Introductory paper on critical explorations in teaching art, science, and teacher education
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Introduction_Critical_Explorations_Cavicchi_et_al_09.pdf
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352.48 KB
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Author(s)
Cavicchi, Elizabeth
Chiu, Son-Mey
McDonnell, Fiona
Date Issued
2009
Journal
The New Educator
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Citation
Cavicchi, Elizabeth, Son-Mey Chiu, and Fiona McDonnell. "Introductory paper on critical explorations in teaching art, science, and teacher education." The New Educator 5, no. 3 (2009): 189-204. https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2009.10399574
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The authors of the three papers in this issue discuss and analyze the practice underlying “critical exploration,” a research pedagogy applied in common within their separate art, science, and teacher education classrooms. Eleanor Duckworth developed critical exploration as a method of teaching by involving students so actively and reflectively with a subject that they have “wonderful ideas” that arise from their own questioning. Teachers who encourage critical exploration support their students in encountering complex materials, experiencing confusion, considering multiple possibilities, and constructing new understandings. Teachers refrain from providing answers, or even implying that there is an acceptable answer or technique, and instead facilitate the personal process of development that Jean Piaget, Bärbel Inhelder, and others documented and analyzed. Applying Piaget's findings requires teachers to sustain what David Hawkins described as “triangular relationships” of trust and respect among teacher, learners, and subject matter. The three classroom studies that follow narrate these exploratory qualities in the contexts of middle school girls learning Chinese brush painting, undergraduates investigating mirrors, and teacher education students exploring seeds, pendulums, and the moon. In teaching art and science via critical exploration, curiosity and a sense of beauty reinforce one another, and open a window into the processes of—and connections between—art and science.
MIT Department
Edgerton Center (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2009.10399574
