PLACE AS AN ELEMENTARY ART CONTENT DETERMINANT: ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF SUBJECTIVITY AND ADAPTIVITY

This study looked at the subjective and adaptive relationships between the elementary art teacher and the “physicalities” of his or her teaching space. Three elementary art teachers were interviewed and observed five times each. They shared perceptions about place, early art memories, and professional experiences. Each of the three teaching places was photographed and drawn to scale. The teachers drew images relating ideas about their personal practical knowledge (Clandinin, 1986; Clandinin & Connelly, 1995; Schwab, 1969, 1970). The teachers and their art room objects were observed during class time to explore teaching content within the relationship of teachers to their physical places (Marcus, 1995: Waugh, 2009). Narrative inquiry was the method used to understand the elementary art teachers’ ongoing relationships with their situated physical places (Connelly & Candinin, 1990; Pinnegar & Daynes, 2007). After studying the place stories, the teachers’ stories, and the interactive stories, “story constellations” (Craig, 2001, 2007) of relationships within and across the elementary art teacher’s professional knowledge landscape were viewed (Craig, 2007). The abundance of objects in the elementary art classroom provided an opportunity to study the ecological exchange between the teacher and his or her object-laden place.Curriculum and Instruction, Department o