This article discusses findings of a study that investigated the variance in critical thinking dispositions between arts and non-arts undergraduates. A consensus of findings in research literature on education and critical thinking indicates that an inquiry-based curriculum positively influences gains in critical thinking. Research shows, as well,…

This article examines the cultural history of slide projection technologies by focusing upon how such technologies acquire cultural meaning. The meanings acquired by these technologies emerge in areas as diverse as public and domestic entertainment, religion, science, and education. I identify three important discursive shifts impacting the…

Due to rapid population growth and critical teacher shortages on the national level in today's fast-changing public school systems, we are witnessing an unprecedented crisis in higher education and teacher preparation. To better understand the current state of teacher certification and preparation, this article examines the contentious atmosphere…

Although bookmaking activities continue to multiply in all educational contexts, ways that many artists have worked with the form and concept of the book have received scant attention. An art form developed, matured, and recognized beginning in the 20th century, artists' books occupy a particular niche among bookmaking practices. In this article I…

Current discussions regarding the notion of visual culture in art educational practice center the actions of the viewer as participant within the networks of visuality common in many contemporary societies. Surveillance technologies and techniques shift this notion of participation from active to passive, from seeing to being seen. This article…

Arguing for complicating the study of visual culture, as advocated by James Elkins, this article explicates and explores Lacanian psychoanalytic theory and pedagogy in view of its implications for art education practice. Subjectivity, a concept of import for addressing student identity and the visual, steers the discussion informed by pedagogical…

In June 1869, a coalition of 12 individuals and two businesses presented the Massachusetts state legislature with a carefully crafted petition. This document called for lawmakers to take action in requesting that the State Board of Education develop a plan to initiate drawing instruction in Massachusetts public schools, or to establish educational…

This is a report of an experimental study that focused on adjudicating the art portfolios of secondary art students assessed in both actual and digital forms in order to determine whether art teachers evaluate actual works of art in students' portfolios differently than digital copies of them. The study participants included 178 students of 29…

This article focuses on the future of arts-based research in education. The author contends that there are several features that need to be taken into account if arts-based educational research is to have a future. First, arts-based educational research needs to have a cadre of scholars committed to its exploration--individuals who regard…

Folkvine.org is a website that presents seven Florida folk artists, three guidebooks, and several scholarly bobble heads that make commentary on humanities topics, the artists, and their work. This article analyzes the website as an arts-based research project. Topics covered address issues of representation, translation, learning processes, and…

In this article, I suggest that aesthetics is at the heart of both artistic experience and qualitative research, and that artistic processes, in particular, the space surrounding art experiences, can illuminate significant aspects of qualitative research, including data collection, data analysis, and writing. Examining the ways in which the arts…

A/r/tography is a form of practice-based research steeped in the arts and education. Alongside other arts-based, arts-informed and aesthetically defined methodologies, a/r/tography is one of many emerging forms of inquiry that refer to the arts as a way of re-searching the world to enhance understanding. Yet, it goes even further by recognizing…

Metaphorically and physically structured as a drama in seven scenes, this article characterizes the contested theories, internal tensions, and conflicts across disciplinary practices of arts-based education research (ABER). The drama contributes to the field of art education by providing an overview of ABER theories and the varied manifestations…

Anton Ehrenzweig's work training art teachers at Goldsmiths College in London was groundbreaking in its field. The work of the studio fed back into Ehrenzweig's writings through his reflections on teaching and the work produced in end of year shows. In "The Hidden Order of Art" (1967), he theorised the creative process in psychoanalytic terms and…

Craft education in Finland is, in many aspects, in a state of change. This concerns the independent position of craft as a school subject, the content of the compulsory craft courses containing textiles and technical work, the implementation of the new concept of a holistic craft process in the National Core Curriculum and so on. This bears…