Critical Inquiry in Art Education Critical Inquiry in Art Education | Page 18

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CRITICAL INQUIRY
Inspiration
IN ART EDUCATION
My CI project examined how students utilized
their time within a choice-based learning
environment. I was curious to find out:
02
A visit to the Rita Gold
Early Childhood Centre at
Teachers College, Columbia
University in New York City,
which showed how teachers
implemented choice-based
education at the early
childhood level, reframed
my thinking about providing
choices for my 13-18 year
old students.
03
A suggestion from a
colleague in my school
to set up a Makerspace
to engage our students
in independent
creative tinkering got
me thinking about
the possibilities.
METHODOLOGY
PARTICIPANTS
15 Junior High 3 students, all girls
1 How students chose to utilize their time
over 10 weeks? PROCEDURE
2 What actions and activities students most
performed and least performed in terms of
time spent? 1. Modified the art classroom
layout and accessibility to
art materials
3 How students use of time co-related to
their assessed performance on the project? 2. Modified class practical
time (about 1.5 hours) to
incorporate in-class museum
visits, demonstration
by teacher, studio art
making time, clean-up of
classroom, group sharing and
independent reflection time
01
A presentation by
experienced art educator
Dr Sarah Ackermann
at the NAEA National
Convention on cultivating a
Makerspace and curriculum
for creativity piqued my
interest in self-directed
learning.
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The art classroom was re-designed to:
1 Re-present the learning environment by
restructuring materials and resources, and
room layout
2 Re-structure studio time to include
demonstrations, studio, cleanup, sharing
and reflection, and setting routines
The thoughtful re-designing sought to empower
students to make personal choices regarding their
artworks by providing access to multiple choices,
and setting purposeful explorations as the norm
within the art classroom.
3. Issued survey forms to
students at the end of every
lesson to self-report on how
they utilised time before and
during class for artmaking
4. Collected completed survey
forms the following week
DATA COLLECTED
1. Students weekly self-reporting
responses on survey forms
04
A book review of Engaging
learners through artmaking:
Choice-based art education
in the classroom (2009) by
Katherine M. Douglas and
Diane B. Jaquith expanded
my perspectives on practices
that valued authentic learning
processes and fostered
intrinsic motivation.
Sample of completed survey form by a student