Saturday, May 15, 2010

Self-Direction

Independent thought, and self-direction are essential to the formulation of unique ideas in solving problems – that is, opportunities for students to take charge of their artistic learning. Pro-active education requires students to make perceptual shifts from being the object of knowledge to the source of knowledge and from being authority-dependent to being active learners and even teachers. This prepares students for the real world where initiation is required and initiative requires creative and critical problem solving.
Other real world learning skills:
· Efficient use of production time in class.
· Breaking the shackles of the traditional “Learning to draw” paradigm and adopting the premise of “Drawing to learn”. This signifies that although every student may not become a professional artist or designer, some artistic concepts and principles of the visual arts can be transferred to other disciplines even though they may appear so different and far removed from art itself – disciplines such as engineering, medicine, accountability, writing, etc.
· Planning future projects outside of the classroom. Students need to think in advance about what art projects they want to work on. This planning needs to be done outside the classroom so they can maximize their productivity inside the classroom.
· The visual arts studio compels each student to negotiate with the instructor as to the feasibility of his or her ideas (practical, economical, safety, responsible, age-appropriate, challenging vs. sluggish or dormant).
· The world we live in requires persons to choose among many alternatives. When we purchase a car today, we can choose from a wide range of models, colors, accessories, upholstery (leather, cloth, vinyl, etc.)
· The value and limitation of resources – students need to consider how much paint or canvas they use so they are not wasteful. They learn that the world does not have limitless resources therefore each person is accountable for how much material they use.

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