Experiential Learning in Undergraduate Education: Art in Action and Restorative Justice

• In Event: Alternative Pedagogical Techniques for Improved Student Learning

Abstract

At first glance, the topics of art and justice might not have obvious connections. Teaching students to look for the intersections of art and justice requires them to examine the topics from many disciplines. This presentation will discuss the development and execution of an experiential learning undergraduate course called “Art and Justice” that examines the curious connections between the subjects based on a historical trajectory. The curriculum covers graffiti, forgeries, art crime, looting of antiquities during wartime, social justice, social change, difficulties in international investigation and enforcement. Using arts in restorative justice programs, correctional settings and with youth at risk are explored. Projects based on museum, gallery and exhibition visits were required and 90% of the students had never visited the Philadelphia Art Museum prior to this course. Art and justice courses are perfect courses to be taught in an international context, particularly for study abroad semesters. This presentation will discuss the pedagogical techniques used in both the US and abroad, as this course was recently taught in Rome in the summer of 2017, which provided students the opportunity to visit the Carabinieri headquarters to see looted antiquities first hand and the Museo Criminologica which houses many historical criminology documents.

Author

• Sharon C. Ostrow, Temple University