Social Reconstructionism in Art Education: Art, Critical Pedagogy, and Empowerment in a Junior High Setting

271 p.Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2004.Findings derived from this investigation suggest that social reconstructionist art education, when facilitated through critical pedagogy and proper instructional guidance, has significant potential for empowering art students to examine contemporary social issues and become more informed citizens capable of confronting unjust social relationships. However, there are certain challenges that art teachers need to overcome. Additionally, this study proposes that the paradigm of social reconstructionist art education entail reconceptualization of the field of art education from other critical disciplines such as sociology, visual culture, or media culture studies. To promote art education for social betterment, art teachers, students, and the public must reformulate their perceptions, values, and attitudes toward art that goes beyond appreciating art as a form of aesthetic construct. Several recommendations concerning future development and implementation of social reconstructionist art education are drawn based on this curriculum implementation.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD