Where Is Art Education in Early Childhood Today?

National Art Education Association

Where Is Art Education in Early Childhood Today?Author(s): Julia Schwartz and Nancy DouglasSource: Art Education, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Apr. - May, 1975), pp. 6-10Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192024 .

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Julia Schwartz and Nancy Douglas

If art education is to be a vital force in the schools, it should be concerned with two trends in education today. The first trend is the downward extension of the public schools enabling five-year- olds to attend in nearly all I states and, in some more forward schools, even four-year-olds. The second is the emphasis on the basics as indicated in the funneling of money and materials into reading, writing, and arithmetic to the detriment of the humanities.

Traditionally, art education literature has overlooked the early years of schooling, leaving the classroom teacher the decision as to when, how much, and on what kinds of art learn- ings young children would focus. The current thrust of the federal govern- ment th rough the federal funding of the Right to Read Program has opened a lucrative market for publishing com- panies and brought about a proliferation of materials to teach the basics to the five-year-olds in school. With classroom teachers of young children being surrounded by these clearly defined programmed lessons and activities for teaching specific objectives, it is most timely to ask: "What is the place of art in such a situation? What does this imply for the work of art educators with regard to an effective art program for kindergarten?"

*r~~~~~~~~~~ 1 I ~~For the purpose of getting a sample coverage of these commercial materials, five of the thirty kindergarten special materials programs listed in the 1974-75 State Adopted Textbooks in Florida' were randomly selected for examination. In analyzing the materials of

6 Art Education, April/May 1975



the five programs, the handbooks, modules, lesson plans, as well as worksheets and those materials intended for use by the children, an art education view was taken. It was recognized that these programs were not intended to be viewed in this light, though they do use art media and visual elements of art and suggest activities commonly accepted as art. This bias was intentionally taken with the reader being forewarned in advance.

In order to facilitate examination, information culled in the study was com- piled, in so far as possible, into a table. Though this information may inadver- tently be incomplete due to the great amount of material in some of the programs, it can be considered representative. Table I lists the programs by number, as, Program #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5. Under each is indicated the major objective, the major and minoremphases, media suggested for activities, content, sub-objectives which are separated into visual and verbal competencies, and visual materials provided in the packages.

As indicated in the table, the basic objective of each program is as follows: perceptual learning for Program #1, readiness program for #2, perceptual skills for #3, education for reality for #4, and perceptual motor-skills for #5. It is interesting to note that motor-skills have either a major or minor emphasis in all of the five programs, whereas language arts and math have this position in four of them and the humanities in only two.

On first glance at the media listings, one could assume that the packaged programs are fairly rich in this resource. The media, however, are not provided with the program packet and actually represent an additional purchase above and beyond the cost of the package itself. Also, it is important to note that many of these media are not mentioned in relation to the basic activities but are suggested for use in elective supplementary or reenforce- ment ones.

What the writers gleaned from the programs as art content (color, shape, size, position, whole/part rela- tionships, and the like) is also found in all of the programs, but there are differences. Only in Programs #2 and #3 does this content comprise a core or unit in the organization of the instructional package. In Program #1, for example, the concept of geometric shape enters as one aspect of a sub- section in the topical unit, Home and Family. In Program #4, reference is made in the rationale to "the in-

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Color photographs of children's art from Creative and Mental Growth, Six- th Edition, by Viktor Lowenfeld and W. Lambert Brittain, published by Mac- millan Publishing Co., Inc., 110A Brown Street, Riverside, New Jersey 18075. Courtesy of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.

terrelated functions of form, color, texture, design in natural and man-made objects" but, in the strategies proposed for the teacher and in the activities suggested for children, this fails to show up in practice; guidance as to

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TABLE I

Art Education Information on the Five Kindergarten Programs

Programs #1 #2 #3 #4 #5

uw Perceptual A readiness Perceptual Education for Perceptual motor- >

c learning program skills reality skills program F- w <

- I Major: language Major: math Major: math Major: humani- Major: motor c a_ arts ties skills

n w -Minor: social Minor: language Minor: language Minor: language Minor: none O o studies, math, arts, motor arts, motor arts, social 7 X science, motor skills skills studies, math,

E skills, humani- science, motor ties skills

Clay Crayons Crayons Cardboard Clay < Crayon Felt pen or Pencils Clay Crayons

D Markers markers Magazines to Crayon Chalk (for chalk j Paint Paint cut Paint board)

Paper Paper Markers Paper Different media H Paste Paper bags Paste Paste forexperiment- < Various Paste Sand ing

materials Scrap wood Stitchery Markers Wood Stitchery media Pencils

media Wire Paper shapes

H Color Color Color Color Color z Design Position Background/ Design Figure ground w H Point and Sequence foreground Motion relationship Z line Shape Directional Shape Sequence e Shape Size relationship Size Shape

Size Texture Position Texture Texture c Whole/parts Sequence Whole/parts < Shape

Size

w Name/label Name/label Name/label Name/label Name/label Listen Listen Listen Language as it Listen

Z Answer teacher's Answer teacher's Answer teacher's is communi- Describe what is w F- questions questions questions cated and com- in the picture w a. Talk about Name pictures Follow prehended Exchange ideas 2 Develop Explain what he directions Follow Organize 0 O) vocabulary is making Use new words Express their thoughts and

Interpret Show his ideas about present them wm C pictures pictureto tell art and nature verbally > : his story forms 0> w Identify, Identify, Identify, Identify, Identify, find m ) point out point out point out point out Match, sort,

W Match, sort, Match, sort, Discriminate, Discriminate, discriminate 5 ? discriminate discriminate match match Classify

u) w Classify, Classify Classify Classify, Visual memory tj categorize Visual memory Attend to categorize Note details a Track Note detail details Note detail Differentiate

Reproduce or Reproduce Reproduce Arrange embedded O do as directed Reproduce figures

Illustrate idea Individual Track, trace, go D Express idea expression thru maze _ Explore aesthe- Reproduce

~~~~~~~~> ~~tic form Complete

Illustrated Pictures Plastic blocks Prints of art Workbooks of w color cards Flash cards with color works in b/w: mazes

(o Plastic shapes Plastic blocks surfaces Architecture designs <_ Plastic Form boards Shape surfaces Art in cont. figures

<j < templates and shapes Puzzles with living Matching cards H - Illustrations Plastic headed animal Ceramics Dittos < z on puzzles hand puppet pictures Folkcraft

W 9"by12" prints Tracing Surfaces tell- Graphics D of paintings in pads ing stories Painting o > color in visually Sculpture > a: realism style Work sheets Spirit masters

CL Pupil activity Transparencies book

how to present those "interrelated functions" is lacking. In Program #5, shape is seen as a means or vehicle by which to help children to develop the ability to discriminate visually, to match and to categorize as basic for future learning. Is it possible that kindergarten children are considered too immature to view shape as an in- tegral part of their own visual expression? How could the Program #5 designers fail to perceive that art was involved in this area of perceptual motor-skills?

If one examines the visual competen- cy sub-goals under the programs, one could assume that most of the effort is introductory, that is, only preparatory to such higher level goals as individual expression or exploration of aesthetic form. In this connection, it would be useful also to examine verbal com- petency sub-goals under the programs. Verbally, children are ex- pected to name and label, for example, shapes. Visually, they are to learn to identify, match, sort, classify, and, in all programs except #4, to reproduce or copy a shape, shapes, and/or shape patterns. One should note that Program #4 includes the visual sub- goal, individual expression, as well as the verbal sub-goal, expressing ideas about art and nature forms and was the only program including prints of art forms as such. Programs #2, #3, and #5 seem to be arrested at the visual com- petency sub-goal, reproduce. In this situation, what would the verbal sub- goal of "show his picture and tell his story" in Program #3 mean? To con- clude, the programs seem weighted on the side of lower cognition, as bits of factual information ignoring con- ceptual, problem solving and affect learning.

Possibly, a clearer picture of art in the programs could be gained by focussing on four selected activities and the strategies suggested for teachers in working with children. In using one activity out of context, it is real ized that one may do damage to the whole of a sequence. On the other hand, parts are important since it is the parts which contribute to the pervasive quality of the whole. It is possible to savor something of the characteristic feel or tone of a program by dipping into representative parts of it. Follow- ing are descriptions of the four activities taken from among many that could have been chosen as exemplars. Each example is followed by a discus- sion relating it to art education.

Activity 1. In the activity called "matching shapes," the teacher is to prepare cut-out medium sized shapes (triangles, circles, rectangles, etc.), put them into a common pile and let each child select whichever shapes he would like to use to make a picture. The child is provided with crayons or markers with which to add details; as in

8 Art Education, April/May 1975



making a tree out of a rectangle for the trunk and a circle shape for the foliage, he might add his own ideas of a tree. The children are to be urged to freely experiment, and an atmosphere of fun in creating something new is to be encouraged. When the teacher feels that the children have had sufficient time to experiment, she holds up a shape and asks any child who has this shape in his picture to point it out.

In the example described, it can be seen that an abrupt shift away from an art activity has taken place. A potential- ly rich source of learning through and in art has been lost by narrowing atten- tion to a ready made shape. No attempt is made to expand and concretize the child's own idea of shape through his picture. Did he represent circles in his own work, like drawing fruit on the tree, the sun in the sky, the bird sitting on the branch? Did he select to use more than one circle shape? If so, how are they alike or different? What shapes, other than circles, did he use? What difference does the choice of shapes make in his composition?

Activity 2. Among the alternatives offered a teacher in a unit on the home and family, is that of encouraging the children to draw pictures of their own homes on a manila paper with crayons. The teacher is to "accept whatever they draw although it may be only a scrib- ble." She is to explain to the children that these drawings will be placed in their own folders and used later to make a booklet.

If the sole aim is to file the child's picture in his folder, what relationship does it have to the concepts of the home in the unit? If a reward is intended for the child by having his drawing placed in his folder to be used later to make a booklet, this activity is vague and meaningless to him due to his lack of temporal concepts. The reward should be in the immediate show of interest by the teacher and peers in what he has so sincerely done, thus helping him to observe and think about what he has created. Accepting what a child has drawn without helping him to move further is stagnation.

The second alternative offered the teacher in this unit is to encourage the children to draw pictures showing something the father does for the family. As each brings his picture to be placed in his folder, she should encourage him to talk about his drawing. His comments, it is added, are to be printed by her at the bottom of it.

In this instance, the clue is given to the child to verbalize, but what to have the child to observe and talk about is left to chance. Thus, another rich possibility, that of a beginning in the domain of art criticism, is left un- touched. Valuing and respecting the child artist's work is negated by the suggestion that the teacher write on the bottom of it.

Activity 3. In teaching the idea of sequence, the teacher is given a number of pictures which, when arranged in left to right order, tell more than one story, one of them being "a child and his or her day." Children are to be shown the first two of a set of three pictures in sequence and invited to supply an ending in their own drawings. When they have completed their picture, they are to bg shown the last picture of the original set.

The child's solution, his problem solving techniques in the use of media and his way of visually presenting his unique idea, go unnoticed. The im- plication is that his solution to the last of the pictorial sequence is of no im- portance. Is it any wonder that children cease to produce ideas on their own? Is it any wonder that they learn low es- timations regarding themselves and feel that what they do in art is of no consequence?

Activity 4. In a perceptual skills section, the teacher is told of a way to present to young children basic shapes provided in the package: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, etc. The teacher is to hold up each shape in turn, beginning with the circle, and try to elicit the name of the shape. If no child can name it, the children are to be told the name and asked to repeat it. After this she is to place the shape on a table in such a way as to create a picture: first the circle for the sun and then the triangle, square, rectangle, and parallelogram for the house. See Figure 1 for an idea of the picture she is to create from the shapes. This house the teacher built of shapes is to be dis-assembled, and each child, in turn, is to be asked to come up and replicate the house and name each shape as he puts it into place.

\O0

Figure 1.

First, the teacher erroneously fur- nishes the child the visual symbol model of a house implying that only one visual symbol for house exists. She also robs him of the real opportunity of learning through concreteness of motor perception, that is, creating his own paper shapes and using them to present his own ideas in his own way.

By way of summary, the following points can be made with regard to art education in the packaged program

materials surveyed: When suggestions were made that

the child be encouraged to represent his ideas in pictorial form, the activity closed with the completion of the picture. For meaningful learning to occur, according to Bruner,2 the child must gain new information which he can manipulate and transform with what he already knows and evaluate his actions to see if they met the task. This should entail not only the action but the thoughtful talking about this action, both in consideration of the product and from the child's own view of himself as one who created it and thus is responsible for the production. Art educators also recognize this need. In a study3 of the major articles in selected issues of the NAEA Journal, Art Educa- tion, it was found that over half encouraged a view which focusses on levels of meaning which go far deeper than mere manipulation of media and proliferation of processes/products. Suggested was a need for confronta- tion by the learner of himself in relation to his work, to gain insight into what Chalmers4 calls total art processes: the interaction and interdependence of the artist, his work, and those who view it.

Four of the programs had a language emphasis, but the manner in which language entered is not in harmony with current thought on the role language plays in cognitive development and how it evolves with young children. The activities under study tend to freeze the child at the sensori- motor level. According to Piaget,5 this limits the child to his immediate action while language permits thought and adaptation to range beyond present activity. Because language is a form of representation of objects and events, thought involving language is liberated from the limitations (to direct action) of sensori-motor functioning. Cognitive activity can proceed rapidly and with a range and speed not otherwise available. Thus, by creating his own visual symbols to represent his ideas, by observing, thinking about, and talking about what he has done, the child gains through art a valuable contribution to cognitive development.

According to Cazden,6 language skills are developed by talking with children about topics of mutual interest in the child's on-going work. Never, in the packaged programs studied, was the child encouraged to look at his drawing in terms of what he had done or was trying to do. Cazden's position was found to be reflected in the writings of the majority of art educators in the study referred to earlier. Verbal language is considered by them to be most useful in the context of viewing and reflecting on the art forms with the mediation of a teacher and peer group. In other words, the child is seen as one who learns by talking with others. Winick,7 in this study, cited the need of

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"building in," of reflection. Templeton8 suggests that "talk about . . is as ade- quate a way of demonstrating knowledge as making a work itself." Lanier9 insists that instruction focus on what happens to us when we react to art. He says, for this, we need to develop appropriate concepts and language in aesthetics for young peo- ple.

The aims of the packaged programs were, with the possible exception of Program #4, explicitly cognitive thus continuing the impression that a division exists between the cognitive and affective pursuits of young children. According to Piaget,10 there are no cognitive mechanisms without affective elements, and there is no affective state that has no cognitive element. Affectivity can accelerate, retard, or block cognitive development. The dichotomy between cognitive and affective functioning is also deplored by art educators, as revealed in the Journal study. If it is maintained that life is not compartmentalized, why should art experiences be seen as fragmented into knowing about and feeling for, or, into intellectualizing apart from imaging? Flannery"1 states that "to suppress aesthetic (my image) is to suppress concept development."

To answer the question which was asked at the beginning of this paper, "What is the place of art in such a situation?", the reply must necessarily be a negative one. Even Program #4 failed to give the teacher cues for art education. The packaged programs view art, if they view it at all, as a 10 Art Education, April/May 1975

supplementary or reenforcing kind of activity. The learning potentialities available in and through art are largely ignored. In actuality, the practices suggested would tend to develop in the young child, negative attitudes and real misunderstandings about the nature and value of art. There is, as a consequence, a clearly implied critical and urgent role for art educators.

First and foremost, art educators must hasten to concern themselves with art aspects of programs for young children beginning at least with the pre-school years. Judging from the materials reviewed, first grade is too late. There is a need to identify both valid and useful art education goals to guide teachers of this age child. There is a need to devise assessment procedures by which to evaluate their effectiveness and appropriateness for young children.

Second, closer communication needs to be established between art educators and teachers of young children. Art educators must take the initiative to gain a better understanding of the over-all goals and programs for five-year-olds. The classroom teacher must seek a better foundation in art education in order to be in a position to cope successfully in this area when re- quired to use such programmed activities as have been examined here. In- terestingly enough, this calls for the promotion of a mutually interactive kind of in-service teacher education.

Third, teacher education institutions need to take another look at their programs in the light of the downward

extension of schools. This includes preparation of the prospective art specialist and kindergarten teacher. In both of these more emphasis must be placed on how children learn in the early years in relation to the contribution art can make to this learning.

In conclusion, the literature on learning and art education reveals that we know far more than our practices would indicate.

Julia B. Schwartz is recently retired professor, Division of Communication and the Arts, The Florida State Univer- sity, Tallahassee, Florida; currently do- ing research, writing, and consulting in art education.

Nancy J. Douglas is associate professor of early childhood education, and project director, Florida Head Start State Training Office, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.

REFERENCES

1. State Adopted Textbooks in Florida: A Catalog 1974-75, Florida Department of Education, Tallahassee, Florida.

2. Jerome Bruner, Beyond the Infor- mation Given: Studies in the Psy- chology of Learning, New York: Nor- ton, 1973, p. 422.

3. The writers made an analysis of the major articles found in the NAEA Journal, Art Education, issues of January, 1974 through October, 1974, to identify urgencies in current art education as cited by authors of the articles. Tallahassee, Florida, 1974. Mimeo.

4. F. Graeme Chalmers, "A Cultural Foundation for Education in the Arts," Art Education, Reston, Va.: NAEA, January, 1974. p. 22.

5. J. Piaget and B. Inhelder, The Psy- chology of the Child, translated by Helen Weaver, New York: Basic Books, 1969.

6. Courtney Cazden, Language in Early Childhood Education, Washington, D.C.: NAEYC, 1974.

7. Mariann Pezzella Winick, "Values and the Child's Eye," Art Education, NAEA, March, 1974. p. 8.

8. David Templeton, "Coping: the Quiet Clamor," Art Education, NAEA, September, 1974, p. 23.

9. Vincent Lanier, "A Plague on All Your Houses: The Tragedy of Art Education," Art Education, NAEA, March, 1974, p. 15.

10. J. Piaget, "Les relations entre I'intelligence et I'affectivite dans le developement de I'enfant" in Bulletin de Psychologie. Volume 7, 1954, pp. 133-150.

11. Merle Flannery, "Images and Aesthetic Consciousness," Art Educa- tion, NAEA, March, 1974, p. 7.



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Where Is Art Education in Early Childhood Today?