In this research, I explore the potential of a material-led, embodied pedagogical approach to cultivate diverse modes of thinking, knowing and becoming within a pre-GCSE curriculum. Drawing from my experiences as both an artist and educator, I acknowledge the transformative power inherent in recognising the agency of all forms of matter, whether…

The purpose of this article is to explore integrating nontraditional classroom art materials and allowing students to make art for nonart spaces. Art programs must stimulate creativity, innovation, and imagination; provide tools the students can use; identify a context the students can experiment within (Chang, 2015; Gude, 2010); and offer the…

On completing a digital methods course, one student told his teacher (the author) he did not know what to make of the class, and it had been a strange experience. This article reports on the curriculum that precipitated this and similar responses from preservice teachers and art students, conversations sparked by the incongruity of crossing…

In this article, I share how SQUAD Art Studio functions as an alternative, community-based, multisite Saturday art lab school for negotiating theory and practice with preservice art educators. SQUAD Art Studio educators' work confronts developmentalist images of children and preconceptions about young children and digital media. We revalue images…

The primary purpose of this paper is to identify the level of interest and knowledge about fine art materials (in selected works of art) that can influence pre-service primary school, chemistry, and fine art teachers' implementation of this content into their teaching. This knowledge can help them be aware of how a specific fine art material can…

This paper is based video data from a project called SALTMusic, for young children diagnosed as having "language delay." The interdisciplinary action-research project was co-delivered by speech and language therapists and early childhood arts practitioners, with children and their parents. Addressing a concern that children's lack of…

Objects of material culture have meaning. American flags, worktables, bulletin boards, interactive whiteboards, and large white-faced clocks signify "classroom" while color wheels, cupboards, cabinets, sinks, drawing supplies, and that particular scent that lingers after years of exposure to painting materials even more specifically…

Visual art teachers have often been the producers and directors of their own curricula, turning to various resources and objectives (local, state, and national) to form their own sets of standards. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have provided new opportunities to integrate the arts into content-based curricula. The author, a classroom art…

Teaching artists often find themselves working in schools and communities that are new to them, whether these are situations close to home or farther afield. This issue of Four Questions highlights teaching artists who travel extensively as part of their teaching and artistic practices and bring their expertise, energy, and creativity to…

There is a wonderful community of art educators connecting a once-isolated profession through blogging. Art educators around the world are sharing ideas and communicating with their peers through this amazing resource. In this article, the author describes the bottle cap mural at Tulip Grove Elementary School which was inspired by this exchange of…

In February 2010, the author arrived in the city of Sofia, Bulgaria, to teach mural painting at the National Academy of Art for his five-month Fulbright U.S. Scholarship Program lecturing award. He targeted Bulgaria as his host country in his 2009-2010 Fulbright U.S. Scholarship Program application because of its rich mural painting culture. He…

The last two sections (EJ1039315 and EJ1039319) presented stories about specific moments or lessons. Also, situations infused with complexity where the writers had to toggle back and forth between providing the larger context and the details that support readers' understanding of that big picture were presented. In this section each story is…

The research purpose was to investigate kindergarten parents' selection of after-school art education settings in Taiwan. A review of the literature and interviews with parents were conducted to identify several possible factors that would impact on parents' selection of after-school art education settings for their children. Then, the researcher…

Last spring, students from several North Carolina middle schools were invited to participate in the annual Celebrate the Arts festival in Columbus Country. Larry Hewett, a local art teacher, had been selected to instruct the middle-school students. Larry's River Rock Circles project was made as the starting point for the Celebrate the Arts…

Asperger Syndrome (AS) and autism are two pervasive developmental disorders of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Individuals with AS may have exceptional speech and language abilities and difficulty establishing friendships with peers. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states that all American children have the right to…