Social reconstruction in the collaborative creation workshop

This research paper relates my professional experience as visual art educator at École de langue françase de Trois-Pistoles. In the summer of 1998, I conducted a project intended to demonstrate how the process of social reconstruction, associated with multicultural education pedagogical strategies, could be introduced in art education by means of workshops focussed on group creation. The emphasis is placed on the review of my teaching strategies and my approach to group creation which allow students of different backgrounds to broaden their sense of historical perspective and cultural relativity. Two different workshops were held. Students followed a multi-step group creation process which culminated in the realization of two installations. These reflect the understanding by the students of reconstructionist principles. The feasibility and efficiency of my teaching strategies and approach to group creation are illustrated. The long-term objective is to encourage other art educators to explore group creation as a potential pedagogical tool to promote the development of multicultural art education