The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which cultural biases contribute to the effect of verbalization on comprehending the structures and meaning of art in the United States, Brazil, and Egypt. Findings indicate a verbal task instructing viewers to generate their own title for each work promoted superior retention in all three…

Describes developments in strategies used by preschool and third grade children when drawing a three-dimensional model from observation. Concludes that children are able to devise unique responses to solving the problem of representation and that stage theory may be inadequate in explaining their performances. (Author/BSR)

Beardsley's explanation of how works of art have the capacity to give an aesthetic character to human experience provides a justification for art education in the schools. His major work, "Aesthetics," and subsequent writings that have a bearing on art education are discussed. (Author/RM)

Propositions which are used as guidelines for the development of a methodology for art criticism are presented. Based upon these propositions and generally following a phenomenological method of description, a method of art criticism composed of the following five components is described: receptiveness, orienting, bracketing, interpretive…

The phenomenological method of Edmund Hesserl is discussed. The mode of being of the teacher is phenomoneologically analyzed, and the results of the analysis are used in conjunction with the results of various phenomenological analyses of aesthetics to construct a rudimentary phenomenological theory of art education. (Author/RM)

Kindergarten children observed and drew a two-dimensional, abstract object. The most accurate and fully developed mental images of the object were produced when the children received instruction, drew the object six times rather than two times, and drew with pointed pencils and brushes rather than big brushes. (Author/RM)

Presented is an exchange between Rudolf Arnheim and the author, including questions from the audience, which took place at the 1983 National Art Education Association Conference. Arnheim discusses points of interest to art educators, including his background, education, and interest in psychology of art, and the themes of his books. (Author/RM)

Critiqued is the article, "Teacher as Shaman: An Educational Criticism," (Studies in Art Education, v25 n1), containing a case study of an art teacher who employs performance-based ritual to stimulate thinking about art's meaning and history. The problem that ethnographic researchers have conveying credibility when summarizing investigations is…

Ideas and research from the social and behavioral sciences need to be related to practices in art education. Events indicating that the mood of art education is ripe for redefinition and synthesis of ideas are discussed. (RM)

The clustering strategy increased the metaphoric nature of college students' written interpretations for realistic, abstract, and nonobjective paintings. Relaxed attention exercises significantly increased metaphoric interpretations of realistic paintings only. (Author/RM)

Three- to ten-year-olds responded to a three-dimensional object by drawing it and/or verbally describing it. Two days later, they reconstructed the object in drawn or verbal form. Descriptive abilities increased with age. The children displayed differences in verbal and graphic description only when recalling the object from memory. (Author/RM)

Only at the third- and seventh-grade levels did proportional preferences for Fibonacci figures differ significantly from preferences for other kinds of proportional spatial divisions. Semantic patterns were similar among third and fifth graders, with a change occurring between fifth and seventh grades in keeping with the development of formal…

Findings revealed no significant response differences due to mode of presentation. The study provides support for the proposition that mode of presentation has little systematic effect on untrained subjects' evaluations of paintings. (Author/RM)

College-level visual arts students and instructors with matched cognitive styles were found to have a more positive interaction than students and instructors with mismatched cognitive styles. There is a need for further investigation of cognitive styles of university visual arts students. (Author/RM)

The design and findings of three surveys describing art teachers--who they are, what they teach, how they teach, and what they value--are discussed and compared, and the need for ongoing studies of this nature is established. Data-gathering roles are also suggested for professional agencies and associations. (Author/RM)