INTERACTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF A COGNITIVE CURRICULUM FOR VISUAL ART EXPERIENCE BASED ON THE DYNAMIC PROCESS OF EQUILIBRIUM
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to design a curriculum for visual art experience structured on a theory systematically developed for education. The Cognitive Model for Visual Art Experience Based on the Dynamic Process of Equilibrium (Chichura & Stevens, 1980). The cognitive curriculum design utilized an interactive mode, which involved the participation of art teachers and the researchers in the continuous process of providing feedback, analysis, evaluation, and revision of the objectives and the instructional plan. The Piagetian theory of cognitive stages provided the rationale for the development aspects of visual art experience as applied to the cognitive curriculum. The concrete operational stage was determined to be the most favorable level for the introduction of structured art tasks. At this stage, according to Piaget, the child is beginning to think logically and exhibit transformational concepts. The basic assumption underlying the study was that a cognitive curriculum for visual art experience structured on a theoretical model could develop the child's cognitive capacity through art tasks by providing encounters for interaction with the environment. The investigation was developed in two phases. In Phase I, the design stage, selected aspects of the cognitive curriculum in spatial relationships were formulated for grade three during 11 interactive training sessions. The subjects for this phase of the study were six elementary art teachers employed in Nassau County, New York State. The art teachers were affiliated with the Nassau County Elementary Art Teachers Organization. In Phase II, the implementation of the curriculum, the effectiveness of the cognitive curriculum in spatial relationships was assessed over five weeks through a quasi-experimental, multiple-group, multiple-intervention time-series design. The subjects participating in Phase II were two intact art classes of third-grade students in the same public elementary school. Students in Group I received two spatial relationships treatments in sky/ground and size relationships. Students in Group II received two nonsystematic art treatments. Each of the treatments was completed in 20-minute time modules. Five parallel forms of the same instrument, designed by the investigators, were used to measure cognitive development through drawing. The first two parallel forms of the instrument obtained baseline and present data. Parallel form 3 was a formative evaluation, administered after the first set of treatments. Parallel form 4 served as a posttest after the second set of treatments. Parallel form 5, the second posttest, was administered to demonstrate the stability of the first posttest over time. As a result of the time-series implementation it was found that the students subjected to the cognitive curriculum in spatial relationships performed better on the parallel forms of the instrument, over time, as determined by their graphed performance, than the students subjected to the nonsystematic art treatments. The interactive mode of curriculum development was found to be an effective means for the development of a cognitive curriculum in spatial relationships. The findings regarding the application of theory to curriculum development indicated that a curriculum can be designed using point-by-point relationships of the theory to the curriculum, provided the theory is logically and sequentially structured.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching
Recommended Citation
CHICHURA, DIANE B, "INTERACTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF A COGNITIVE CURRICULUM FOR VISUAL ART EXPERIENCE BASED ON THE DYNAMIC PROCESS OF EQUILIBRIUM" (1980). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8020978.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8020978
