Teaching visual culture in the context of visual arts teacher education

ABSTRACT

This article addresses what kind of learning-teaching process should be applied to teach visual culture teaching in the Special Teaching Methods II course given as part of the visual arts teacher education program in Turkey. The study was designed with action research which is, one of the qualitative research methods using a two-step process. The first step was achieved with the participation of 24 preservice art teachers in a state university. In the second step, four volunteers were selected from among the participants of the first step and their process of implementing lesson plans in a visual arts course of a secondary school was examined. Data were obtained from observations, document analysis, and interviews which were then analyzed inductively. This paper focuses on four themes that emerged from the analysis of the data: realize, practice, relate and experience. In the study, it was concluded that preservice teachers develop awareness of how visual culture shapes meaning, shows willingness to raise awareness of society by drawing attention to social problems in their artistic work, and that their lesson plans effectively reflect their achievements regarding visual culture studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• visual culture
• visual art education
• experiential learning

Acknowledgments

This article was produced from a doctoral thesis (Saribas, 2019) named ‘Teaching Visual Culture in the Context of Visual Arts Teacher Education.’ We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their valuable comments and suggestions for revising and improving our manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sevcan Saribas

Sevcan Saribas completed her PhD in Fine Arts Education Department at Faculty of Education Sciences, Anadolu University in 2019 and she has been working as a full-time research assistant in the same department. Her research interests include visual culture in teaching program, STEAM education, multiculturalism and other interdisciplinary contemporary art education practices. Contact address: Anadolu University Faculty of Education department of fine arts education Eskişehir-26000, Turkey. E-mail: [email protected]

Necla Coskun

Necla Coskun is a Professor of Art Education at the Department of Fine Arts Education in the Faculty of Education at the Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey. Her theoretical academic studies have focused on visual culture, A/r/tography studies in art education and teacher education. Contact address: Anadolu University Faculty of Education department of fine arts education Eskişehir-26000, Turkey. E-mail: [email protected]

Nuray Mamur

Nuray Mamur is an Associate Professor of Art Education at the Department of Fine Arts Education in the Faculty of Education at the Pamukkale University in Denizli, Turkey. Her theoretical academic studies have focused on teacher education, visual culture, assessment and evaluation in art education and qualitative research methodology. Contact address: Pamukkale University Faculty of Education department of fine arts education Denizli-20000, Turkey. E-mail: [email protected]