Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Merging the research on teaching with art content: A qualitative study of a preservice art education course for general elementary teachers
Abstract
Concepts from Discipline-Based Art Education (art history, aesthetics, art criticism and art production) and the Research on Teaching (selected alternative models of teaching, cooperative learning and effective teaching) were merged within the theoretical and instructional framework of a preservice art education course for general elementary teachers in a teacher education program at a large Midwestern University. The study, using qualitative research methods, investigated how the preservice teachers perceived, comprehended and interpreted the instruction they received in the course. An examination of the preservice teachers' journals, interviews, written tasks, evaluations and micro-teaching experiences formed the data analysis. Case studies document selected preservice teachers. Certain themes emerged as a result of the inquiry. Most preservice teachers had little art background. They entered the course with a narrow definition of art grounded in their own elementary school experiences. Also they were at various stages in the teacher education program, hence, there was a lack of uniformity in their teaching knowledge. Moreover, they had had little exposure to alternative teaching models. Thus, the course became increasingly responsible for introducing the preservice teachers to the art content, as well as simultaneously trying to teach the pedagogical components. Some preservice teachers were unable or unwilling to learn the art content and teaching concepts. They viewed the course in terms of providing hands-on project ideas for children. Other preservice teachers were able to model a range of alternative concepts and apply them within a disciplined-based art framework during the on-going course activities. Yet the Lecture model was still the most frequently chosen instructional method in their curriculum unit plans and micro-teaching presentations. However, these preservice teachers seemed to demonstrate a commitment to teaching that was superior to the other class members. Recommendations for including the Research on Teaching and Discipline-Based Art Education in future preservice art education courses were also outlined within the study.
Subject Area
Teacher education|Art education|Elementary education
Recommended Citation
Galbraith, Lynn, "Merging the research on teaching with art content: A qualitative study of a preservice art education course for general elementary teachers" (1988). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8911111.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8911111