Reviews some of the basic tenets of postmodernism's approach to art education and argues for a more tolerant and ubiquitous acceptance of these views. Postmodernists believe that art education should include cultural critique as well as aesthetic experience and that popular art measures culture in ways high art cannot. (MJP)

Maintains that the mechanisms and learning strategies through which students learn the arts can be adapted into models of instruction for other subjects. Notes the many instances where students, particularly high-risk students, do well in arts education classes only to suffer through the more traditional curriculum. (MJP)

Transcribes the Leon Jackman Memorial Address to the Australasian Art Educators Conference in 1996. Discusses distinctions between the formal world of pedagogy and the informal world of experiential learning in art education. Focuses on art educators as communicators, on how they talk about the arts, and on communication as sharing knowledge. (DSK)

Asks ten questions about the future of art, crafts, and design education. Focuses on why art, crafts, and design education should be included in the curriculum; how the curriculum should be defined; and how art educators should respond to conflicting calls for cultural relativism and for cultural nationalism. (DSK)

Asks how art should be taught in the postmodern world. Argues that art education must change in two ways: (1) discussions of fine art must focus on the meaning of postmodern art and concepts; and (2) incorporating postmodern concepts to address the broad range of visual culture encountered by students. (DSK)

Looks at the concept of creativity, and provides an explanation of its development in humans using a socio-cognitive framework proposed by the psychologist Lev Vygotsky. Applies this theoretical framework to the development of, and attitude toward, creative thinking in the Chinese culture as contrasted with western cultures. (DSK)

Examines the concept of national standards, outcome statements, and other terms of competency for visual arts education. Argues that they are representational concepts that require interpretation by teachers and, as such, run counter to educational goals of establishing an unambiguous link between subject matter and guaranteed levels of student…

Argues that curriculum reforms within developed nations do not define standards for student achievement in the visual arts and do little toward assisting the achievement of consistent and meaningful judgments of students' studio work. Proposes a "community as arbiter of quality" concept as an assessment strategy for visual arts. (DSK)

Supports the views espoused by Doug Boughton in his accompanying essay. Argues that there is an imperative to establish some form of generalizable standards in visual arts education in the face of pressures to cut less essential programs from school budgets. Expands on some of Boughton's points. (DSK)

Responds to Doug Boughton's accompanying essay based on input from notable assessment practices in Europe and Australia. Addresses what is meant by criteria, objectives, and standards and what role they play in visual arts assessment. Offers a model for rethinking the structure of assessment with respect to these components. (DSK)

Examines the experiences of a teacher and her artistically gifted students over a year in an attempt to add to the definition of effective teaching for that population. Possible ramifications of this study include further exploration of the themes of curriculum rhythm and translation as components of art teacher effectiveness. (DSK)

Examines preference for relative degrees of realism or abstraction in works of art as a function of gender and grade level using the Salkind Picture Preference Scale. Results are discussed in light of implications for understanding age and gender differences in preference and the application of such findings to education. (DSK)

Argues that the culture is inundated with mass media imagery. Proposes new directions for art education that respond to this by acknowledging the crossover between high and popular culture forms, incorporating new technologies, and accommodating a view of individuals as multifaceted. Outlines a representative classroom unit on media education.…

Presents a psychoanalytic critique of an advertisement for the Getty Center for Education in the Arts multicultural program. Applying principles derived from Lacan, Foucault, and Derrida, reveals basic racist, sexist, and elitist assumptions embedded in the advertisement. Includes a reproduction of the advertisement and extensive footnotes. (MJP)

Explicates a multicultural approach to art education that enhances critical thinking. Grounds this approach in the philosophical principles of constructivism that emphasize the student's construction of meaning rather than the passive transmission of knowledge from a teacher. Discusses the possibility of multicultural reasoning and its…