Texas programs in pre-service art teacher preparation vary little. Since 1970, the National Art Education Association (NAEA) has created voluntary standards in hopes of decreasing variability among programs. In 1999, the NAEA published Standards for Art Teacher Preparation, outlining 20 content areas that art pre-service programs should provide their students. To obtain information on the implementation and the extent to which these 20 standards are being implemented, a questionnaire was sent to all programs in Texas. The 20 standards were the dependent variable for the study. The four independent variables used in this ex post facto study were: the size of the institution where the program exists; the number of full-time art faculty; the number of full-time art education faculty; and, the number of undergraduate art education students who graduated last year. The 20 standards or provisions were scored on a Lickert scale with six options: zero (not taught) to five (comprehensively taught). The response size (N = 23) was 47% of the state's 49 approved programs. The results from the survey suggest no significant difference among programs. However, the results showed a significant difference in the number of provisions taught between programs with no art educators and those with …

This study explored the state of art education in Turkey as revealed by pre-service art education university instructors, and the potential of incorporating visual culture studies in pre-service art education in Turkey. The instructors' ideas about visual culture, and popular culture, the impact it might have, the content (objects), and the practices within the context of Turkey were examined. Visual culture was examined from an art education perspective that focuses on a pedagogical approach that emphasizes the perception and critique of popular culture and everyday cultural experiences, and the analysis of media including television programs, computer games, Internet sites, and advertisements. A phenomenological human science approach was employed in order to develop a description of the perception of visual culture in pre-service art education in Turkey as lived by the participants. In-person interviews were used to collect the data from a purposive sample of 8 faculty members who offered undergraduate and graduate art education pedagogy, art history, and studio courses within four-year public universities. This empirical approach sought to obtain comprehensive descriptions of an experience through semi-structural interviews. These interviews employed open-ended questions to gather information about the following: their educational and professional background; their definitions of art education and …

This qualitative action research study examines how critical theory defined and guided my practice as an art teacher educator while I provided inclusion training for seven preservice art teachers during their student teaching. Sources of data included a personal journal, the inclusion curriculum I created for the preservice teachers and questionnaires and interviews. Primary findings indicated that critical theory had a substantive impact on the evolving development of my teaching philosophy, in particular my attention to issues of power redistribution in the classroom and my developing notion of teaching as form of artistry. The findings of this study also indicate that the primary impact of critical theory upon the preservice teachers was the articulation of their personal narratives and its relation to the development of their teaching identities. Further, mentoring these preservice art teachers in critical theory increased their competence in solving educational dilemmas. A primary finding of this study was how significant of a role the supervising or mentor teacher plays in developing preservice teachers' identity. As this is acknowledged, valued and utilized, more collaborative relationships among these stakeholders in the education of the preservice art teacher can be forged. The study provides implications for art teacher educators as …

The purpose of this study was to determine if beauty was important to elementary age children when exploring and making aesthetic judgements about works of art and to determine the criteria elementary students used in judging beauty in works of art. This study also explored beauty as a concept that could be used as an organizing idea for designing a thematic unit with the purpose of introducing elementary students to postmodern art and issues. One hundred and sixty first grade and fourth grade students looked at 20 pairs of art reproductions and picked the artwork they considered the most beautiful. The criteria elementary students use for determining beauty in artworks was found to be color, realism, subject matter and physical appearance of the subject of the work of art.

While literature in areas of constructivism learning theory, use of computer technology in education, and the implementation of project-based learning in the classroom have received widespread attention, there is no reported research that specifically examines the effectiveness of using a project-based learning model for computer technology instruction for pre-service teachers' programs in general, and in art education in particular. Thus, the research problem was to examine through pre- and post-test control-group experimental research design whether two different teaching methods, constructivism teaching approach (project-based learning) and traditional (step-by-step) teaching approach, result in significant differences in learning computer usage, the application of computer technical skills, design projects, and attitudes toward using of technology. The research was conducted at University of North Texas during the fall semester of 2004. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect the data. The quantitative data, collected from a pre-post test and pre and post questionnaire, was analyzed using a t-test. No significant difference was found between the groups as it relates to computer usage, one aspect of the application of computer technical skills (Photoshop usage), and attitudes towards technology. There was, however, a statistical difference between the groups in the use of the other aspect …

I proposed that both Bruner's (1963) idea of the spiral curriculum and Yenawine's (1992) theories of teaching for visual literacy in the museum set the stage for significant learning for students when used together. If school teachers lay a foundation of knowledge about a museum object, especially through museum resources, then the student may transform and apply this 'prior knowledge' (explicit memories from the classroom) while on the museum visit tour. When docents utilize Yenawine's (1992) methods toward the goal of visual literacy, the semantic knowledge of the classroom is then fused with museum learning, building stronger memories and facilitating deeper understanding as students learn about museum objects. This research explored the correlation of these two theories in a qualitative manner based on observations of actual museum visit preparation in classrooms in Casper, Wyoming, and how it related to a museum tour at the Nicolaysen Art Museum and Discovery Center. The research revealed that conditions do exist within the community that would facilitate Bruner's (1963) idea of a learning spiral, yet not in the manner envisioned. The observed conditions toward a spiral was accomplished through the participant teachers relating the museum exhibit to their operational curriculum in a variety of …

Each day countless numbers of high school students remain standing at the threshold of the door to meaningful learning in art history because of traditional authoritative instructional methods and content. With the keys of feminist pedagogy, interactive teaching methods, and the new art histories, the teacher can now unlock that door and lead students to personally relevant learning on the other side. A case study using both qualitative and quantitative research methods was conducted in a secondary art history classroom to examine the teacher's pedagogical choices and the degree to which they enable meaningful and relevant student learning. The analysis of multiple sources of data, including classroom observations, revealed statistically significant correlations between the teacher's instructional methods and the content, as well as their impact on student meaning-making.

Learning relationships between intergenerational students in an after school art program provided mutual benefits for participants in Denton, Texas. This qualitative case study of older, active adults and elementary students involved in visual art experiences gives insight to a contextual learning environment that fosters lifelong learning and addresses the interpersonal issues of an aging society.

This study was designed to examine how four-year-old children might be able to respond and interpret works of art. Informed by Jean Piaget's and Lev Vygotsky's theories of cognitive development, and building on Micheal Parsons' and Abigail Housen's theories of aesthetic development, the study investigated whether or not four-year-olds are able to expand their initial responses to achieve deeper levels of understanding about works of art.