Developing instructional resources from selected recycled materials for art education

Instructional resources are known to play important roles in arousing learners’ thoughts, feelings, and interests and motivating them to develop high interest in subject matter, and improving teachers’ competencies in lesson delivery towards achievement of lesson objectives. In Ghana, Art teachers are expected to use instructional resources in the classroom but they are not provided with materials to create the needed resources. Some of the Art teachers also lack the skills to improvise so the teachers teach their lessons without practical and interactive instructional resources. This study therefore focused on exploring the possibility of recycling waste papers, plastics and fabrics into simple instructional resources that would facilitate the teaching of topics within the Creative Art, Basic Design and Technology (BDT), and General Knowledge in Art (GKA) curricula for Primary, Junior and Senior High Schools in Ghana. The resources that were developed through the exploration were tested in Primary, Junior and Senior High Schools by selected class teachers to ascertain how effective the developed resources can aid learners to understand lessons taught in those topics. The outcome of lessons that were taught with the developed instructional resources were compared with lessons in which the teachers used no instructional resources. To promote recycling and sustain classroom use of instructional resources, selected Art Education students, practising Art teachers and College of Education students were trained to acquire the relevant skills in recycling waste materials to create instructional resources for teaching Art at the various educational levels. A teaching guide that can be used to train practising Art teachers and College of Education students in Ghana’s Colleges of Education on practical ways to recycle and create instructional resources for teaching Art was developed. Three research questions that guided the study were: 1 a) How can paper, plastic and fabric wastes be used to develop instructional resources for teaching Art? 1 b) How will the developed instructional resources impact on teaching and learning of Art? 2) How can Art Education students, practising Art teachers and College of Education students acquire the skills for developing instructional resources from waste materials for teaching Art? 3) What are the requisites for designing an appropriate teaching guide on recycling to create instructional resources for teaching Art from waste materials? The study adopted qualitative enquiry, exploratory, quasi-experimental, participatory action and descriptive research methods with participant observation and interviews to gather the required data. The population studied consisted of a purposive and convenience sample of 17 Art Education students in KNUST, 25 practising Art teachers in Kumasi (Primary = 6, JHS =14, SHS = 5) and 100 Art students from Offinso College of Education in the Ashanti Region. The exploration proved that paper, fabric and plastic waste materials can be safely recycled to create appropriate instructional resources for teaching topics under Creative Art, Basic Design and Technology (Visual Art option) and General Knowledge in Art. Testing the developed instructional resources showed that when appropriate instructional resources are used for teaching and learning of Art, lessons become very practical, interactive, interesting and real to learners which helps them to achieve more in their academics as against teaching them without the use of instructional resources. From the training, it was deduced that the Art Education students, practising Art teachers and the College of Education students found it useful for them to be trained to recycle waste materials to create instructional resources to support teaching and learning. The instructional plan that was used for the training sessions and the findings of the research, which informed the development of the teaching guide, offers opportunity for more practising Art teachers and College of Education students to be trained to recycle and create instructional resources for teaching and learning. The study recommends that waste materials should be explored and recycled by classroom teachers for effective teaching and learning of Art and other subjects at the Primary, Junior and Senior High Schools in Ghana.

Source: KNUST