International Journal of Art & Design Education最新文献

This article is an evaluative research study, mapping the outcomes of the art and citizenship project Dealing with the real stuff, in which students developed the competences of critical thinking and creative resistance. During this project, Dutch students at a school for compulsory education, aged 15–16 years, studied activist art, participated in workshops led by activist artists, and performed an artistic intervention in a public space. Central to the evaluation were students' and teachers' experiences of the project and the recommendations they made to improve the project for the following year. The project was evaluated through observations, interviews, learner reports, and document analysis. Concerning the experiences of the project, the findings show that students were positive about the focus on real-world issues and learning by doing. Yet, they were critical about the imposed character of activism within the context of a school project. Some students also expressed anxiety about performing an artistic intervention in a public space. The teachers observed that asking students to throw themselves into the fray can be too much, as students at this age do not really know yet what they stand for. Students' and teachers' recommendations were that the project should find a balance between discomfort and creating safe spaces to reflect and discuss personal, sometimes contradictory views. As such, this study exemplifies how artistic activism contributes to making citizenship education more active and art education more contemporary by focusing on current social issues and ways of working of present-day activist artists.

This study systematically examines activist art practices carried out between 2005 and 2023 within Critical Media Theory and Visual Culture Theory frameworks. Based on 58 articles, the research aims to analyse these practices' characteristic features and thematic focuses. The findings reveal that qualitative methods, particularly those based on content and discourse analysis, are predominantly employed; this indicates that contextual and interpretative approaches are emphasised in the studies. The frequent selection of middle and high school level individuals as sample groups aligns with theoretical emphases on developing critical awareness during the identity formation process. As a result of thematic analysis, three main themes were identified: social justice and character building, media and digital culture and cognitive-emotional-citizenship development. These themes reveal the transformative power of art in questioning social norms, analysing media representations and fostering awareness. This study contributes to the literature by holistically addressing the theoretical and methodological gaps in the field.

This article presents an exploration of imagination as a fundamental and often undervalued aspect of human cognition emphasising its crucial role in fostering creativity. Acknowledging the challenges associated with researching imagination and its role in children's learning, the authors explore imagination through the lens of eight core competencies, seen as vital characteristics that children should develop to effectively navigate the personal, cultural, economic, and societal obstacles that they will encounter throughout their lives. Drawing on learning experiences developed by the Institute of Imagination (iOi) for UK primary schools, this study examines how creative thinking, art and design, and making contribute to these competencies. Through observational research conducted in partnership with School 360, a primary/elementary school in London, England, the findings demonstrate how imaginative learning experiences foster creativity, curiosity, communication, and collaboration. This article concludes by discussing the implications of integrating imagination into formal education to better equip children with future-ready skills.

This study aims to identify the first steps towards integrating verbal content and its outcomes into the written curriculum of the foundation design studio by delving into dialogue-based interaction and learning, which are largely neglected in design education. Within the scope of this research, design studio experiences of the foundation studio at the Faculty of Architecture of Istanbul Technical University were investigated with dialogic pedagogy in mind. The reflective diary that was systematically filled out based on the field notes taken by one of the authors, who worked as a research and teaching assistant throughout the studio hours of two semesters in the 2021–2022 academic year, was used as the central resource for the study. Diary entries, an ethnomethodological approach, have been made to obtain ‘thick descriptions’ of dialogic interactions between the studio stakeholders. In line with this method and aim, and after analysing the discourses of first-year design students revealing their approaches to design learning and action by creating two themes, their shortcut modes and endeavours to use design terminology, we embodied their one academic year learning journey from self-criticism and peer criticism to critical thinking embedded in their daily lives through the final theme.

In 2022 a proposed definition for artist-teachers in adult community learning (ACL) was put forward, on the grounds that the most notable published definition of the artist-teacher role, by Alan Thornton (2013; Artist, researcher, teacher: a study of professional identity in art and education), Jaffe et al. (2013; Teaching artist handbook), and Ulvund (2015; Information 4, 19–36) were not applicable to artist-teachers in ACL. In this paper this claim to analysed with artist-teacher participant data. Across two rounds of mini online focus groups (Sage 2021; Are we too limited on group size? what about 2 or 3 person “mini-groups”?), artist-teachers interrogate the proposed definition and offer perspective on what does and does not apply to them from the three published definitions. The research makes use of diagramming to make these findings clear. The article starts with an in-depth review of the qualities of ACL which helps to contextualise the need for the new definition. Within the results and discussion participant extracts are used to unpack participants' thoughts and meanings on the three published definitions and the proposed 2022 definition of artist-teacher in ACL. The article ends by presenting a new co-constructed definition of the artist-teacher in ACL, drawing on what participants felt worked well in the published definition, and changes they suggested to the proposed definition (Cairns 2022).

Visual journals are reflective learning journals that engage the active and purposeful exploration and incorporation of art mediums and visual imagery into the journaling process. This paper focused on the ways that visual journals might be enacted in K-12 classrooms. We begin by introducing the four ways New (2005) identified that artists, scientists, and directors use visual journals to attune them to the world: observation, reflection, exploration and creation. We then connect New's categories to research on how visual journals connect K-12 students to these artistic practices. The remainder of the paper presents findings from phase one of our instrumental, collective case study of how visual journals are used by secondary art teachers. Phase one is a national survey of high school art teachers who use visual journals in their classrooms. This paper presents the descriptive survey data from these participants in an effort to define and describe visual journals in practice, discuss the frequency and qualities of student engagement, and explore how teachers are using visual journals to support curricular goals. We will use these findings to guide phase two of the study, which involves interviews with teachers who participated in the survey.

Spurred by an observation that ‘student art teachers don't want to be radical teachers’, this paper explores how the gift by a lecturer of a tongue-in-cheek hand-printed ‘Artistic Licence’ to a new cohort of pre-service teachers, gives permission to imagine new futures. Through a dialogic image-exchange two educators bring their radical manifesto for art teachers/teaching as a performative autoethnography where they imagine new forms of teaching through small acts: printing, walking and talking, and being parents and artists. Similar to performative autoethnography, the act of giving projects materiality into the future and is transformative both for the giver and the gifted. The object (an artistic licence, an artwork, a poem) is an autonomous vessel that has its own agency and affect as it moves from one person to another, shifts and accrues meaning. When times are hard, art teaching can run the risk of becoming too outcome-led, working backwards from a preconceived notion of what art should be, not what art could be. This paper draws on the imagination to counteract the internalised negative pull of art as part of a neoliberal system. It offers new art teachers, through the act of giving, the potential to give themselves permission to imagine their art practice and their artist identity as integral to situating themselves within the exchange of value and meaning in the human and post-human world.

As humanity grapples with the increasingly complex global issues we face, there is growing recognition that skills such as teamwork, empathy, communication and collaboration are more crucial than ever – far beyond the scope of academic success alone. Yet opportunities to develop these competencies are frequently sidelined in formal schooling, constrained by its standardised, compartmentalised nature. This paper underscores the transformative role of cultural and arts-focused education in equipping students with essential life skills. It advocates for schools to elevate their approach by adopting practices from cultural institutions – emphasising the arts, experiential learning and process-driven engagement. These ideas resonate strongly with UNESCO's Reimagining Our Futures Together, specifically on page 73, which underscores the critical value of arts and cultural education in nurturing social and emotional growth. An arts-integrated curriculum, the report suggests, does not simply enrich but actively prepares students to navigate our interconnected, complex world. To illustrate what these recommendations can look like in practice, the paper presents the MAGIC-T model and case studies from the Artist Residency Thailand programme – an innovative approach inspired by the dynamic educational strategies of galleries, museums, theatres and cultural centres. This model is firmly in line with global thought leadership, as echoed in recommendations from UNESCO, the OECD and the WEF, all advocating for education systems that expand students' horizons in knowledge, empathy, imagination and critical judgement. Through insights from forward-thinking educators and key perspectives from UNESCO's report, it becomes clear that embedding the arts, cultural connections and meaningful engagement with creative communities holds the keys to an education system prepared to shape a more empathetic, innovative and collaborative future.

Most of the museum's family digital interactive programmes are designed for children, and research regarding the family as a learning unit is lacking. Towards this end, we have been exploring how digital resources exist within the family museum experiential learning process and how it can be tailored to support adult groups participating through motivational and creative tools. Based on Kolb's experiential learning theories, this study examines the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum as a case study to explore how digital resources to mediate emotional attachments are exploited to reshape intergenerational family museum experiences. First, we identified three key limitations regarding the use of digital resources for an intergenerational project from an experiential learning perspective: lack of motivation, learning material issues, along with emotional and learning isolation. Second, the design variables were clarified in conjunction with stakeholder insights to develop the CoME museum memory system, which included components for guiding, preserving and reviewing. Next, we tested the system prototype and analysed its data. This programme showed that by introducing emotional attachment touchpoints, it can facilitate a shift from child-centred to family as a learning and co-creation unit, which consists of rich learning materials, new ways of engaging and a connectable and shareable learning network. We suggest that future family digital projects should focus on shifting the narrative perspective of exhibits from static to dynamic, integrating physical and virtual souvenirs and stimulating different motivations for learning transfer, to enhance meaningful intergenerational family interaction and create a continuous cycle of family museum knowledge.