Making meaning: Children's art making as a way of learning

Children thrive when they participate in the arts, yet the arts are in a dismal state in our schools today. Many schools in the U.S. are turning "Back to Basics," eliminating the arts from the curriculum and classrooms. The disappearance of the arts is most notable in low-performing schools, affecting children who have the least access to resources for the arts outside of school. Yet, these are also the children in disadvantaged social circumstances, who need the capacity to imagine new possibilities for their lives, to think outside of the box and come up with innovative solutions to problems. They need to develop vision and the ability to realize their vision in order to transform the world they live in. These are exactly the ways of thinking that are discouraged in a basic skills curriculum, but are central to the artist's creative process.;This dissertation poses questions about children's art making as a way of learning. By that I mean that I am looking at art making as a way of exploring ideas, discovering new possibilities, making meaning, and transforming yourself and your world. This definition comes from sociocultural learning theory, which posits learning as participation in social and cultural activity. My concern is with how children become adults who are not only consumers of existing culture, but who see themselves as full participants, creating their cultural environment and the social conditions in which they live.;This study pursued two integrated lines of inquiry: children's perceptions of and responses to art making activity, and the thinking and learning that occurs in children's art making. To do this, I framed the study with theory that explains art making as a way of learning, and then used ethnographic methods in order to look at art making from the children's perspective. I spent a year in an elementary school art room, observing children as they made art and talking to them about their art making. In observing, I looked at how they interacted with each other as they made art, how they used materials, and how they responded to art instruction. In interviews, I talked to them about their art making activities both in and out of school, had them to talk about their art products, and asked them to think-aloud as they created art.;In this study, art making emerged as a way of learning in two important ways. First, children were found to be engaging in ways of thinking that are needed when learning is a process of creating new knowledge, finding innovative solutions to problems, and continuing to learn beyond the classroom. Second, art making was an activity in which children negotiated between the culture of school and the adult art world, and in the process developed a practice in which they acted as full participants. In the art room, they shaped the art making practice and transformed it into an activity that was both meaningful and a way for them to make meaning.