Reflections on art education : two studies on student-led dialogue as a basis for curriculum development

My research for this paper is based upon an open-ended documentation of two workshops carried out as case studies in a non-school setting with high school students. The original objective was to improve and evaluate my teaching strategy. I wanted to allow the students to participate in the curriculum planning and decision making process. This interaction took place through social discourse and resulted in reciprocal communication and learning. My research began with many working questions: Can students and teachers collaborate and set objectives for a unit of teaching? Are we, as educators, aware of their individual needs in this artistic process? Are we getting through to the students? How do we know? My role as a teacher/researcher internalized a self-reflective process of my teaching practice. The two studies presented gave me a better understanding of the need for educators to be attentive to dialogue in a group situation. I chose to start each workshop with dialogue that triggered students into discussing what they wanted to do, where they wanted to go and to find what their artistic needs were. I have documented a series of questions generated by the students. The collection of students enquiries formed the basis of my pedagogy. I discovered as well that educators should pay special attention to dialogue among students. This dialogue is not solicited by teachers but by the students. I found that learning had taken place by listening to students talk during studio time and hearing them respond to each other during discussion time. The significance of peer dialogue and how it stimulates thinking is a key finding in my research