Start Date
16-8-2021 2:00 PM
End Date
16-8-2021 3:00 PM
Subjects
Learning progressions, Visual arts, Concept formation, Cognitive skills, Abstract reasoning, Primary secondary education
Abstract
Learning in Visual Arts has traditionally been framed as an experiential process in which feeling and intuition complement the development of aesthetic knowledge. However, while art can be about feelings and processes that develop students’ expressive capacities, the complexity of art understanding and thinking extends beyond this narrow common-sense assumption. I argue that this assumption, which is represented in the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA, 2015), and even more firmly resonates in recent proposals for the revision of this curriculum (ACARA, 2021), obfuscates the conceptual and theoretical bases on which students make progress in art understanding. This paper examines the proposition that art understanding emerges progressively and can be described in conceptual terms, the basis of which can be identified in empirical research on the emergence of children’s intuitive theories of art. This paper examines how selected studies articulate the cognitive grounds on which students’ ontologies of art and epistemological beliefs are represented in their reasoning about art over time. It is argued that an empirically supported conception of learning anchored in students’ cognitive development in art that recognises the theoretical commitments underscoring their conceptual and practical reasoning in visual arts practices K–12 provides a logical basis for articulating progression in the subject.
Recommended Citation
Maras, K. (2021, August 16-20). This time without ‘feeling’: Children’s intuitive theories of art as a logical basis for learning progression in visual arts [Presentation]. Research Conference 2021: Excellent progress for every student: Proceedings and program. Australian Council for Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.37517/978-1-74286-638-3_3
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2021 Karen Maras. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Place of Publication
Melbourne Vic
Publisher
Australian Council for Educational Research
ISBN
978-1-74286-638-3
DOI
https://doi.org/10.37517/978-1-74286-638-3_3
Geographic Subject
New South Wales
Included in
Art Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons
This time without ‘feeling’: Children’s intuitive theories of art as a logical basis for learning progression in visual arts
Learning in Visual Arts has traditionally been framed as an experiential process in which feeling and intuition complement the development of aesthetic knowledge. However, while art can be about feelings and processes that develop students’ expressive capacities, the complexity of art understanding and thinking extends beyond this narrow common-sense assumption. I argue that this assumption, which is represented in the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (ACARA, 2015), and even more firmly resonates in recent proposals for the revision of this curriculum (ACARA, 2021), obfuscates the conceptual and theoretical bases on which students make progress in art understanding. This paper examines the proposition that art understanding emerges progressively and can be described in conceptual terms, the basis of which can be identified in empirical research on the emergence of children’s intuitive theories of art. This paper examines how selected studies articulate the cognitive grounds on which students’ ontologies of art and epistemological beliefs are represented in their reasoning about art over time. It is argued that an empirically supported conception of learning anchored in students’ cognitive development in art that recognises the theoretical commitments underscoring their conceptual and practical reasoning in visual arts practices K–12 provides a logical basis for articulating progression in the subject.