The Role of Art Practice in Elementary School Science

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the role of aesthetic practice in elementary school and the consequences for children's meaning-making in science. More specifically, we intended to scrutinise what science learning emerges within the process, to target the consequences of adopting art practice in science class and to explore these two dimensions as a whole in order to better understand how children make meaning when exploring animals' ecology. The data, comprising audio recordings, photographs of children's drawings and field notes, were collected in one school which we visited on three occasions over a period of four consecutive days. The school is located in Sweden, and the children participating in the study were between 6 and 7 years old (Swedish grade 1). In this particular study, the children were involved in exploring animals' ecology. Data was analysed by means of practical epistemology analysis (PEA), taking its stance in Deweyan pragmatic philosophy on learning and meaningmaking. The results reveal that art practice was important for children's cognitive and aesthetic learning in science. The entanglement of science learning and art-in-the-making was shown to be of significance for broadening and deepening children's science repertoire. In addition, children's imagination and creativity was a vital part of their meaning-making when exploring a complex phenomenon, such as the spinneret, the Bspider-thread machine^. All along the process, the young learners, in transaction with the contextual features, developed agency meaning that the children owned the problems and developed action strategies through art and speech.

Philosophical Reflections: Critical Analysis of Learning Strategies for Science Practicum During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Several lecturers also conduct evaluations through practicum reports and student practicum videos and products produced by students. This is in line with the research of Caiman & Jakobson (2019) which shows that the practice of making videos in science learning gives meaning to the learning in the aspects of students' knowledge and creativity deepening. • Success indicators in science practicum learning during the COVID-19 pandemic Success indicator in learning, generally, is each individual can practice on their own.…”

The cognitive aspect of interactive learning and teaching in visual arts education

“…Visual arts education, as a domain for fostering divergent as well as convergent thinking, should promote problem-solving skills in students by having them observe visual elements and recognize the relation between them, understand the visual language through interactive conversation among all participants in the teaching process, and develop visual sensibility through artistic activities. The results of numerous studies also prove the importance of visual arts education in the development of higher-level thinking skills that are transferred to later life, as well as various cognitive skills, which lead to successful cognitive outcomes in other teaching areas and disciplines beyond the arts (Alter, 2009;Caiman, & Jakobson, 2019;Chishti, & Jehangir, 2014;Danesi, 2020;Eisner, 2002;Formichov, & Formichova, 2019;Ghanbari, 2015;Keinänen, Hetland, & Winner, 2000). However, research also shows that most primary school teachers still lack awareness of the need to develop certain cognitive abilities through arts, such as acquiring visual arts concepts and content, verbally expressing and interpreting knowledge and experiences in the field of art, or developing artistic and aesthetic attitudes (Tomljenović, & Novaković, 2014).…”

Panorama da integração entre Arte e ensino de Ciências: análises quantitativa e qualitativa

“…Há três artigos (CAIMAN;JAKOBSON, 2019;DAVIES et al, 2019;GUNEY;SEKER, 2017), estudados neste trabalho, publicados em revistas internacionais que citam o filósofo da corrente pragmatista John Dewey. Estes artigos são voltados para conceitos tratados pelo filósofo voltados para a Arte como uma experiência estética, aproximando-a de construções científicas.…”