Art PedAgogy At european universities #

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1 Art Pedagogy at European Universities Art Pedagogy at European Universities Insights into art pedagogical (study) practices at universities in Europe #

2 Aims and contents This series of publications aims at providing exemplary insights into different aspects of art pedagogical educational practices at universities. This may include: Art projects within the framework of art pedagogical studies Projects/ envisaged projects dealing with issues of design, architecture, everyday life and their imparting Insights into exhibition practices and their imparting Art pedagogical aspects of students theses Empirical research practices in the field of art pedagogy Art pedagogical surveys conducted by students Insights into seminars Perceptions of place, subject, biography, socialization, art, media within art pedagogical educational processes. Board of trustees Regina Zachhalmel (Wien/A), Ruth Kunz (Bern/CH), Vera Uhl Skřivanová (Usti nad Labem/CZ), Christine Heil (Essen/D), Manfred Blohm (Flensburg/D), Christiane Herth (Paris/F), Gabriella Pataky (Budapest/H) 02

3 OPEN SEQUENCES IN ART INSTRUCTION 1 Research and Development Project within the Framework of Education and Training for Kindergarden Teachers or Primary School Teachers at Zurich University of Teacher Education (Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich - PHZH) PROJECT BY SUPERVISION TEXT Bachmann Annina, Tragianidis Chris, Liebhart Michelle Elisabeth Gaus, Anja Morawietz Anja Morawietz 1 Definitions of the term Art Instruction in the Swiss School system: At the Swiss Volksschule (Primary School) 1st to 9th class, the subject of Arts is imparted in two subjects: Creative design und Arts and Crafts. Since 2007, the two specializations within the training of primary school teachers at PHZH are called Arts and Design and have been merged into a common university department. The subject Arts and Design combines creative activities both with an artistic and a technical orientation. * Primary Education encompasses the school education of children from 4 to 9 years of age, i.e. two years of Kindergarten and the first three years of Primary School. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT 2 Excerpt from the Call for Proposals for FE Modules published in PHZH Students Network Research in Teaching In the course of the new training courses at PHZH, all students have the opportunity to participate in research and/or development projects during their training. Specially processed parts of such projects are worked on in seminars. Thus students have the opportunity to get an exemplary insight into the professional generation of research findings. 2 They can choose from a variety of projects which are different both with respect to their contents and their methodology. In our case the students are working in groups on small studies by adhering to the basics of qualitative social research. The time frame for these studies has been determined to at least 135 working hours and 4.5 ETCS Points respectively. CONTENTS OF THE COURSE Open Sequences in Arts Instruction Aesthetic Education forms the basis of the current discourse on subject didactics in Arts. It always requires free spaces for independent exploration, experimenting and fantasizing. These free spaces can be provided in open 03

4 teaching forms such as free play (Kindergarden), project instruction or weekly learning plans and differ considerably in terms of quality and quantity of their openness. They allow pupils to actively co-shape the learning process, to take over responsibility for their own learning paths and to make individual progress. According to Peschel (2009, p. 77), instruction can be open with regard to different dimensions: Organizational opening: Determination of the framework conditions: environment/ time/ choice of social forms etc. Methodological opening: Determination of the subject matter by the learners Contentual openness: Determination of the subject matter within the framework of open curricula Social openness or participative openness: Determination of decisions in terms of class guidance, (long-term) lesson plans, the concrete course of instruction, common guidelines and/or rules for a social cooperation within the framework conditions, the determination of rules and rule structures etc. Personal openness: Relationship between teachers / learners and between learners. However, a closer look reveals that a total opening of school instruction is neither possible nor does it make sense as it results in an overload of both the children and the teaching staff. Instead a learning setting should intentionally provide a binding framework in certain dimensions while allowing more rewarding liberties in other dimensions. Subject-specific Initial Situation A research in literature (Morawitz et al. 2010) reveals that an opening in terms of a choice of teaching aids in Arts instruction for children between 4 and 9 years is hardly systematically described or encouraged. The opening of instruction is mentioned briefly in Heyl & Luidl (2002) who presume that the quality of creative free work is based on the free choice of working materials, the social form and the pace. Themes and time receptacles are preset by the teacher. On the other hand, Burkhardt et al. (2001) and Kirchner (2007) think that free creative work does not only encompass the free choice of working materials, the social form and the time frame, but also the freedom to choose a topic. The works Sinn und Eigensinn des Materials by Petra Kathke (2001) implicitly show open learning settings by attaching a high value to the individual exploration and (meaningful) shaping by the children. There is, however, a 04

5 lack of theoretical clarification of the basic attitudes and of methodologicalorganizational suggestions. The publication on special didactics entitled Experimentieren. Ästhetisches Verhalten von Grundschulkindern (Reuter 2007) offers a number of well comprehensible practical examples. The aim of our study therefore is to observe and describe the creative work of pupils in open sequences in a more systematic and elaborate way. Research Methods The research project adheres to the basics of qualitative social research. The data are collected with the aid of video recordings and/ or participant observation. Individual children or small groups are observed and their activities analyzed. The evaluation of the compiled data is done in an inductive way and in the sense of a contents analysis (Mayring 2002): Observation protocols of the video recordings document the activities of the observed individual child / children, soliloquies and conversations with other persons. These protocols are coded openly. Each project reveals its own specific focal points that lead up to individual research questions. The answers to the research questions are given by relying on the dense descriptions (Geertz 1995). As the tough time frame of this university module does not allow for a theoretical saturation of the research questions, the findings cannot be generalized. Nevertheless the evaluation of individual cases clearly show how children deal with the liberties of an open instruction. Self-organization, the generation of ideas and informal learning are the most interesting focal points. Course of Action in the seminar The students acquire a theoretical background to the term opening of instruction. With the aid of examples it is shown how open instruction sequences in creative subjects could be shaped. The following questions are posed on the shaping of the different research settings: Which framework conditions are necessary to ensure a free creative activity in open learning forms? What do children do and develop in these learning settings? How do they deal with the granted freedom? Teams of students plan an open, creative instruction course of 2 x 2 lessons for a Kindergarden or Primary School class. Further framework conditions, didactical interventions or the grade of opening of the instruction are at the discretion of the students. The students take over different tasks within the instruction course: One student teaches, the others are responsible for data collection (video taping, participant observation). 05

6 In the course of the module each team writes a project report and prepares a short presentation which gives information on the themes, the research questions and the findings and is illustrated by selected video sequences. Literature Beekmann, Gabriele (1989). Hantieren und bildhaftes Gestalten. Ein Arbeitsbuch für den Kindergarten. Belz Verlag, Weinheim. Burkhardt, Hermann. et. al (1995). Anfangsunterricht Kunst, 1. und 2. Schuljahr. Klett-Grundschulverl., Leipzig, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, ISBN: Heyl, Thomas; Luidl, Katharina (2002). Das Findebuch. Schöpferische Freiarbeit in der Grundschule. Auerverlag, Donauwörth. Geertz, Clifford (1995). Dichte Beschreibung : Beiträge zum Verstehen kultureller Systeme / Clifford Geertz. Übers. von Brigitte Luchesi und Rolf Bindemann, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main. Kathke, Petra (2001). Sinn und Eigensinn des Materials. Band 1 und Band 2. Beltz Verlag, Weinheim, Basel. Mayring, Philipp (2002). Einführung in die qualitative Sozialforschung: Eine Anleitung zu qualitativem Denken. Beltz Verlag, Weinheim. Peschel, Falko (2009). Offener Unterricht. Idee Realität Perspektive und ein praxiserprobtes Konzept zur Diskussion. Teil 1: Allgemeindidaktische Überlegungen. Hohengehren: Schneider. Berner, Hans und Barbara Zumsteg (Hrsg.) (2011). Didaktisch handeln und denken 2. Fokus eigenständiges Lernen. Zürich: Pestalozzianum. Reuter, Oliver M. (2007). Experimentieren. Ästhetisches Verhalten von Grundschulkindern. Kopaed, München. 06

7 EXAMPLE: A STUDY CONDUCTED BY STUDENTS Thematic Field to be Researched: How Children Deal with the Opening of Instruction Bachmann Annina, Liebhart Michelle, Tragianidis Chris Top left to bottom right: Burrowing into the heap of materials. Concentrated individual work. Consulting each other. Showing something (Show and Tell). (Filmstills from Data Collection) The Class 2nd school year with 24 pupils (13 girls and 11 boys); many children have a migration background; the pupils are seated at group tables with six children each. The children s names have been anonymized. Assignment of Task A heap of interesting recycling materials is at the disposal of the children. Apart from boxes, tubes, lids, papers and ribbons, there is also a shower head, the cover of a hi-fi system and a bicycle saddle. In addition there is adhesive tape, PVA glue, glue sticks and hot glue. The technical aspects of joining different objects is shown and tried out in the plenum to determine which glue is suitable for which kind of materials. Certain rules concerning the retrieval of materials are determined. The children are now allowed to realize their individual ideas with the aid of the provided materials. In the end the children mutually present their work. The following 07

8 questions should be answered during the presentation: How did you proceed with your project? Does the object have a name? Does it represent something? Did you know what you wanted to create right from the start? Grade of Opening of Instruction: The instruction course is opened methodologically by allowing the children to choose the social form (group work or individual work). They are also free to determine their own time frame and to organize their work accordingly. The openness in terms of contents allows the children to choose a topic and to shape it with the aid of the provided materials. The personal opening of the instruction results in explicitly allowing the children to talk to each other. The teacher is only a partner, a coach. The children are cautiously guided. Teachers rather help with technical problems and do not intervene in thematic aspects of the children s work. Data Collection: There are three cameras which allow for different points of view on the instructional activities. In the front area of the classroom (in front of the blackboard) a stationary camera is directed at the recycling material placed on a cloth on the ground. This stationary camera aims at recording how the pupils deal with the available materials. A microphone is fixed to the blackboard. Another stationary camera is directed to an individual child suggested by the teacher. This camera is meant to record the work processes of an individual child during the entire period of time. The microphone is attached to the child s pullover. A third camera can flexibly document what is happening during the instruction course and is used as a mobile camera. Research Questions: The studies are based on research questions (see above) which are crucial for the research settings of all students. Once the data are collected, more detailed research questions are identified with the aid of an open coding as well as by structuring and summarizing the various codings. These research questions aim at the respective specific study. The study presented in this article sheds some light on the aspects Dealing with the material and Dealing with the liberties of an opened instruction. Results of the Data Analysis: The results reflect the findings with regard to one individual case. On the other hand they stem from a fragmentary observation of the whole class. Therefore the results must by no means be generalized. Nevertheless they form an interesting basis for a discourse on special didactics or for further research. 08

9 Anwer to Reserach Question 1) How do the children deal with the recyling material? Research question 1a): How do the children proceed during the choice of materials/ objects? 3 Boys: balloons, tins, slides, wire, bottles, golf balls, wood, cables, cardboard tubes, cardboard boxes, corks, artificial leather, nails, shampoo bottles, hoses, pieces of rope, spray cans, straws Girls: tins, containers (food /cosmetics), wire, small bottles, decorating ribbons, gift wrap paper, ribbons, glitter fabrics, cables, cardboard tubes, cardboard boxes, buttons, marbles, paper streamer, foamed plastics, rope, pencil cases, spray cans. First of all the children passionately rummage in the heap of materials. As time goes by, the children take a closer look at the objects/ materials and choose them rather cautiously. Many of the boys take their time to explore and to inspect the material and partly discuss with their classmates prior to starting with the actual work on the product. Some children have a clear concept of their product at an early time and then look for further material in a target oriented way. Other children collect objects/ materials without knowing what they want to do with it and make use of material properties and connotations of contents as a source of inspiration. Paul: first of all he takes a rather complex object, the cover of a hi-fi system, and thus gets an inspiration for his project: the design of a switchboard. Afterwards he looks for further material in a target oriented way. He spends a lot of time at the heap of materials (up to 15 minutes) and discusses with other material seekers. Paul: As soon as the switchboard is ready, he starts to collect things from the heap of materials that he deems valuable. At the same time he is indignant about the fact that so many valuables can be found in a heap of rubbish. Research Question 1b): Which materials are being used? 3 The girls tend to make more use of decorative materials such as glitter fabrics, buttons, and gift wrap ribbons. Otherwise the girls choice of material does not significantly differ from the boys choice. Paul is working with: Cover of a former hi-fi system, cardboard, bicycle tube, cardboard tube, balloon, gas container, corks. Research Question 1c): Which products 4 are created? 4 Boys: golf club, house, catapult, ball path, switch board, ship, sword, water hose with CD, decorated board as a present for grandmother Girls: container with face, tin, decorated with fabric as container, CD to chase away birds, cinema with hiding place, tin, decorated with buttons, instrument, ball path, decorated box, ship with anchor telephone, water tap, water container with drain. It is remarkable that many girls make containers to be used in their everyday life. Decorations are the central aspect. The boys rather make products to play with. Paul creates a switchboard, a catapult (in partnership with Michael) and returns a bottle with a cork almost to its original condition (closed bottle). Research Question 2) How do the children deal with the opening of instruction? Research question 2a): What kind of behavior do the children show in order to cope with the openness of instruction? At the beginning, many pupils rummage in the heap of materials and look for things which could trigger an idea for creating an object. Later, when the 09

10 Top: Conversations on the work. Bottom: Teamwork. (Filmstills from Data Collection) children are sitting at their tables, they gaze at other children and their activities in order to get more ideas for their own projects. Lively conversations on how to proceed in the making of products and on the products themselves are going on during the entire instruction sequence. A great variety of cooperation forms could be observed. In case of problems or doubts, the children mutually offer their help. Some children accept this offer for help. Others, however, do not accept any proposals from other children and keep to themselves. Paul: is mostly working alone. During a certain period of time he steps into another boy s project and takes over the lead. Paul: He communicates with other children when it comes to success. He rejects other children s proposals for his own work and nearly gets into a row with them. He offers his help to other children and provides ideas for many of them. Paul: Soliloquies seem to give him support. He encourages himself to hold out and admonishes himself to keep everything in order. Research question 2b): Which kind of emotions can be identified as side effects of the open learning situation? The children often communicate pride and joy. Joyful exclamations can be heard again and again. Apart from that there are also situations when children try to cope with technical problems and vent their anger in exclamations or soliloquies. The presentation of the products which takes place at the end of the two lessons causes unease in many children as they have problems with the verbalization of 010

11 their experiences as well as with the show-and-tell of the products. Paul communicates joy and pride. Failures trigger temporary frustration in him. When his offers for help and well-meant proposals are rejected, he can also get angry. Conclusions The study shows that self-guided creative work and/or an opening of creative instruction make high demands on both the children and the teachers. At the same time it is underlined that this kind of instruction offers a variety of learning chances, both with respect to the subject but also in terms of interdisciplinary issues. The currently postulated competence orientation calls for an instruction which is more oriented to the children s individual state of learning. The subject Arts and Design can fully cater for this demand with the help of open learning settings. However, in order to make a profitable use of open instruction, the teacher must be prepared to tolerate unforeseen events, to patiently observe and accompany the children on their individual learning paths and to make use of their own specialized know-how in a contained and target oriented way. Information on the university 011

12 Legal notice The contributions to the series Art Pedagogy at European Universities will as a rule be published monthly. Board of Trustees: Regina Zachhalmel (Vienna/A), Ruth Kunz (Bern/CH), Vera Uhl Skřivanová (Usti nad Labem/CZ), Christine Heil (Essen/D), Manfred Blohm (Flensburg/D), Christiane Herth (Paris/F), Gabriella Pataky (Budapest/H) Responsible for the article of the present edition Anja Morawietz, Elisabeth Gaus Translation into English: Regina Spöttl, BA Photographs in this article by: Videostills/Bachmann Annina, Liebhart Michelle, Tragianidis Chris (Data Collection) Layout/Production: Stéphanie Winkler (Idee)/Anja Morawietz, Werner Fütterer ISSN