Developing a Responsive Curriculum for 6th Grade Art Students' Critical Consciousness and Empowerment
This case study provided important insights regarding art curriculum research. First, this research investigated how various social issues were identified by students, and the effects of a responsive instructional approach that sought to engage these students. Various types of students' critical consciousness and empowerment were related to their intellectual, emotional, and even moral responses. Findings suggested that educators need to understand students' initial bases for understanding social issues and their intellectual and moral growth more generally. Second, it was when students' critical consciousness went along with their own moral values that they were empowered and able to critically examine the influences of their favorite popular images. That is, when students sympathetically identified themselves with their favorite images from popular culture, their emotional and moral responses enhanced their critical consciousness and empowerment. Finally, this research revealed that this art curriculum research was a complex odyssey that required my own reflexive self-consciousness on my own theories and teaching and in relation to students' interests and learning. It also suggested that there was a symbiotic connection among art curriculum theory, design, implementation, and the result of all of these commitments.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign