Watching the Art Education Pendulum Swing.

Overview & Synopsis

A literature review of material from 1965 to the present that influenced the art education field, including publications outside of art education, is identified. "The Process of Education" by Jerome Bruner (1965) is discussed initially. An analysis of how the Pennsylvania State Seminar (1965) called for art educators to make an effort to move art education to higher levels of clarity and effectiveness is examined. Two papers in particular are emphasized "Curriculum Problems in Art Education" (Manuel Barkan) and "Concepts, Issues, and Problems in the Field of Curriculum" (Elliot Eisner). Barkan's paper led to the development of the Aesthetic Education Project at the Central MidWestern Regional Educational Laboratory (CEMREL). Eisner developed the Kettering Curriculum, a forerunner to the structured, sequential curriculum advocated by the discipline based art education approach (DBAE). The Getty Center for Education in the Arts was created in 1982 and an outline of the 'discipline-based' approach that they adopted is presented. Other publications that have been influential include Howard Gardner's work, E. D. Hirsch's "Cultural Literacy," and "Towards Civilization" by the National Endowment for the Arts. Recent publications that receive a more detailed analysis include Jerome Bruner's "Acts of Meaning" and Elliot Eisner's "The Enlightened Eye." Art educators have long asserted that art education involves higher order cognitive skills and it is time this is recognized. (KM)