Student-centered learning
Providing student-centered opportunities in the art room will allow students to create art related to their current interests and content that is relevant to their culture, at the time they have the desire to explore such topics (Wilson, 2005). Student-centered learning does not always put traditional art skills at the forefront of the lesson; however, technique-driven lessons can be implemented by the educator as may be needed to enhance the child’s artistic expression (Wilson, 2005). We can allow students to encounter such material challenges and overcome them with the support of the teacher and peers.
Student-centered learning enables the teacher to demonstrate the academic aspects of the lesson while providing an inquiry-driven experience for the student to engage in independently or collaboratively (Mindess & Chen, 2008). This creates room for the student to apply their prior knowledge and life experiences to the newly demonstrated techniques and information. It allows students to call upon their knowledge base to make relevant connections between their daily experiences, interests, and culture with the new ideas covered in each lesson. This way, art class can then be used to not only enhance learning from other subjects, also to allow students to delve deeper into ideas in which they are interested. This can prompt both connection and collaboration, as noted in the previous data analyses.
By simply focusing on demonstrating new techniques, the instructor is not limited to only teaching art skills, but may also teach the act of deriving meaning from a work of art. It is often at or near the end of the creative process, that upon reflection, the artist can fully appreciate and reflect on the personal attributes of their artwork (Walker, 1997). Early childhood educators hold an important role in scaffolding students’ learning and exploration with regards to meaning-making, which will prepare the child to make deeper connections and have a better understanding of multiple representations and perspectives (Ghannoum & Cooper, 2020).
In an educational setting, there are already complexities in various limitations and affordances (Eisner, 2002). Eisner mentions that materials, teacher-directed prompts, and classroom management expectations are some of these complexities (Eisner, 2002). According to Eisner, in a student-centered learning environment, “becoming smart” means learning the potential of the materials (Eisner, 2002). The Art teacher can help the student navigate their own independent journey of understanding how to use materials and visual language to communicate their daily experiences. Open ended projects lend themselves to unexpected challenges and results. The child can benefit from a balance of successes and challenges so that the teacher can lead the child towards success and guide them to make meaningful connections to the greater context of their life and the world at large. With a focus on making meaning, overcoming challenges, celebrating successes, and expressing personal experiences, the student may develop a more authentic relationship to artmaking.
Material and Conceptual Connections
In accordance with Eisner (2002), the data was separated into material categories, as described previously. After engaging with the remaining emerging categories, I noticed an overlap between material choice and students creations. During this process, students were observed as being engaged with and understanding the various limitations and affordances of each material. In relation with Eisner (2002), this correlated with the range in outcomes.
While investigating the sub question, “How does material choice influence what students create?”, I noticed that there were certain materials, such as watercolor, that kept the students both engaged and challenged when involved in their material exploration process. This is reflected in my teacher notes. Most of the artwork in the “Watercolor” category fell into the “Material exploration” category as well. Within the “Collage” category, however, many of the artworks depicted subject matter that fell into the categories of “The Observable World” or “Imaginative Ideas.” Although there were some examples from the data depicting subject matter that was tied to a particular concept or idea, many students continued to explore the process of the material. Many students indicated that they were unfamiliar with watercolor paint. In accord with Mindess & Chen (2008), students were observed to first apply the academic aspect of the lesson (the material demonstration) before proceeding to the inquiry-driven experience as they discovered how to control watercolor paint.
According to my teacher notes, students expressed more positive emotions while creating artwork that was sorted into the “Collage” category. Within the subcategory, “Torn paper collage,” it was noted that students from multiple classes had requested scissors. This relates to Eisner’s (2002) idea that when experiencing the potential of materials, in this case, collaging techniques, students can begin to refine their technique to better express their ideas. This was evident when I compared a lesser-known material, watercolor, to a material with which students had more experience, such as collage. Students were more adept at expressing subject matter that was more relevant to the concepts they chose to explore, when using familiar material.