Jen Katz-Buonincontro

Integrating the Visual Arts Back into the Classroom with Mobile Applications: Teaching beyond the “ Click and View ” Approach

Abstract Teachers can use mobile applications to integrate the visual arts back into the classroom, but how? This article generates recommendations for selecting and using well-designed mobile applications in the visual arts beyond a “click and view ” approach. Using quantitative content analysis, the results show the extent to which a sample of 16 mobile applications promoted physiological features (e.g., interactive touch), psychological learning principles (post, share comment/art work), pedagogical voice (e.g., social constructivist teaching), socio-cultural dimensions (artist ’s background), aesthetic understanding (e.g., line, color) and creative self-efficacy (e.g., the belief in the ability to make a new painting). We propose to address this imbalance through the pedagogical model Play, Curricular activities, Reflection, Discussion (PCARD).

Creativity at the Crossroads: Pragmatic Versus Humanist Claims in Education Reform Speeches

Obamas, and other policymakers’, speeches claim that creativity—the ability to derive novel, excellent and relevant ideas and products—is a valuable student asset for the 21st century, but why? Two types of rhetorical appeals to long-held educational values in these speeches are examined: pragmatic claims about student creativity focus on economic recovery, which implies a need to teach and research the link between creativity, academic success and workforce preparation. In contrast, humanist claims about student creativity emphasize a teaching and research agenda of promoting self-realization, cultural identity formation, and aesthetic learning principles, which include empathy and emotional awareness in addition to cognitive aspects of creative thinking and problem solving. These rhetorical appeals are examined in light of education reform and directions in art education.

Using experience sampling methodology to understand how educational leadership students solve problems on the fly

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a pilot study of the emotional states associated with educational leadership students’ attempts at problem solving “on the fly” in their schools and organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Experience sampling methodology (ESM) was used to study 375 “problem-perceiving moments” in leadership students using iPod touches, followed by individual cognitive interviews (CIs). Findings – Students reported higher levels of intrinsic motivation and cognitive engagement when solving new vs old problems. Students experienced both more positive and more negative emotions when attempting to problem solve than when reporting that they were not solving problems, yet lower levels of self-efficacy coupled with insufficient time to reflect on their leadership goals while at work. Consistent with previous research, students reported engaging in metacognitive and reflective activities more frequently while with supervisors and colleagues. In the CIs, students’ narrative...

Are Implicit Theories of Creativity Domain Specific? Evidence and Implications

Abstract Implicit theories of creativity have become a focus of research for a number of important reasons. In this chapter we outline evidence that implicit theories are the product of social learning, and, as such are not likely to be totally domain general. We first discuss a small taxonomy of implicit theories including self-theories, and mindsets. Then we present evidence that implicit theories are not constant across domain boundaries. Finally, we discuss implications of this theoretical view for creativity research and educational research and practice.

Decorative Integration or Relevant Learning? A Literature Review of Studio Arts-Based Management Education With Recommendations for Teaching and Research

This review presents a synthesis of the state of arts-based management education scholarship, with teaching and research recommendations. To begin, the lack of creativity and empathy development in management students is presented. Next, literature-based descriptions of arts-based management exercises focus on how to use improvisational theatre, visual arts (film, collage, drawing, sculpture, and photo-captioning), poetry, narrative writing and storytelling, and music in the management classroom. Then, each art form is analyzed in terms of its capacity to develop creativity (the ability to produce new, useful, and high-quality ideas and products) and empathy (the ability to understand another person’s feelings and want justice for him or her), as conceptualized in recent psychological research. Based on these descriptions and analysis, three arts-based teaching challenges are proposed for advancing practice in this area: confronting the shifting role of instructor and learner; forging collaborations with professional artists, art faculty, and students; and promoting active arts-participation in students. Finally, research recommendations are offered for extending the field with a table of eight design elements.

Examining Students’ Cultural Identity and Player Styles Through Avatar Drawings in a Game-Based Classroom

This chapter reports on the seemingly incongruous use of 2D media-avatar drawings and 3D media-math-based digital gameplay. As part of a larger mixed methods study, we examined students’ cultural identity, player styles, and tacit perceptions of schooling while inventing their own avatars, which are analyzed as symbols representing who they are and who they wish to be as gameplayers enrolled in a yearlong game-based course. Interviews, class discussions, observations, drawings, and short questionnaires were used to analyze issues of identity that emerged during the drawing process and the ways that the pedagogical activity of making the drawings affected student engagement in the game-based learning process. An emergent typology of drawings is reported on: race-based, where the student explicitly affiliated himself with his race and cultural, and race-less avatar drawings, where the student does not associate himself with race and cultural. This typology is explained in terms of two representative students. Finally, we compare the findings with extant theories of student identity and arts-based research as well as generate implications for an integrated theory of academic, possible, and virtual selves that emphasize the dynamic and culturally responsive needs of learners in educational settings that use gameplaying as a learning modality.

Improvisational Theatre as Public Pedagogy: A Case Study of ‘Aesthetic’ Pedagogy in Leadership Development

How does improvisational theatre promote aesthetic learning in leaders, emphasizing emotion and somatic, or sensory, knowledge? While improvisational theatre has been used in organizational settings, there is little empirical research describing the aesthetic learning process geared towards preparing educational leaders. Based on a case study of an educational leadership institute using grounded theory to investigate the use of improvisational theatre, four learning conditions emerged for promoting the phenomenon of the aesthetic learning process. The article describes key features of this process - catharsis, empathy, and heightened sensory perception - as compared to works by Dewey, Greene, and Freire. These aesthetic aspects challenge the traditional role of leadership ‘trainer’ and leadership ‘student’ and reflect a more collaborative conception of leadership development as conveyed in public pedagogy literature.

Gathering STE(A)M: Policy, curricular, and programmatic developments in arts-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education Introduction to the special issue of Arts Education Policy Review: STEAM Focus

ABSTRACT Despite the rise of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) as an educational framework, there is a notable gap in the documentation of STEAM teaching practice and research. This article provides an overview of STEAM education connected to the topics in the invited articles authored by STEAM pioneers. It gives an operational definition of STEAM education, traces its development, and questions whether teaching and research in this area have coalesced sufficiently in order to establish STEAM as a “field.”