The "new" DBAE.

Recently the fifth grade students in an elementary art classroom in a discipline-based art education, "DBAE school" were discussing Caravaggio's The Cardsharps with their teacher. She began by asking "What is the main idea?" A student quickly responded, "It's about people playing cards." Knowing there was a deeper meaning she hoped her students would realize, she led them through a study of the painting asking them to describe all that they could see. As they added to the list of what was visually evident, the teacher continued pushing and probing and asking for greater detail and elaboration. Finally, she asked again "What do you think the meaning is?" This time a student said, "Be careful." And another one added, "Watch out for the people you hang around with." As her students elaborated on this theme, she asked them, "When you first looked, did you see all that?!" Her point had been effectively made.

Artists at Work

In the art classes in this elementary school the students write art criticism seeking to describe and interpret the meaning of works of art, expressive poetry based on works of art, self-evaluations of their own artwork, and research papers on artists or art periods. They create visual timelines, computer-based art, and computer-based slide shows. They often collaborate in small groups, discussing and creating art. Their work is prominently displayed in the classrooms, hallways, offices, and display cases of their school. The artwork is accompanied by student writing, descriptive labels, and reproductions of artists' works related to the students' works.

Digital Portfolios

All students have their own floppy disk on which they save both their art and writing. Their computer-based portfolios can easily travel with them from grade to grade. A majority of the teachers have attended a summer institute to learn about discipline-based art education and the art teacher and classroom teachers work closely together to build an art program that is carefully integrated with the grade level curricula. With the instructional leadership of their principal, it is this collaborative aspect of the school's art program that truly earns them the label of a "DBAE school."

DBAE Programs Nationwide

During the past twelve years I have visited schools and observed in classrooms in many districts across the country as a program evaluator for the Getty Education Institute for the Arts. My primary focus has been on evaluating the implementation of discipline-based art education programs by art specialists and classroom teachers, most of whom had previously attended a Getty-sponsored summer institute to learn about DBAE. These institutes have been held in widespread locations, from Los Angeles to Tallahassee, Omaha to Cincinnati, and Dallas to Kutztown, PA (to list a few). I have worked with numerous other educational evaluators during this time, most recently with Dr. Brent Wilson, Chair of the Art Education Department at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Wilson has written a book, The Quiet Evolution (1997), that describes in great detail the development and current practices in DBAE, some of which I will discuss here.

Early Approaches to DBAE

In the early 1980s eighteen school districts in Los Angeles county participated in a research and development effort, funded by the Getty Center for Education in the Arts (now named the Getty Education Institute for the Arts), to explore means for implementing discipline-based art education in their schools. Most of the teachers involved with the first Getty summer institute were classroom teachers, because there were virtually no art specialists on the elementary level in the participating districts.

The teachers relied primarily on the two existing curricula that offered a discipline-based approach to teaching art: Discover Art and the SWRL Elementary Art Program. They also used a strategy for talking about art, called "aesthetic scanning," that was developed by Dr. Harry Broudy, professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois. Generally they would tell their students a little about the artist or culture they were studying, discuss the sensory and formal qualities of a pertinent work of art, and assign a related art making activity. After a year or two of successful experience with their curriculum, teachers commonly began to elaborate, adapt, extend, and improve upon the written instructional plans. One would often see student art "in the style of" a particular artist. Many teachers also began to explore ways they could integrate their art lessons with other parts of their grade level curriculum.

Moving into the Future

Since those early days, the theory and practice of DBAE have been continually evolving. The "cutting edge" practices of DBAE teachers today bear similarities to the old DBAE only in their broad outlines. The degree of refinement and advance is remarkable. Basic definitions, teaming goals, and classroom applications of the four foundational disciplines (studio art, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics) have evolved and shifted so much that a person who learned about DBAE just five years ago would most likely need a "refresher"or "renewal" experience now to become up-to-date.

On occasion, I visit a teacher who declares "I have always taught DBAE!" But their conception of DBAE may be limited to teaching about the elements and principles of design, doing aesthetic scanning, and using slides or reproductions to simply illustrate what a project should look like, to provide examples of a style or technique, or to present what type of art can be associated with a particular culture. "Art in the dark," lecturing or telling students everything they need to know about an artist or historical time or place, creating art "in the style of," rotely following the steps of description, analysis, interpretation and evaluation--all of these practices are becoming "old hat" and no longer considered the most effective strategies in DBAE.

New Approaches in DBAE

The newest ideas in teaching DBAE place a high premium on discovery, interpretation and expression of meaning, hands-on and interactive inquiry in each of the art disciplines, integration of the four disciplines, interdisciplinary teaching, and new means of assessing and reporting student learning. Many creative ideas and strategies have been developed by teachers who have taken the theory and content they have learned during summer institutes back to the classroom and explored ways to make it "work" with their students. They have greatly expanded the selection of artists and works of art beyond "dead, white, European, males" to include contemporary art, folk art, "outsider" art, women artists, minority artists, photography, installations, art from many other cultures, and so on. In developing units of study, they focus on the thematic content of the art (choosing broad themes such as humans' relations to nature, to the built environment, to self, to each other, to a higher being, etc.) as a way of organizing and expanding the relevance of learning in and through the arts. By using a thematic approach they are able to find meaningful relationships between art and many other areas of the curriculum, particularly in language arts and social studies. Commercially published curricula are used primarily as a resource rather than the foundation of a DBAE program.

Webbing a Work of Art

Thematic Webbing: In a recent DBAE seminar for educators I observed elementary teachers and art specialists working together "webbing" a work of art. Under the guidance of an art historian they studied the work of two contemporary artists, learning about their backgrounds and modes of working, interpreting the meaning of several works, and comparing their work to earlier artists. In the process they were actively learning how art history and art criticism can be integrated.

Creating a Sense of Direction

The participants then broke into eight grade level groups to work for half an hour on "webbing." Each group selected an artist, a work of art and an appropriate theme, and related that work to other parts of their grade level's curriculum. A useful graphic organizer was provided. Five of the groups selected Lorna Simpson's work, with themes such as spiritual connections, displacement, justice, personal identity, and the changing faces of women. The third grade group, for example, developed a unit of study dealing with ideas concerning justice as suggested by Simpson's photographic work, The Water Bearer. They planned for their students to study related photographs, to create pinhole cameras, to write about their own photographs, to learn about symbols of justice and the court system in their community, to study about Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr., and to read the work of Langston Hughes. These "webs" were broad roadmaps that quickly created a sense of direction, helping teachers to readily understand how themes and concepts contained within works of art could become organizers and inspiration for their entire curriculum.

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An Integrated Approach

In a fifth grade classroom in California I observed part of a unit of study on John James Audubon and his work. This lesson was integrated with the fifth grade curriculum on American history. The teacher asked her students questions such as:

"What was Audubon trying to get across in these prints?"

"Was Audubon an artist or a scientist? This is a debate. Give us the reasons for your answer."

"Was it all right that he killed birds to study them?"

These were challenging questions and the students' responses were considered and thoughtful. In their discussion the following ideas were raised: In addition to "teaching" about the nation's birds and flora, Audubon was attempting to symbolize our country's abundance and richness thus contributing to the development of national pride and unity. He depicted birds working together, helping each other, and plants full of fruit in bright and beautiful colors. The students understood that Audubon possessed the skills and attitude of both a scientist and an artist. They discussed his attention to detail, his use of space in his compositions, his skill in realistic representation, his need to create, and his love for the environment.

In order for them: to learn more about Audubon's personal history the teacher distributed index cards with printed biographical information to each small group. After a short period of silent reading and quiet discussion the groups selected one person to report to the class, in his or her own words, about some aspect of Audubon's life. In presenting the studio activity that followed, drawing taxidermic birds that she borrowed from the nearby university's biology lab, the teacher was very clear in specifying the objectives for the project, both verbally and in writing on the chalkboard.

This lesson represented a wonderful mix of active learning, discussion and expression of meaning, integration of the four DBAE disciplines, and integration with knowledge from other areas of the curriculum.

Breaking Old Habits

These teachers have moved beyond the "old habits" of scanning and creating art "in the style of" some particular artist, with little understanding of the meaning, intent, or social and historical influences inherent in the artists' work. They are discovering and sharing new inquiry-based approaches to teaching art history, art criticism, and aesthetics. They are incorporating much more writing in their art teaching and involving students in assessment, self-assessment and reporting activities based on guided discussions of their ideas, objectives, and criteria. While still teaching about media, techniques, and the elements and principles of design, these concerns are no longer the primary organizers for their lessons and art curriculum. They are not the principal goals of learning in art. Rather, comprehensive study of works of art and the expression of meaning are the core.

Issues to be Resolved

Despite these exciting developments there remain issues that require scrutiny and creative resolution. As most art teachers know, the integration of art with other curriculum areas requires a careful balancing act to avoid the diminishment of art content. Much more attention needs to be given to the possibilities and roadblocks to collaboration of classroom teachers, other subject teachers, and art teachers. There are issues surrounding available time, scheduling, goals, and the potential contributions each can make.

As teachers have moved away from the commercially available curricula to create their own instructional plans and materials, less attention has been devoted to maintaining a K-12 scope and sequence in art. Curriculum and assessment in DBAE are two major areas that continue to require research and development. The progress and accomplishments of the last dozen years should provide a strong foundation for the continued evolution of DBAE.

Resource

Wilson, B., The Quiet Evolution: Changing the Face of Arts Education. Los Angeles: Getty Trust Publications, 1997.

Blanche Rubin is a program evaluator for the Getty Education Institute for the Arts in Los Angeles, California.