Implementing open-ended learning in the art room

Discussion

            What concepts do students explore when engaging in self-directed artmaking?

I observed that when given the opportunity, my students naturally chose to explore a broad range of concepts, some of which reflected aspects of their personal life and identity. More importantly, I observed that the material effected the range of outcomes and the range of specificity.  My students explored observing the world around them, expressing aspects of their identity through imaginative ideas, understanding the material, and collaborating. The range of outcomes was observed to correlate with the material focus of each day. In most cases, students were able to generate their own personal ideas regarding the observable world or their imagination. However, the specificity and clarity of ideas that students expressed ranged according to fluency of material techniques. While many students did use art class to reflect on their personal experiences and daily life, some collaborated and reflected on their processes verbally. Based on these observations, I have three insights: 1. Art Teachers can consider the order in which they present materials to scaffold both confidence and meaning-making skills in conceptional expression over the course of the school year. 2. Art Teachers can guide and prompt students by asking open-ended questions after each material-focused lesson and have students brainstorm conceptual topic ideas based on their knowledge of the materials and 3. Art Teachers can use observations to understand which materials their students connected and collaborated with to establish a more comfortable classroom environment when participating in collaborative projects. 

If the Art Teacher’s goal is to create a more student-centered and open-ended art classroom, they may benefit from understanding how their students interact with the material to give insight into the order in which the materials should be presented to the students throughout the school year. We should consider the order in which we present materials to students based on the observed interactions students have with the materials. As Eisner (2002) mentions, “becoming smart” means learning the potential of the materials. We can guide students’ learning by noticing how they interact with the materials by observing patterns amongst the class and potentially re-teaching particular aspects. We must draw students’ attention to their relationship with the material. This will give the student insight into the ways they can use different materials to express different ideas. In relationship to Ghannoum & Cooper (2020), teachers can help students scaffold the skill of meaning-making within artwork with material-focused lessons and open-ended conceptual prompts. The art teacher can curate material distribution in a way that fosters material fluency and confidence. In relationship to my data, I would order the material-focused lessons in a particular manner. Please note that these ideas are particular to my groups of students, and so it is imperative that the Art Teacher make observations based on their own groups of students.

The data in relation to drawing ranged greatly. Students were observed as being more hesitant, and the visual data showed a great range in ideas with a great range in clarity. Although I would incorporate aspects of drawing throughout the entire year due to its accessibility and familiarity, I may continue to include a more concept-driven brainstorm project in the beginning of the sequence of material-focused lessons. Students incorporated writing along with drawings to express and label their ideas. This material may be beneficial to begin a concept-focused learning segment with, as they may be most comfortable using a familiar material which they use in other general classroom contexts. I would ask students to use their drawing materials to draw from observation or their imagination to brainstorm and potentially apply their ideas for further refinement during another material-focused lesson.

I would then teach collage. Students were observed feeling more confident in their conceptual ideas, showed a wider range of outcomes across all classes, and were observed collaborating with peers. This material was engaging for my students, and so their confidence in the material may have caused them to be more specific in the ways they were reflecting on their daily experiences through artmaking. This is an ideal material to include when students are learning meaning-making and personal relevancy within artwork, with as students were less focused on the limitations of the material, and instead, more interested in expressing their personal concept. This can be an accessible first project as students begin to familiarize themselves with how to express personal ideas through artmaking. The focus of student-centered feedback will likely be in relation with expressing the idea rather than overcoming material challenges. Although these challenges may still arise, they were observed much less during the cut paper collage lessons. 

I would then present students with watercolor. Because the artwork in this category was included mostly material studies, it shows me that students were more engaged in their successes and challenges with the techniques, rather than the concepts they were expressing. In conjunction with my teacher notes, this indicates that, in general, students were less fluent with watercolor. Going forward, I would give students an extra day to explore their material exploration outcomes and ask students what they notice about the material and prompt them to make connections between the material outcome and potential subject matter; for example, a wet-on-wet technique may lend itself well to creating the background of a landscape. Students can then take a student-generated brainstorm list of general conceptual ideas as a starting point. The teacher would then need to guide the students to creating more specificity regarding their daily lives and experiences. 

Like Eisner’s plant and seed metaphor, the teacher will plant the seed by presenting the material; water the ground by demonstrating and leaving room for student insights; observe how and where the plant grows and adjust its sunlight and watering schedule accordingly; notice the range of outcomes, feelings, challenges, and successes that students encounter; and adjust. The Art Teacher can begin the school year with open-ended material exploration lessons to better understand and have more insights into students’ fluency with each material. While observing student interactions with each distinct set of materials, the teacher may take note of the affordances and limitations that students experience with each material. From there, the Art Teacher can curate the order that the materials are presented and use student brainstorm skills to provide broad conceptual options for students as a support. The teacher will need to scaffold the learning for students to make meaning through their artwork, particularly in relation to the material (Ghannoum & Cooper, 2020). 

Ask yourself: What materials are my students most comfortable with? This may be an excellent material to provide when introducing your students to the idea of creating personal meaning through their artwork. According to my data, their observed confidence with the material correlated with a wider range of outcomes and specificity. 

Ask yourself: What materials offered the most challenges to students? It may be helpful to provide this material afterstudents demonstrate success in understanding how to use artistic techniques to express more personally relevant concepts. 

Ask yourself: Was there a particular material in which my students connected and collaborated with each other? Choosing this material for group or collaborative projects may help students focus more on the content and concepts, rather than frustrations with the materials.

Open-endedness

The act of making art, as well as art educational practices, and arts curricula, in general, is inherently open-ended. Each individual student and teacher have unique experiences that can be enriching elements to inspire projects within the arts curriculum. If it is the teacher’s goal to create a more open-ended, student-centered classroom, it is imperative that the Art Teacher is observes and understands how students interact with the materials. When given the support of material technique demonstrations, as well as time to talk before and during the creation of artwork, students can develop the material-focused skills while simultaneously using visual art to share aspects of their identity and culture to connect with one another. Like Eisner’s plant and seed metaphor, it is the Art Teacher’s responsibility to be responsive and flexible in providing their students with the necessary supports regarding both meaning-making and technical skills. Providing students with lessons that focus on material explorations will give both the teacher and the student time to understand the ways in which we are familiar with the material and how we can use it to express more personal ideas. Art teachers can take advantage of the open-ended arts curriculum by inviting and providing the necessary (and individualized) supports for students to participate in sharing their personal ideas. The skills developed through this mode of teaching have the potential to embed life skills that promote connection and collaboration, and can allow the students to learn the skill of expressing their ideas and identity through art. By giving students the time and space to engage with their own personal observations of the world, and reflect on their imaginative ideas through material exploration, they can begin to develop communication skills through visual arts. Each time our students enter the classroom, we have the potential to uplift individual voices and unique perspectives to encourage meaningful conversations and deep-rooted connections. Art is expressive, and we can continue to reframe art education and how we help students see their successes in a more holistic way as we shift the focus from aesthetic perfection to connectedness and individual expression.