dissertation proposal by temi rose 2/20/02
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
A National Perspective
Art in Academia: Valuing Aesthetic Cognition
Technology in Education: Ethical Considerations
Art and ritual.
Learning, Change and Democracy
Rationale for this Study
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction: Weaving a Web
Art in Schools: Theory
Justice, Responsibility and Care
Conversational Reality
Motivation and Learning
Adult Education
Action Research: Methodology and Principles
Art in Schools: Practice
Technology in Schools
Conclusion: Seeking an Articulation
CHAPTER III: METHOD
The Site
The Participants
Data Sources
Procedure
Researcher's Role
Data Analysis
APPENDIX I - THE STATE GUIDELINES FOR TECHNOLOGICAL
EDUCATION
APPENDIX II - THE STATE GUIDELINES FOR ART EDUCATION
APPENDIX III – LETTER FROM RESEARCHER TO THE CAMPUS
LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE
APPENDIX IV– FROM THE FINE ARTS ACADEMY COORDINATOR:
E-MAIL INITIATING CONTACT WITH RESEARCH COMMUNITY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ART IN SCHOOLS: PRACTICE
This section on practical aspects of art education will describe a variety of
research on art education. The first subsection, art in the schools, discusses
studies that found conflicting paradigms operating in school environments and
how art loses when pitted against other academic subjects. The second subsection
will report some evidence that student participation in art can contribute to
improvement in academic achievement. the final subsection in this section will
describe research studies that indicate that the strength of an art program
in a school will depend on significant community support.
Art in the Schools
An advantage of working within a qualitative research design is that one is
permitted, perhaps even encouraged, to use personal experience as knowledge.
Therese Quinn’s and Joseph Kahne’s article (2000), Wide awake to the
World: the Arts and Urban Schools. Conflicts and Contributions of an After-School
Program (2000), reported issues that friends of mine who teach art in Manhattan
have confided to me in person; my friends’ anecdotes confirmed Quinn and
Kahne’s assertion that some urban schools were doing away with arts altogether.
Because urban schools are pressured to increase math and English literacies,
curricular decisions were made that time spent in art is a waste of time when
there needs to be an improvement in basic skills. The research that reported
the beneficial relationship between art experiences and other academic proficiencies
has either been unknown or ignored. Quinn and Kahne asserted that there need
to be more policies and practices that acknowledge the importance of art in
the schools. They stated that, nearly half the schools in the United States
do not have full time arts teachers. And, tragically, they reported that, Eisner’s
position notwithstanding, the current national emphasis on standards and standardized
testing has forced the elimination of the arts in many urban schools.
Quinn and Kahne reported their case study of a multi-year, after school program
whose effectiveness was undermined due in part to technical challenges, and
in part due to unaddressed conflicts regarding values. Interestingly, these
issues are precisely the ones that I have found challenging in my study. The
work of Argyris and Lewin, discussed in the action research section of this
literature review, will carry this discussion of unaddressed conflicts further.
The technical challenges facing the art department will be addressed in the
results chapter.
Yaroslav Senyshyn’s article, The Passionate Teacher and the Curriculum
Police: Perspectives on Modes of Subjectivity and the Curriculum as Art (1999),
confirmed Quinn and Kahne’s assertion that artists in the schools attempting
to provide creative exploration ran afoul of school staff who were emphasizing
control, order, and academic achievement. Senyshin characterized the struggle
as between educational authoritarianism and creative freedom and suggested that
the curriculum itself could be viewed as art and handled more creatively.
The following subsection will discuss art and academic performance.
Art and Academic Performance
Eliot Eisner has been undaunted in his support for the arts in education. He
tackles all criticisms that are thrown in the way and responds elegantly and
with practical solutions. Eisner has not only focused on the issues of assessment
in art education, he has also been vocal in his assertion that schools as a
whole lose when administrations cut funding for arts programs (1999). Eisner
(1998) has written that participation in the arts improves student academic
performance. Although this is good news and important information, I would contend
that art is an academic subject. Each art form requires the exercise of at least
two of Gardner’s intelligences and two of Hirst’s domains; that this
intrinsic multi-disciplinary aspect of art means that the disciplines stretch
cognitive abilities beyond simple polarities and hierarchies and forces the
mind to create syntheses.
Joyce Riha Linik, in her article, Picasso in the Wilderness (1999) reported
that not only does participation in art raise student test scores, but participation
in art causes a rise in self-esteem. In Gaining the Arts Literacy Advantage
(1999), Laura Longley built on Eisner’s concepts of assessable skills in
the arts and the beneficial effects of arts practice on academic achievement.
She further asserted that there is a set of abilities called art literacy and
that this literacy in the aggregate improves student learning, cognition and
educational achievement. She felt that all public schools should give students
what she called the arts literacy advantage.
The next subsection will discuss research studies that indicate that community
support is a necessary element in a successful arts program.
Community Support
In his article, Imagineering Future Learning Designs (2000), Don Glines contended
that communities’ attitudes have an influence on what is taught in schools.
He suggested that what is needed is the development of new social and educational,
person-centered paradigms. In order to create new paradigms or even to communicate
new paradigms, Glines suggested that what was most needed were innovative leaders
and imagineering. Imagineering he described as a technique by which people co-imagine
a future that they would like to experience.
Glines’ position is that communities must first have a view of education that supports art and creativity before schools will be able to accommodate these domains of experience in their curricula. His position is reinforced by findings reported in two articles by Harriet Maya Fulbright and Richard Deary, Make Room(s) for the Arts (1999) and The Arts Advantage (1999). Fulbright and Deary, in a two-year study of arts education in districts in four states found that community and district support were the two most critical factors in the success of an arts curriculum. In fact, often communities extended space as well as resources to support arts programs in the schools.
Summary: Strength in Numbers
Art education research indicated that communities were the source of strength
for arts programs in schools. Studies revealed a beneficial relationship between
participation in art and academic achievement. However, studies also reported
that communities of teachers and students within some schools were resistant
to supporting art in academia, perceiving art as taking time away from more
academic pursuits. Additional factors reported to support art in education were
funding and assessment.
In the next and final section of the literature review, I will continue to discuss
curriculum issues, but from the perspective of information technology integration
efforts in education. next