Educational Research and Effective Art Teaching

design. Explaining this as a function of the relative complexity of the art field being judged, Christensen did not compare the relative achievement of individuals on different sections of his test. Because the McAdory Art Test (21) was constructed around three types of art elements?Form, Notan4, and Color?Siceloff (25) was able to investigate coefficients of correlation among these three types of subject matter, and found that "with an infinitely large number of plates, we may expect the median correla tion of Form with Notan to be .72, that of Form with Color to be .75, and that of Notan with Color to be .77." These coefficients indicate that the judgment of Form, Notan, and Color?common aspects of all art objects ?are closely related. Another method of investigating the spe cificity of art judgment is to compare the performance of individuals on different art judgment tests. Table III shows the results of several such studies. Thirty-eight coeffi cients of correlation, reported in Table III, range from ?. 17 to .68, with a median of .33. These data suggest that these ten tests of art judgment measure abilities not highly related, from which we may infer that there is no single factor of "art judgment." Interpreting and applying these findings, the evidence indicates: First, that art judg ment is not a single unitary ability. Rather it seems to be a function of the field of art being judged. This confirms such observa tions as the fact that a good judge of paint ing may not necessarily be a good judge of architecture, and places serious doubt on the existence of a general factor of art judgment. Second, if there does not seem to be a gen eral factor of art judgment, many art teach ing practices are in question. It would seem that teaching should be closely related to the type of activities which it is intended to in fluence. We may well question how much value a study of abstract design has as an aid to judging sculpture or houses. We may question the typical practice of studying ancient art as the sole or principal basis for judging contemporary art expressions. Third, many careful studies of the art activities of children and adults of today need to be made as one basis for curriculum building. As long 4 Dark and light pattern. as we assume that the ability to evaluate art objects is general and operates freely in all fields of art, the range and type of experi ences in the school program do not matter a great deal, provided they are vital to the pupils. If, however, the ability to judge painting is not closely related to the ability to judge architecture, to use one example, it becomes necessary to study specifically each art field in which we expect to develop competent judgment. Course Content and Experiences How shall we determine what course con tent and experiences will be most useful to the general student? Can we depend on the student to make wise choices? Of what im portance is course content? Will one type be as useful as another? Differences of opinion on this issue often divide educators into two camps. Some emphasize the value of "vital experiences" whether they be in the field of painting, pot tery, or dress design. They claim that the one essential is student interest, and that with student interest it matters little what course content is chosen. They seek to lead the student from one experience to another, giving greater heed to the intensity and vividness of the activity than to the direc tion in which it is leading. All fields of art as such are equal in importance, if they hold possibilities for arousing student interest. If one field of art does not evoke interest, it finds small place in a program. Other educators, keeping an eye to the future, as well as on the present and past, believe that some activities are more signifi cant than others, that some fields of art are more important because they develop skills, knowledge, and attitudes, not only stimulat ing to children but useful in adult life. If art judgment is specifically related to the type of art object being judged, we must decide between (i) depending on transfer or gen eralization to occur, or (2) selecting course activities closely related to those occurring in everyday life. If we choose to follow the latter course, it is necessary to know in some detail what such activities are. Two recent investigations are conducting studies of child, adolescent, and adult needs and interests as a basis for curriculum build ing. The Owatonna Art Education Project (38), organized to develop a functional art This content downloaded from 207.46.13.172 on Fri, 07 Oct 2016 06:07:17 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms September, ig4o] RESEARCH AND EFFECTIVE ART TEACHING 17

Field of study: Education