Dewey's philosophy of experience has aesthetic experience at its core as he melds artificial dualities between thinking and experiencing [Dewey, J. 1934. "Art as Experience." In "John Dewey the Later Works," 1925-1953, Vol. 10. 1988, edited by J. Boydston, 1-352. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press]. This deeply empirical approach underpins a form of art education research, which draws on participant observational film-making in social anthropology. Pedagogy for developing a video camera technique enables primary school children (10 to 11 years old) to use cameras in an observational style. Despite methodological dissonances in this approach, observational film-making offers an empirical means to ensure that vital qualities in children's experience making art such as the aesthetic and material are not lost through the scientificity of education research.