Framing Teacher Pedagogy: Concept-Based Approaches to Interpreting Contemporary Art in Secondary Art Classrooms

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: First Annual Arts and Learning Poster Session

Abstract

This paper reports a study that examined the role of theoretical constructs derived from an Australian curriculum model in the development of students’ understanding of critical practice in lower and middle secondary school art classes. A case study approach revealed how a teacher’s pedagogical tactics implicated students in collectively building conceptual networks to frame collaborative interpretations of contemporary artworks. Students developed increasingly more integrated interpretations of the artworks over time as new concepts reflecting a social values position were developed and represented inferences about intentional properties of the artworks, artists, audience and representational content. Pedagogy grounded in art practice as research of this kind extended the practical and theoretical scope of students’ critical reasoning skills in these classroom exchanges.

Author

• Karen Elizabeth Maras, University of New South Wales