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The effects of technology on early art development

Joan HanorUniversity of La Verne, 1950 Third Street, La Verne, CA 91750,USA

Abstract. For some time I have nurtured a curiosity regardingthe effects of technology on early art development. As myopportunities increased for observing and then influencing thelearning process, I found myself addicted to the excitement oftechnology, specifically in the area of art education. I can nowdraw on information gathered from three professional experi­ences: elementary school teacher (K-8l, project director of anEquity Project entitled "Encouraging Female Students inMath and Science through Art and Technology" and Artist inResidence with the San Bernardino Arts Foundation.

As in any project. the real measure of success is theaccomplishment of the students. Students' growth in the areasof art curriculum, use of related art vocabulary, choice ofmethods selected for completing a task, utilization of thinkingskills, application of art principles, and the increased produc­tivity of personal expression, is evidenced in their impressivecollection of art files: printed, on disk, and on video. It is myintent to share these files, along with related anecdotalrecords, and to detail some of the instructional processes thataccompany the use of technology in the classroom.

Keywords: art education, integrated curriculum, creativity.aesthetics, equity, visual literacy, media, higher­level thinking skills

Joan Hanor is Assistant Professor inthe Education Department at theUniversity of La Verne and has avaried educational background in art,technology, teacher education and el­ementary education. As Artist in Res­idence with the San BernardinoCounty Fine Arts Foundation, she as­sists classroom teachers in the imple­mentation of technology in the artcurriculum. She has taught GradesK-8 and served for 8 years as Tech­nology Trainer in Ontario-Montclair

School District. Recently wrote and implemented an AppleFoundation Equi ty Project, which has triggered her currentresearch on the effects of technology on early art develop­ment.

Education & Computing 7 (1991) 167-170Elsevier

Introduction

As teacher of young students, ages five throughtwelve, I have had the opportunity to observe theinfluences of art instruction on the developmentof self-concept, the acquisition of academic skills,and the growth of curiosity, creativity, and imagi­nation. Art provides the vehicle for exploring andgiving tangible form to students' ideas. How thoseideas are developed is influenced by the purpose­ful selection of educational tools. To help thelearner identify with feelings of success, we needtools that will provide motivation, assistance andchallenge. With this in mind, the teacher's ap­proach to art activities is critical. Many educa­tional decisions determine the degree of successwith which students will achieve basic mastery.Without the development of necessary art skills,children can be denied access to learning, under­standing, responding, and communicating acrossthe curriculum.

While only a small portion of our students wil1select some form of art for their chosen career,all students, throughout their life, will utilize theskills acquired in art experiences for interpretingvisual information, for determining choices, andfor developing their own criteria for effectivecommunication. All students, regardless of abil­ity, will benefit from opportunities to expandtheir imagination, to develop expressive commu­nicative skills and to develop aesthetic judgment.

Within this paper, I should like to report theobservations, experiences, and opportunitieswhich contributed to the realization of a vision oftechnology's role in the learning process, specifi­cally in art education.

Equity project

Drawing from personal educational experi­ences, I reflected on similarities 1 had experi­enced in art, math, and science. The processes inmy major field of art seemed to overlap withsimilar processes in the divergent areas of mathand science. Because of a commitment to arteducation, and because of an increasing suspicion

0167·9287/91/$03.50 © 1991 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

168 J. /lanor / Technology lind early art development

that technology would form a natural bridge tocurriculum integration, I helped develop a projectthat provided resources and training to a group ofelementary students and their teachers. In 1987we received funding and equipment to implementan Apple Foundation Equity Grant entitled "En­couraging Female Students in Math and ScienceThrough Art in Technology".

Project goals included the following:to entice students through a favored contentarea (art) to explore other content areas(math & science) that they previously may haveregarded as difficult, confusing or irrelevant tothemselves;to encourage the use of technology as a mediumfor discovery as well as for self expression;to help students gain the necessary skills,knowledge and attitudes that are mutual to theartistic, mathematical and scientific fields;to provide an arena for success that will en­courage students to apply these learnings intheir choice of career as well as in their per­sonallife.Central to this project was the philosophy that

the computer is a medium for exploration anddiscovery and will provide a rich palette of ele­ments with which students may develop a con­temporary sense of aesthetics. Integrating thecontent areas of math, science, and art enablesstudents to examine visual and spatial concepts indepth, from a variety of vantage points. It alsoprovides a vocabulary of form and a visual the­saurus from which students may construct theirown personal interpretations.

Scientific process

A common process, akin to the scientific proc­ess, pervaded the students' projects and investiga­tions: observing, making predictions, gatheringand analyzing data, forming hypotheses, record­ing and communicating findings, and formingjudgments for evaluations.

This process permeated all activities and pro­vided the structure of commonality that inte­grated math, science and art development.

Art skills framework

Using the model curriculum standards estab­lished by Ontario-Montclair School District andthe California State Visual and Performing Arts

Framework as a guide, we provided regular se­quential instruction in each of the four essentialelements: Aesthetic Perception, Creative Expres­sion, Historical! Cultural Heritage and AestheticValuing. A brief definition of each would include:- Aesthetic Perception: Developing an awareness

of the visual, tactile, and structural qualities inart, nature, events and objects.

- Creative Expression: Acquisition of artistic skillsand knowledge to enable communication ofexperiences. This includes recognition of theimportance of personal experiences and theirrelation to universal themes.

- Historical/Cultural Heritage: Appreciating di­versity of historical and cultural connectionsthrough the study of selected artworks andaccomplishments.

- Aesthetic Valuing: Using analysis and interpre­tive skills to make informed responses to theaesthetic qualities in art and to our surround­ings.

Developing knowledge of the technical tools

In our search for an art application softwarethat would be simple enough for kindergartners,and yet offer enough detail for the needs ofmiddle grade students, we began to use 816 Paintby Broderbund on the Appleiros, Dazzledrawand Computer Eyes on the Apple lie, and Mac­Paint and MacDraw on the Macintosh. Instruc­tional strategies include modelling as well as di­rect demonstration. Students were exposed toprofessionals who worked on a daily basis along­side them, using the same software, same hard­ware, to create professional documents.

While developing knowledge of the technicaltools, students experimented with the basic artelements of line, shape, space, color, texture andvalue. The software toolbox provided opportuni­ties for them to explore design concepts and touse related vocabulary.

Analysis of the works of famous artists rein­forced the principles of design: composition, bal­ance, center of interest, directional emphasis,variation, contrast, proportion, and rhythm.

Artist in residence

For the past year, I have been working asvisiting artist in classrooms through an Artist in

J. Hanor I Technology and early art development 169

Residence program with San Bernardino CountyArts Foundation. It is a matching funds grantprogram that provides to schools thirty hours ofinstruction in a specific art medium. I have workedwith students and teachers in Grades 3-8 toexplore school selected themes of optical illu­sions, objects in motion, and heroes in folk tales,literature and their personal lives. Hypermedia,video, and computer art have been used to de­velop and express their thoughts.

Because the students were exposed to themedium of computers as an art tool for just ashort time, their work reflected a spontaneity thatmight be anticipated under similar circumstanceswith any medium. However, if one were listeningto the conversations that were taking place amongthe students gathered around the computerscreen, one would hear terms and concepts beinganalyzed and discussed which were far more so­phisticated than were previously noted. "Zoom infor detail, flood fill background, cut, paste andenlarge, use symmetry, flip horizontal, adjustpalette, scroll down, change screen resolution,check default"-all relate to specific strategiesfor composing on screen.

As with the Equity project, instructionalstrategies included professional modelling, dem­onstrations, use of collaborative grouping at thecomputers, instruction in basic art elements,learning by discovery, class discussion, and classevaluation of projects.

Project goals consisted of:- Students will develop manipulative and organi­

zational skills in using visual arts media effec­tively to translate ideas, feelings, and values.

- Students will create, save to disk, and print anart file using selected software.

- Students will demonstrate increased aestheticawareness of visual and tactile qualities inworks of art, nature, events, and objects withinthe total environment.

Observations and conclusions

The computer has proved to be a challenging,versatile, and effective art medium, filled withstartling facts that jar the senses and excite themind. The discovery of color interpretation asROB versus the previously learned primary colorsof red, blue, yellow, comes as a challenge to the

most sophisticated learner. Within the realm ofcolor alone, there is much opportunity for learn­ing by discovery. The software Deluxe Paint II byElectonic Arts provides a palette of 4096 colorsthat allow the user to custom mix by adjustingHue, Saturation, and Value and by modifying theproportions of Red, Green, and Blue. A similarstudy for students, using traditional materials ofpaint, dyes or colors, would involve hours ofresearch and would lack the element of consis­tency for duplication.

While the computer itself does not assurecomplexity, it does facilitate the ability to includedetails. Images can be effortlesslymoved, rotated,duplicated, or enlarged. Mistakes can be easilyerased, changed, or altered to suit the artist.

How students choose to go about this task isreadily visible to an observer. As tools are se­lected and methods employed, the thinking proc­ess is displayed on screen. Students may exhibit apreference for inductive thinking by selectingsmall details in a composition and buildingout tocreate their design. Others may utilize a deduc­tive approach by analyzing the composition,blocking in an overall grid, and adding details.The zoom capacity will carry those choices downto individual pixels. Further decisions are maderegarding erasing or changingsections. Use of cutand paste, use of eraser tool, and use of brushwith background color are a few of the varietiesof way students go about this task.

This manifestation of the student's thinkingprovides direct input and may provide uniqueinsight for the teacher. Educational decisions re­garding appropriate future instruction for thisstudent may be developed from information gath­ered in this way. Glimpses may be gathered ofwhich students are risk takers, the adventurers,the visualizers; or which students rely more onthe concrete and may require templates for struc­turing their images.

The computer provides a variety of benefits interms of developing higher level thinking skills.As students occupy the driver's seat and experi­ence control of the medium, they are elevated toa position of power that is in contrast with previ­ous positions in which they were required torespond to stimuli programmed by others. Theybecome initiators of ideas rather than responders.And, as the Gulbenkian Report [4] indicates, thearts are not only for communicating ideas, they

170 1. Hanor / Technology and early art decelopment

are ways of having ideas. This is the crux ofsuccessful education; creating knowledge. Art in­deed influences an areas of the curriculum.

References

[1] R. Barnes, Teaching Art to Young Children 4-9 (UnwinHyman, London, 1987).

[2] M. Brookes, Drawing with Children (Tarcher, Los Angeles,CA,1986).

[3] E.P. Cohen and R. Gainer, Art: Another Language forLearning (Citation, New York, 1976).

[4] Gulbenkian Foundation, The Arts in Schools (CalhousteGulbenkian Foundation, London, 1982).

[5] J. Kappraff, Connections: the Geometric Bridge Be/weenArt lind Science (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1991).

[6] R.H. McKim, Experiences in Visual Thinking (Brooks/Cole, Monterey, CA, 1972).

[7] D. Thronburg, Exploring Logo Without a Computer (Ad­dison-Wesley, Menlo Park, CA, 1984).

Discussion

Joan Hanor's presentation, rather than follow­ing her printed paper, showed many excellentexamples of students' art using computers. DanielMillen asked about the time involved for childrento complete these examples. Joan indicated thatit varied from a couple of hours to all day long.However, she also mentioned that in her experi­ence, longer periods did not necessarily guaran­tee better success.

Margaret Niess commented that it appearedthat technology was not the only means of explor­ing an art concept; for example, the childrenconstructed real masks as well as designing facialtopologies on the computer. Did children find thetransition difficult? Joan commented that thehands-on activities were an integral part of thetask analysis-to go from a 2D to 3D mask. Thetransition varied from child to child; however, itis worth noting that teachers are achieving suc­cess in much shorter time frames now than twoyears ago; for example, children are now muchmore familiar with handling the mouse.

Dennis Harkins commented that Joan was anartist first and computer specialist second andthis had an obvious impact on her success withchildren's computer art. Joan replied that shehad been determined for a number of years that

artists should have access to this technology.Originally, she taught herself programming sothat she could do computer art and now she isdelighted that the tools exist to make the technol­ogy more accessible to artists.

Dennis Harkins asked if there was any prob­lem with keeping up with the changing software?Joan replied that teachers in her seminars usedto ask what software and equipment she wasusing, whereas now they ask what instructionalstrategies does she use to get that result.

Anton Knierzinger asked whether teacherscontinued her good work after she left the school?Yes, Joan replied, because the materials andequipment stay as a result of the grant. Oneschool is now going to offer 4 classes of "com­puter art" as a result of the grant.

Sandra Wills asked Joan and Ron Ragsdale tocomment on Joan's paper as an example of Ron'sdistinction between applying tools and using tools.Ron Hagsdale mentioned that he first saw it asnegative that the software she had used could notdraw exact high resolution diagonals and there­fore imposed a restriction on the artist, who hadto draw a different perspective than the one hewas trying to copy. However, in the end it waspositive because the student went beyond thenegative restriction. Perhaps this should be seenas an example that there is a need for the teacherto stand back and let students guide their ownlearning. Joan commented that students' thinkingis extremely transparent when using an art pro­gram; for example, the different ways there are ofdrawing a circle. Norma Dogger suggested thatour role as teachers is changing from telling anddictating to being a facilitator of learning.

Toni Downes noted that Joan's project leftstudents with skills, but wondered about the ele­mentary teachers' skills. For example, in sec­ondary schools there are usually art specialists,whereas in elementary schools the teacher is ageneralist. The elementary teacher may pick upthe technical skills offered by Joan, but do theypick up her skills in task analysis? Would theyrevert to the type of classroom that Ron Ragsdaledescribed after she had left the school? Joanreplied that there were many supplementary cur­riculum guides for visual and performing arts thatprovide model lessons and that listed supportingsoftware. Also, schools can go on to apply forfurther grants to get artists in residence.