Research in Visual Arts Education - The National Society for ...

MEDIATED ACTION AND AESTHETIC LEARNING
Arts Education (Lindström, 1998, 2000), preferably as a Special Interest
Group associated to the Nordic Network for Subject-Matter Didactics (Sw.
Nätverket för ämnesdidaktik), which was established in 2002 (Schüllerqvist,
2003). A network of Nordic researchers in visual arts education should as a
minimum have the following aims:
• To compare programmes for research education in the Nordic countries,
to discuss general principles that are guiding such programmes and to
implement necessary changes on a national level.
• To initiate co-operation between institutions that offer research education
in visual arts education.
• To facilitate co-operation between researchers in visual arts education,
for example by providing opportunities for research students to use researchers
from universities and institutes of higher education other than
their own as advisors or mentors.
• To develop channels for exchange of information on research in visual
arts education.
In the USA, Elliot Eisner has insistently argued for the importance of the
aesthetic dimension in education and human development. In The arts and
the creation of mind, Eisner (2002) further develops his view of the significance
of aesthetic subjects and activities. He also comments upon what
kinds of research questions are most urgent:
Among the most important kinds of research needed in the field are studies of teaching
and learning (…) studies that try carefully to answer the question “What do teachers
of the arts do when they teach and what are its consequences” (…) What kind of curriculum
activities do teachers ask students to engage in (…) What kinds of comments
do they make to their students as they view their work (…) What proportion of the
teacher’s discourse focuses on aesthetic matters, what proportion on technical matters,
and what proportion on matters of classroom management (…) How much access do
students have to one another (…) Questions such as these are important, for if we know
little about the processes teachers employ in classrooms, we will be in a poor position to
improve teaching. (pp. 215-216)
Charles Dorn (1999), in a book called Mind in art: cognitive foundations in art
education, has a similar opinion of what kind of research is most needed:
We need to pursue at least two parallel research goals: one to provide the descriptive
research needed to understand the phenomena of art making and the other the applied
research required to adequately assess student progress in learning. (pp. 256-257)
70 NORDIC VISUAL ARTS EDUCATION IN TRANSITION