Session 7B: Learning to Learn
Chair: Ian Marley

The Development of Visual Literacy in Art Education
Daniel Riha
Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

The conception of General Educational Program in the Czech Republic in the art education sector, implemented the semantization process as main differentiating approach from traditional reflexive model. Visual art is by this methodology understood as non fungible means for cognition and communication, and creativity as basic element of dynamic artistic process, where student acts as self-reliant individuality. The art production and interpretation consist of sign-constructs that enable existential self re-creation of students in interpretation process, and so becomes personal and social experimental practice in semantization. The main innovation, compared to the traditional art education, resides in semantic interpretation of visual expressivity and content interpretation of visual perception that facilitates conscious perception, creation and interpretation of visual expressions, emphasizing the role of communication. The second part discusses practical application of semantic approach on selected projects. The project EduArt, developed on national level, as a pilot methodology of imaginary implemented in the elementary education that verifies semantic methods in form of experiments. The results from theoretical research have been also utilized into the curriculum of 2 newly accredited disciplines at the Charles University in Prague (CHUP) – 1) Electronic Culture and Semiotics; 2) New Media Studies.

Download Conference Paper -

Visual Narrative and Informational Allegories- Character Based Learning Materials for Children
Desdemona McCannon
North Wales School of Art, Wrexham, United Kingdom

No abstract is presently available

Using the Visual Arts to Enhance University Teaching and Learning
Tracey Connolly
University College Cork, Ireland

In the context of the constructivist approach to teaching and learning at university and drawing on research from educational psychology, this paper will explore:

• linkages between Multiple Intelligences and the visual arts in educational praxis;
• a case study example of using the visual arts in the teaching of history at university level.

Historically the visual arts have provided ways of making meaning, educating and inspiring creativity. Thus, the visual arts are cognitive, affording different ways of viewing the world, indicating that wider use in the education process could facilitate better access to learners who have difficulty in responding to the mathematical and linguistic intelligences typically favoured in educational settings. 
Gardner (1983) in his theory of Multiple Intelligences challenges intelligence as a unitary fixed capacity measurable by IQ tests and highlights the need for the education system to be inclusive of all intelligences. By matching learners’ minds to congenial approaches to teaching, it is argued that prospects for educational success are greatly enhanced. Gardner (1995) argues that learners should be provided with different ‘entry points’ to learning, enabling explicit educational goals to be reached by multiple means.
Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, (Fiske, 1999)shows that through the visual arts:

• students not ordinarily reached are reached, in ways not normally used;
• students connect to each other;
• the environment is one of discovery;
• challenges are provided to students; and
• students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners

This paper will examine the use of the visual arts as an ‘entry point’ in the teaching of history to university students as a case study. In particular it will show the use of the visual arts in enhancing learners’ abilities to question, explore, collaborate, and extend their ideas, and the ideas of peers, which are central to the disciplinary thinking in history. 
The potential of the visual arts will be discussed in the context of providing learners with ways of knowing, increasing knowledge, and in eliciting a deeper understanding of complex themes by engaging learners through tangible and intangible observations in formulating interpretations. The paper will analyse the capacity of the visual arts to enrich the learning environment by providing a variety of representational forms and thus increase the array of cognitive abilities that learners could develop in such an educational setting.