virtual world.
I found in both events very similar concepts and themes. Artists had specific subject matter in mind when designing their installations. Artists used the theme as a stepping off point for rationalizing their content. Art made to be displayed at Burning Man was expensive; funding was a concern for all the artists. Burn2 artists were free from funding concerns even though there were expenses to making art in Second Life. Emerging themes were use of building materials and color, use of electronics and computer technology, art installations in festivals, spectacle, collaboration, and interactivity. Further implications included teaching about the engineering of structures, critical thinking about festival themes and the individual art installations, visual culture, and art making with these emerging art forms.
Art criticism is a means of interpreting and appreciating artwork and is often used in the art classroom. Edmund Feldman's method promotes a deeper understanding of art and consists of four steps: description, formal analysis, interpretation and judgment. Using Feldman's method, I analyzed three artworks from the 2013 Burning Man festival and three works from Burn2. From interviews, photographs, and personal observations I analyzed the artworks. I used external analysis to compare the literature on similar festivals and the artworks with other events held in the real life and virtual world.
I found in both events very similar concepts and themes. Artists had specific subject matter in mind when designing their installations. Artists used the theme as a stepping off point for rationalizing their content. Art made to be displayed at Burning Man was expensive; funding was a concern for all the artists. Burn2 artists were free from funding concerns even though there were expenses to making art in Second Life. Emerging themes were use of building materials and color, use of electronics and computer technology, art installations in festivals, spectacle, collaboration, and interactivity. Further implications included teaching about the engineering of structures, critical thinking about festival themes and the individual art installations, visual culture, and art making with these emerging art forms.
ContributorsKrecker, Linda Susan (Author) / Stokrocki, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014

Description
In contemporary society, educators teach adolescent students about the importance of developmental growth. This growth transitions into leadership, which prepares youth to collaborate with adults in a working environment. Additionally, youth mural programs generate leadership skills, yet not many art educators are using mural projects as a means to develop leadership in their students. This study explored the connection between working collaboratively on a mural project and the impact it had on leadership traits and skills in adolescent girls. I created an action research project in conjunction with Girl Scouts to encourage a group of girls while creating a mural. The mural project took place at an Arizona Girl Scout resident camp for a total of 11 days. Seven participants between the ages of 14-17 engaged in planning and executing a tile mosaic mural. The image they created remains as a permanent mural for the camp. Qualitative data includes responses to reflection questions and observations. Quantitative data consist of self-reported questionnaire scores before and after the mural project. The data is analyzed to understand if there was a difference in leadership traits and skills before and after instruction. Data is also used to see which leadership traits and/ or skills, if any, were impacted. Findings in the study reveal differences in leadership skills before and after instruction. However, there was not a significant impact to leadership traits. Specific skills that improved include those that involve communication and working with others. I conclude that adolescent girls became more aware of communicating effectively, adapting ideas to others, and working with others after they finished the mural. Additionally participants were more open to sharing thoughts near the end of the project than at the start.
ContributorsMarcinko, Aimee (Author) / Erickson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Stokrocki, Mary (Committee member) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014

Description
This quantitative, quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of three types of online guided-practice activities designed to increase learning of visual art concepts, the color concepts of hue, tint, shade, value, and neutral colors in particular, among fifth grade students in a large school district in the southwestern United States. The study's results indicated that, when students were given a limited amount of time to engage in practice activities, there was no statistically significant difference among the three types of guided practice and the control group. What was effective, however, was the instructional component of this study's instruments.
ContributorsDelahunt, Michael (Author) / Erickson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014

Description
This study aimed to understand, compare and describe details about U.S children and Taiwanese children's visual image reading. The researcher interviewed thirty children ages 8 to 10 in the state of Arizona and Taiwan. The researcher employed quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the data. The analysis using these two methods provided different ways of comprehending the data. The results showed that the two groups of children's image reading did not have statistically significant differences in most categories; but there were demonstrable trends and viewpoints employed when both groups of children explained the details of the images. First, the children expressed what they saw in the images in six ways. The U.S. children were more able to describe contexts with self-experiences/opinions and/or associations than the Taiwanese children. Second, when interpreting the meanings, the Taiwanese children understood the concepts of the images better than the U.S. group. The U.S. children were more critical and expressed self-opinions/associations more. Third, when asked preferences, the U.S. children paid more attention to identify their favorites and express feeling the images brought to them. The Taiwanese children cared more about style and form. Fourth, when judging the images, the U.S. children emphasized the artist's devotion to creating while Taiwanese children considered the form, composition, colors, structure, design, and composition. The results also indicated that the children decided their preferences and their judgments of artworks might be based on multiple viewpoints instead of a single one, especially for the Taiwanese children. Some cultural differences between the two groups of children and their image readings were presented, such as, cultural differences made children have different learned symbolism.
ContributorsChiou, Yu-ting (Author) / Young, Bernard (Thesis advisor) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Stokrocki, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013

Description
I conducted this qualitative research including data collection, data analysis and comparison analysis in a Casting and Jewelry Techniques course at Arizona State University for a whole semester. The purpose of this research was to explore the symbolic interactive meaning of metalworking to university students in metal courses, and if they had various learning needs to improve and enhance their metal art making by seeking their responses to the relationship between technical issues and concepts of their own artworks. The study results showed that the meanings of metalworking to students were craftsmanship, and a sense of accomplishment, and it related to their daily lives in career and presentation. Most of them focused on the degree of technical completion and forms of work rather than expressive concepts, and techniques were important in their works. I compared my findings in this study with my pilot study and James's study in a sculpture studio class, and found some similarities in teacher's philosophy and students' metalwork meanings that included career aspirations, some peer interaction, technical concerns rather than concept formation, and process as serious play or the exploration of materials.
ContributorsHsu, Kai-Hsuan (Author) / Stokrocki, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014

Description
ABSTRACT This qualitative study examines how high school art teachers conceive of being a good art teacher. Motivated by my own experiences as an art teacher, I designed this study to add teachers' voices to the conversation surrounding quality in education. My research design included a narrative strand and an arts-based strand. In the narrative strand, I interviewed and observed 12 high school art educators from a major city in the southwest. I conducted an autoethnographic reflection exploring my connection to the research topic and research process. In the arts-based strand I used fiber-arts to further understand my topic. I wrote this dissertation using a narrative approach, blending the traditional research format, voices of participants, and my autoethnographic reflection. I included the results of my arts-based approach in the final chapter. Findings suggest that the teachers in this study conceptualize being a good art teacher as a process of identity construction. Each of the teachers understood what it meant to be a good art teacher in unique ways, connected to their personal experiences and backgrounds. As the teachers engaged in identity work to become the kind of art teacher they wanted to be, they engaged in a process of identity construction that consisted of four steps. I propose a model of identity construction in which the teachers chose teaching practices, evaluated those practices, identified challenges to their identities, and selected strategies to confirm, assert, or defend their desired identities. The findings have implications for teachers to become reflective practitioners; for teacher educators to prepare teachers to engage in reflective practices; and for administrators and policy makers to take into account the cyclical and personal nature of identity construction. This study also has implications for further research including the need to examine the dispositions of art teachers, teachers' evolving conceptions of what it means to be a good art teacher, and the effect labeling teachers' quality has on their identity construction.
ContributorsAndrelchik, Hillary (Author) / Erickson, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014