Most art teachers are puzzled about what educational philosophy is and why it is needed. On the one hand, they feel that they should be able to articulate a guiding philosophy for what they do in the classroom. But just as typically, they perceive philosophy to be "a difficult study of obscure subjects," remote from their practical concerns as…

Describes "the world of the work" as the state of affairs an artist projects, including what is suggested and inferred as well as what is represented directly. Discusses how teaching "the world of the work" concept to preservice art teachers enables them to access the representational content of artworks. (CMK)

Identifies the essential features of critical inquiry and shows how it differs from the critical procedures often recommended by educators. Explains the implications of the inquiry process for teaching criticism. Provides a model of critical-inquiry instruction by suggesting three basic instructional strategies for teachers and describing an…

Contends that the concept of description educators present in their art criticism models differs from the concept of description in ordinary language; instead, it is a technical concept borrowed from the literature of aesthetics. Delineates differences between each concept, describes how the confusion arose, and discusses implications for art…

Argues that current models of art criticism distort the actual discourse of critics and force educators to rely upon a problematic instructional method: classroom recitation. Suggests that critical inquiry, rather than critical discourse, is a more fruitful concept for structuring art criticism instruction and proposes a model based on this…

Points out shortcomings of instructional methods derived from art criticism, viewed either as a set of procedures for critiquing artwork or as metacognitive principles for reflective thinking about artwork. Proposes a model of critical-inquiry instruction based upon three instructional activities: personal response, student research, and concept…

Discusses art teachers' information needs and outlines optimal library research strategies for retrieving various sorts of information. Included is an annotated bibliography of reference sources for art teachers. (AM)

This paper examines what career education is, what kinds of career education efforts exist in the visual arts, and what art teachers can do to introduce career education learnings into existing programs of study. (Author)

Article is a criticism of the document "Guidelines" published by the Aesthetic Education Curriculum program. The need for standardization of language and definition of concepts in aesthetic education is emphasized. (RW)

The author examines the nature of metacritical writing as a distinct form of inquiry within the literature of arts education. He makes a number of generalizations about such writings and maintains that there are several logically distinct kinds of tasks which writers undertake when they theorize about art criticism. (Author/SJL)

The central policy issue in the elitist-populist controversy is what works of art are to be included in curricula. Elitists defend the choice of exemplary pieces of art as instructional materials; populists find this advocacy of exemplars restrictive. How the choice of aesthetic exemplars constitutes a curriculum issue is discussed. (RM)

Presents a set of general guidelines for computer literature searches specifically geared to the needs of art education researchers. Two basic modes of accessing information from databases are discussed and the use of Boolian logical operators in structuring searches is explained. (Author/AM)