Developing Design through a Creative Problem‐Solving Process: A Group Community Art Project

For the past few years, creativity has gradually become an important element in the national cultivation of talent in Taiwan. Although traditionally art education is closely linked with creativity, the academic research on general art education is very insufficient. Therefore, the goal of this research is to investigate how creativity could be cultivated in curriculum planning for general art education at technology universities as well as what students’ learning process was when they participated in a course's creative activity. The research applied the theory and steps of creative problem‐solving (CPS) on a general art course to design a group practical activity combining with the local community. This involved converting the steps of creative problem‐solving into different stages of group design activities with the goal of constructing a design process equivalent to the process of problem‐solving. The main research results revealed that students could experience the problem‐solving process through group design activities and develop their divergent and convergent thinking at the same time. Moreover, the cooperative learning model is the most appropriate teaching strategy for students from non‐art‐related departments when cultivating their creativity.     

Facilitating Meta‐learning in Art and Design Education

Art and design programmes are educationally unique in that students themselves play a central role in determining their own learning needs. To be successful in their study, art and design students are required to operate with a high degree of independence and self‐direction. Developing the skills for greater self‐reliance requires students to become aware of their conceptions of the subject of study, and of themselves as learners in a particular learning context. Developing greater self‐awareness as a learner and becoming more independent in one's learning is captured by the concept of meta‐learning. In this article I present an alternative strategy to prevalent diagnostic approaches to assist in developing a student's capacity for meta‐learning in the subject context of art and design. An inquiry cycle was created to provide a structure within which to facilitate generative thinking about learning through engaging with fundamental questions related to the subject of learning (art and design) rather than the learning subject (i.e. the student). This method represents a departure from existing approaches to engaging students in meta‐learning. A pilot study used to trial the effectiveness of this strategy is also presented here. The inquiry map, and the conceptual base upon which it was developed, were found to be useful ways to structure reflective thinking about learning and to assist in developing a student's conception of the subject.     

Visual Art as a Vehicle for Educational Research

This article is an account of a pilot project designed to help art & design teachers in training use their particular strengths to report on classroom observation through visual art. The project is underpinned by the notion that the arts provide a particular way of knowing and that teaching should be student‐centred. I argue that if the arts can be seen to be a particular way through which we can understand the world then they can be used as both a pedagogical tool and possibly a vehicle for collecting data and reporting research. A group of 19 student teachers of art & design were given tasks which involved reporting on their school placement experience via a visual art form rather than through a text‐based form such as writing. The resulting images were discussed in a seminar and a sub‐group of three students was purposely selected for interviews. It was found overall, the students valued the approach taken and that they gained valuable insights into their professional placements through adopting an art‐based approach to educational research. As a result, I advocate in this article a greater use of arts‐based approaches to research which explores educational experience, not only in the arts, but in all areas of teaching and learning.     

Learning to Be: The Modelling of Art and Design Practice in University Art and Design Teaching

Learning to be an artist or designer is a complex process of becoming. Much of the early phase of ‘learning to be’ occurs during the time emerging artists and designers are students in university art/design programmes, both undergraduate and postgraduate. Recent research reveals that a critical role in assisting students in their maturing identities as artists and designers is played by artist/designer‐academics teaching in university art and design programmes. By maintaining active art/design practices and drawing from these in their teaching, artist/designer‐academics model professional practice to students. Witnessing and interacting with such modelling is part of the process of students learning the shared discourses, views and practices of the art or design worlds to which they aspire to belong. The modelling of professional practice is critical to an artist or designer's ‘learning to be’ experience because it enables students to access the tacit and nuanced behaviours, languages and cultures that constitute contemporary art or design practice. This article outlines findings from a recent Australian study revealing the role of professional practice modelling in university art/design teaching. It highlights the centrality of professional practice modelling to artist/designer‐academics in their beliefs and approaches to teaching their academic disciplines. In critically exploring the research data and findings this article describes the role that modelling of practice plays and how it comprises a core part of the value that artist/designer‐academic participants contribute to the teaching of art/design education.     

Sumak kawsay: Social Empowerment through Participatory User‐Centred Design in Ecuador

The aim of this article is to direct the social design debate to constructivist approaches to design education in the Global South. This article provides insight into the process of participatory user‐centred design involving Ecuadorian third year graphic design students and cocoa cultivators of limited resources in Ecuador. The students and cacaoteros become codesigners of a brand identity for the farmers’ association by means of an extensive review of literature on cocoa cultivation and commercialisation in Latin America, in‐depth interviews with community members on the traditional farming practices of cocoa growing communities in Northern Ecuador and the data collected from the students’ participation in and observation of the lifestyle within the community. This article illustrates the ‘wicked’ problems faced by these design students and the relevance of their experience to the study of social design practices and design education in developing countries.     

A New Paradigm for Design Studio Education

There is a feeling among many design educators today that the discipline has reached a crisis in its development, and that change is needed immediately in the way that design educators articulate their epistemology and their methodology. The architectural studio can be seen as the model for design education, and its culture is exemplary. Donald Schön has often argued that the professional education of architectural students – and other design students – should be aimed at making them into ‘reflective practitioners’. At the core of his argument is the idea that design education must sacrifice intellectual rigour in order to achieve social relevance, yet critics have argued that this trade‐off has caused design education to be marginalised in relation to the university model of education. Design is focused on subjective creativity, but the positivist university paradigm is focused on objective rationality. In order for design education to become more rigorous – and more academically respectable – it must either become more rational or it must embrace a new paradigm that values creative experience. This article argues that the emerging paradigm of complexity offers design education the rigour it has been lacking, for this paradigm constructs studio projects not as problems with rational solutions but as systems that need to be explored in order to discover their relational meanings and values – precisely what creativity, balanced with rationality, can accomplish in both Western nations and rapidly developing East Asian nations such as China.     

Improving Student Engagement in Commercial Art and Design Programmes

The continued viability of art and design programmes depends on our ability to produce graduates able to contribute successfully and confidently to the future of the creative industries. This in turn depends on our ability to lead students to develop both the ability and the motivation to learn. A significant proportion of our students however, are not adequately prepared or inclined to engage with the learning environment. Based on a review of the literature on student engagement, this article attempts to identify the origins and examine the impact of the perceptions and attitudes (the ‘mental pictures’) that currently limit our students' ability and inclination to engage as well as those factors (including the features of our programmes) through which these ‘mental pictures’ may be inadvertently reinforced. It then proposes a number of practical suggestions to make more effective use of the learning outcomes of art and design programmes in order to mitigate their influence and thereby improve both our graduates' capacity and inclination to become more competent professionals, as well as self‐directed learners.     

Encounters with the Unexpected: From Holbein to Hirst (and Back Again)

Learning through art in the museum is a Masters’ level module established in 2006 through collaboration between the School of Education at Roehampton University, London and Interpretation and Education staff at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. On completion of the module, participants were asked to reflect on how the experience had altered their perspectives on the collection and their strategies for teaching and learning in art and design. The aim of this article is to explore some of the themes that emerged from these interviews and from other dialogue between tutors and students on the module, themes that are then discussed within the wider context of museum and gallery education. The article concludes by reflecting on broader notions of knowledge and understanding in the context of museum and gallery education. It is argued that the juxtapositions of historical, modern and contemporary art that have been a distinctive feature of Tate's curatorial strategy since 2000 have shed fresh light on older works in the collection and provide opportunities for art educators to reappraise the emphasis currently placed upon the interpretation of modern and contemporary work. It is suggested that developing knowledge and understanding of art is partly about embracing notions of ambiguity and mystery: that engaging with multiple and shifting interpretations of artworks should play a more central role in art education and that part of the process of engaging with art is the experience of not knowing and not understanding.     

Immersed in Design: Using an Immersive Teaching Space to Visualise Design Solutions

A significant component of design pedagogy is the need to foster critical design thinking and to support students in understanding links between educational exercises and their potential application in professional design practice. Problem solving is central to design so it is also essential that students understand that there can be multiple solutions to a design brief, and are supported in creative experimentation and in generating imaginative outcomes. This article examines some innovative approaches to addressing these pedagogical needs. It investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical design incorporating the Immerse Lab, a three‐wall projection room at an Australian university, as a learning context for design practice, for generating ideas and for supporting learning involving the comparative display of design outcomes. Anonymous student survey results revealed that the majority of students found learning in the Immerse Lab to be beneficial; comparative review more effective than in standard tutorial rooms; that the activity generated new ideas; it encouraged students to think differently about their designs; and it inspired students to develop their existing designs or create new ones. The project demonstrated that curricula involving immersive spaces can be effective in supporting engaging and relevant design pedagogy.     

‘Who Thinks this Teaspoon Is Art?’ A Discourse Analysis of Elementary School Students' Negotiation of Meaning During Art Museum Visits

This intrinsic case study examines art museum learning of elementary school students during a week-long visit at the Mackenzie Art Museum. Museums are informative institutions that provide opportunities for visitors to engage with self, others, and society. It is a unique place for visitors to learn beyond classroom settings. This project aims to analyse the discourse around art and understand how young learners utilise discourse as tools to make meaning during art museum visits. By examining learners' dialogues, the research investigated a meaning-making framework that incorporates strategies for negotiating insights in art museums. This study includes approximately 12 hours of video-recorded data and student artefacts. The data suggests learners engage and form new meanings through building and negotiating discourses with peers and museum educators. Different discourses and knowledge are valued and reinforced by members of the group. This study addresses the gap in children's meaning-making during art museum visits, illustrating their strategies to construct knowledge and bridge connections.     

关于图案教学的一些思考

本文认为,中国现代设计教育中,有必要从基础图案教学开始,引导学生了解、积累有关中国传统艺术知识;要从传统图案入手,重点加强对其造型与色彩的临摹和运用,并进而培养学生想象设计的创造能力。此外,图案设计教学应适应时代,在图案的内容与形式的表现上,应是题材广泛,形式多样,手段齐全,表现能力全面,以适应和满足各类设计对图案的不同需求。     

歌剧《有爱才有家》为什么感人至深——兼论该剧对于艺术教育的启示意义

民族歌剧《有爱才有家》作为武汉大学艺术学院师生主演的一部舞台剧,不仅感人至深,产生了良好的社会反响,而且对于探索艺术教育新形式具有重要的启示意义。该剧感人至深的原因主要有五个方面:一是取材于真人真事,真人真事本身就很感人;二是在编创方面的艺术处理精细巧妙,特别能拨动人的心弦;三是表演细腻逼真,活灵活现,特别能感通人心;四是在音乐节奏、韵律和风格的处理方面恰到好处;五是编创人员在刘德芬精神的感召下,精诚合作。该剧的成功给我们一个重要的启示:师生合作演剧,本身可以成为艺术教育的一种很好的形式,这种教育形式较之于课堂授课,能让师生对艺术的认识更深刻,能让他们的情感与心智更趋融合,且能通过他们向全社会传播正能量,从而具有更高的美育意义。     

Liberating Foundations of Art and Design

Research concerning the basic course known as Foundations of Art and Design strengthens the pedagogical approach for K‐16 art and design education. The version of Foundations introduced to America by Josef Albers, although hardly changed, is shown to have continued, timeless relevance. Next, a sequential, implicit logic is revealed in linking the literature of the originators’ old intentions for the course, reflections by their students, and directions taken by later colleagues (particularly design scientists and the theorists addressing the current paradigm combining aspects of art, design, mathematics and science education), revealing some limitless, possible new dimensions. The first focus of this article points to the foundations course as a common denominator for the assimilation of complex new material through aesthetic play, paving the way for new cultural forms. A second theme begins to intertwine literature from many interdisciplinary fields, revealing a profound and deeply rooted pedagogical underpinning, accessible to art and design researchers and educators to aid with their move toward future transformation.     

论艺术设计教育中创造性思维的培养

创造性思维是艺术设计中处于核心地位的思维能力,它以发散性思维为主要特征,讲究科学理性和艺术感性的融合,并强调灵感和直觉的运用。在艺术设计教育中培养学生的创造性思维能力,要让学生突破思维定势,学会发散思维;了解创造性思维的过程,学会捕捉灵感,形成创意;要改进评价机制,营造富有竞争力的艺术设计教学氛围来激励和启发学生的创造能力。     

Art Education and the Visual Arts in Botswana

The history of art and design education in Botswana has evolved in a unique way and reflects its British colonial history and post‐independence development. It has involved constant exchange and dialogue with other countries through the employment of teachers, teacher trainers and university lecturers from a variety of European, Asian and other African countries. This dialogue has continued as locally trained art teachers pursue their degrees overseas and return with new ideas and influences. At the same time, the development of local crafts for a global market and the inter‐cultural exchange in the visual arts outside the formal education system are thriving with the help of various organisations and the museum and gallery sector. This article will look more closely at the country context, the history and development of art education and the interrelationships that have evolved over the last two decades. It will show how students engage with the challenge of integrating their African heritage and changing traditions with their development as teachers and artists. It will also consider how closer links between the formal and informal art sectors might be mutually beneficial and demonstrate the potential for art and design to play a role in the social, economic and cultural development of the country.     

Imaginative interaction with Internet games. For children and teachers

This article explores children's imaginative interaction with Internet games in the belief that an understanding of children's life experiences is essential to effective teaching and learning within the classroom. It is underpinned by the idea that imaginative play is, at least in some part, the work of children undertaking identity practice. It focuses on a small group case study of 8‐ and 9‐year‐old children, from diverse cultural backgrounds, who were regular players on free‐access commercial Internet games. As children frequently perform imaginative narrative play both privately and in groups triggered from experiences with novels, films and television, the research initially focused on whether similar activities resulted from experiences with commercially sponsored free Internet game sites. If so, to what extent might these texts also influence children's creative output? To explore this, the children attended a weekly after‐school computer club during which they played on Internet games. During the course of the club sessions, each child was observed and interviewed about the experiences they had resulting from the gameplay. Through consideration of the children's play and opinions, the teacher researcher developed valuable insights into her students and their worlds to the benefit of her practice.     

Bridge or Barrier? Writing in Secondary Art & Design Education in the UK

What role does writing play in secondary art & design education? In the context of current debates on access and participation in the visual arts, the nature of art discourse and the value of creative subjects within the curriculum, what impact do the existing requirements have on students, teachers and the broader arena of the visual arts? This article presents the findings‐to‐date of an ongoing pilot study which set out to explore these questions. Drawing on interviews with teachers and exam board representatives, and a review of student texts and exam board documents and resources, the study found that even though writing is only a minor part of what is an essentially practice‐based subject, it was a source of significant concern and confusion. A marked disconnect was revealed between intent and practice, which in turn highlighted a series of underlying values and beliefs that seemed to further drive this disconnect. The study calls for a wider discussion of the way writing is framed, used, supported and assessed in the art & design classroom, and the need to ensure that any pedagogy and resources developed align with the values as well as curriculum of art & design. It also previews how strategies created in the context of developing more inclusive and flexible writing skills among curators and other art museum professionals may offer a useful model. The study is part of a larger investigation into the discourse/s of the visual arts, with a focus on issues of access and participation.     

Predicting Academic Success: A Longitudinal Study of University Design Students

This article presents a longitudinal study, over eleven years, of the academic progress of a cohort of design students (n = 475) at a major Australian university. The students were from four different spatial design disciplines: architecture, industrial design, interior design, and landscape architecture. The article identifies cognitive variables that may predict future academic success. This research uses regression analysis to identify correlations across a range of variables, in particular exploring the relationship between university entrance scores, subjects studied at school (art and graphics) and academic success as defined by university grade point average and time to completion. This study shows that prior knowledge in art and graphics is not a useful predictor of future academic success, while university entrance scores and first year performance are related to ongoing academic success. These results suggest that for the design disciplines explored here, discipline‐specific prior knowledge is not an important requirement for university entrance.     

Art,anatomy, and medicine: Is there a place for art in medical education?

For many years art, anatomy and medicine have shared a close relationship, as demonstrated by Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings and Andreas Vesalius' groundbreaking illustrated anatomical textbook from the 16th century. However, in the modern day, can art truly play an important role in medical education? Studies have suggested that art can be utilized to teach observational skills in medical students, a skill that is integral to patient examination but seldom taught directly within medical curricula. This article is a subjective survey that evaluates a student selected component (SSC) that explored the uses of art in medicine and investigates student perception on the relationship between the two. It also investigates whether these medical students believe that art can play a role in medical education, and more specifically whether analyzing art can play a role in developing observational skills in clinicians. An “Art in Medicine” 8‐week course was delivered to first year medical students at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The use of art to improve observational skills was a core theme throughout. Feedback from the students suggests that they believe a strong association between art and medicine exists. It also showed a strong perception that art could play a role in medical education, and more specifically through analyzing art to positively develop clinical observational skills. The results of this subjective study, together with those from research from elsewhere, suggest that an art‐based approach to teaching observational skills may be worth serious consideration for inclusion in medical and other healthcare curricula. Anat Sci Educ 7: 370–378. © 2014 American Association of Anatomists.     

Teaching and Learning How to Create in Schools of Art and Design

This article describes the studio model—a cultural model of teaching and learning found in U.S. professional schools of art and design. The studio model includes the pedagogical beliefs held by professors and the pedagogical practices they use to guide students in learning how to create. This cultural model emerged from an ethnographic study of two professional schools of art and design. A total of 38 professors from a total of 15 art disciplines and design disciplines were interviewed and their studio classes were observed. A grounded theory analysis was used to allow the studio model to emerge from audio recordings of interviews and video recordings of studio classes. The model was then validated by 16 different professors at six additional art and design schools. The studio model was found to be general across art and design disciplines and at all eight institutions. The central concept of the studio model is the creative process, with three clusters of emergent themes: learning outcomes associated with the creative process, project assignments that scaffold mastery of the creative process, and classroom practices that guide students through the creative process.