Arts Based Action Research Blog Entry II

Arts-based Action Research

Part I:

After reviewing numerous readings, I have decided that I will be comparing Arts-based research as social justice activism: Insight, inquiry, imagination, embodiment, relationality by Kiefer-Boyd, K (2011) to a scholarly paper that I came across while doing research online about arts-based research. The scholarly paper is entitled, Action Research in Arts Education: Integrating Literacy and the Arts, EDU 981- Action Research by Laverne E. Mickens. Both of the writings were very interesting and applied to everything that encompasses what I would like to do for my arts-based action research project throughout this semester, they relate a lot to each other and provide a lot of informative information. The beginning of Mickens paper introduces the reader to how there has been a decline in the last two decades in the arts, whether it is the programs being cut or lack of support from the administration and also through the government with standardized tests being implemented, which would only favor a certain amount of subjects, the arts not being one of them. Standardized testing has had a huge incline in public schools, which students are now required to take during their educational career. On the other hand, because of these tests the arts has been perceived as a waste of time and energy for the schools to fund those programs. “Drawing, painting, sculpture, music and drama have all been minimized at both the elementary and secondary levels, in large part, due to an increased focus on academic performance testing.” (Parsons 2005, Action Research, Laverne E. Mickens)

Is the energy of the human brain being lost in circles that are filled in during those tests? Does the purpose of us as teachers mean that we teach to those tests that are being administered? Tests are now perceived as who you are as an individual. The information being taught is not “fun” for teachers to teach anymore, we teach like robots. That is why the arts are so important; it is a must that the arts be included in every school and not be cut from the school’s budgets. In Mickens’ paper she asks, “What about the Arts? Where do they fit into this present curricular vision? Art is often considered (by administrators, parents, politicians, even by teachers of other subjects) a soft subject where little thinking is required. (Eisner, 2002). I find this interesting because I feel that being an art educator you are consistently trying to explain to other teachers or different subjects what you do and how you do it. Knowing that the arts is one of the most expensive programs in the school as far as supplies, the necessary materials are needed into order to achieve a certain lesson. This is always under minded from administration, this leads me to believe in the reading from Mickens that money could also be an issue in the decline of the arts in schools, not just standardized testing.

The amount of growth that a student will encounter in their art career during his or her school years is an amazing gift that no other subject can give. The emotion of producing art, whether it be through your hands in fine arts, in lecturing on a certain piece of art or theme in art history, getting the lead in the schools musical or lastly performing in front of the whole school for the winter concert, leaves an impression on a student’s soul for the rest of their lives. The imagination that people possess as teenagers and adults started as a child, the feeling of completing something art related as a child with the excitement one has still follows and is trapped inside us as we grow. The arts programs in schools allow for that inner child and intense emotions to come out.

Mickens writes in her paper about creating an action research that implement something similar to the reading of Kiefer-Boyd in the explanation of the five ways to go about action research. Keifer explains, “I identified five distinctly different perspectives on what constitutes arts-based research. The variations seemed to emphasize contiguous relationships such as: arts-insight, arts-inquiry, arts-imagination, arts-embodiment, and arts-relationality.” (Keifer-Boyd, 2011 pg. 3) Art is the product of our research it is the substance, we will be able to view our final thoughts and results through our collected data, Keifer later goes on to state, “Arts-based research is a hybrid form of action research based in art processes, and/or art based in action research processes. The hyphen used in the term appears to place art as a base in a contiguous relationship with research. Arts-based research brought together with the hyphen suggests a way to gain insight via art.” (Keifer-Boyd, 2011. Pg. 5) To gain insight via art is the process in which it begins. Stated before are the five way to go about the action research in art education, I found in the readings that I would tend to steer towards the inquiry variation method to perform my research. I feel that I would be able to use this approach to what I teach, art history.

The reading of Keifer-Boyd and Mickens both approach social justice within arts-based research, from the explanations of how to approach your research to Mickens, explaining political and administrative involvement into the arts programs. I will be taking on the role as an art history educator, implementing the inquiry method to collect data into my class for including literacy into my class. The engagement of literacy for art history is extremely important, it is something that all art historians involve themselves with, however how to go about that with students in another question, this is my research. I have recently allowed the art student’s freedom and independence from constant lecture from me on each artwork, to the students lecturing on the pieces of art. This has not gone over well, so I am trying to do research where I am encourage students to be more in tuned with research experience and also with involving more literacy to approach their student population at the time of lecture.

References:

-Keifer-Boyd, K. (2011). Arts-based research as social justice activism: Insight, inquiry, imagination, embodiment, and relationality. International Review of Qualitative Research. (pg. 1-5)

-Action Research in Arts Education

http://www.academia.edu/6632289/Action_Research_in_Arts_Education

Part II: Problem Statement:

The meaning of this arts-based action research is to implement literacy into the arts, allowing the arts to be on the same level of importance in the eyes of administration and community, while doing that I would like to also research the freedom of allowing students to incorporate literacy through lecture during class time. Having previous issues with this task I feel that implementing arts-based research would allow for a lengthy collection of data to find out the best way to approach these situations. Through this research I will become the investigator, the purpose will be the study to identify the problems with intertwining literacy into art and also to have students articulate the literacy through presentations. The audience will be administrators, students and the entire school and community. This will allow for the end result to be seen and not just heard. The data collected will be from 12th grade advanced art history students.

Part III: Concept Map: