35.047 - Unpacking Unflattening: Interdisciplinary and Multimodal Inquiry in Teaching and Research

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Nick Sousanis’ experiment on visual thinking in comics, Unflattening, has been adopted as a text by educators and researchers in diverse contexts from high school to PhD seminars, since 2015. Sousanis’ book has made an international impact, alerting scholars and students to new possibilities for multi-modal and interdisciplinary inquiry and research. It has been translated into multiple languages and recognized though numerous American and international awards. True to its core challenge to traditional scholarship, Unflattening has inspired others to try their hand at arts-based research, and has been interpreted in dance and musical compositions. This symposium’s presenters discuss applications of Unflattening as an unconventional text in teaching and research. Contexts range from teacher education to collaborative ethnography.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Arts-Based Educational Research

Chair

• Andrea Kantrowitz, SUNY - College at New Paltz

Papers

• Unflattening the Classroom: Collaborative Critical Thinking Through Student-Made Multimodal Narrative - Janine Utell

• Unflattening Teacher Education - Emery Marc Petchauer, Michigan State University

• Unflattening Student Teacher Preparation - Gail Buffalo, City College of New York

• Ongoing Unflattening: Trio-Ethnographic Accounts of Pedagogical Imprints - Amanda O. Latz, Ball State University; Jessika O. Griffin, Indiana University - East; Ashleigh Bingham, Ball State University

• Unflattening Research in Visual Arts Education - Connie Stewart, University of Northern Colorado

• Dancing Unflattening - Steven McAlpine

Discussant

• Maya R. Pindyck, Moore College of Art & Design