CONCEPT DEFINITION, ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT FOR ART EDUCATION

The research took an objectivist approach to art education, believing there to be standards of achievement, towards which teachers should encourage their pupils by providing appropriate learning experiences by which they can acquire the necessary skills to produce and respond meaningfully to their own artwork, and the artworks of others. Among the skills necessary for producing and responding meaningfully to artworks are those which enable individuals to perceive and conceptualize the work's qualities, and to communicate that experience to other individuals. The research described the identification, definition and illustration of c􀀂rtain complex, abstract concepts used in the world of art, and suggested appropriate methods for teaching and testing mastery of those concepts. A current trend in art education is towards the teaching of critical and appreciative concepts. However, from recordings made of a sample of teachers' practice in art classrooms, it appeared that they were not teaching criticism and appreciation and the language they used was concerned primarily with teaching about production processes, techniques, materials and tools. Although the teachers in the sample did feel it was important to teach critical and appreciative concepts further investigation revealed that they chose not to, because of the time involved in explaining complex concepts to their pupils, or because they felt their pupils would be unable to understand them. From a bank of concepts considered by teachers and art educators as important to an understanding and appreciation of artworks, ten were defined in terms of their attributes and subconcepts and illustrated with examples. A test of concept mastery was devised and administered to 124 individuals from nine years old upwards. The results suggested that concepts which were relatively easy to define and illustrate were mastered more easily than those which were difficult to define and illustrate. Concept mastery increased with age but was significantly lower for non-native English speakers. The test format which asked Subjects to make perceptual discriminations and apply concepts to unfamiliar works of art proved to be an extremely effective tool for prompting close inspection of the artworks and lively discussion.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

1984

Author dc:creator

• Moloney, Karen

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/8eb97212-494f-4983-9b3b-a11f1bdc2706/download