The Teaching of Art Related to the Home Part 5

Pupils are more apt to provide such plants in their homes if they see examples of the real centerpieces at school. It is, therefore, worth while for a teacher to direct a cla.s.s in starting and caring for one or more types of them.

In one State a definite effort is made in planning home-economics departments to have the dining room open directly into corridors through which most of the pupils of the entire school pa.s.s at some time during the day. See figure 8, page 30.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 6.--A few pieces of unrelated ill.u.s.trative materials may be grouped successfully in bulletin-board s.p.a.ce]

This arrangement permits pupils to observe attractive as well as suitable arrangements of the dining room furnis.h.i.+ngs, and especially of the table. Such a plan should be effective in establis.h.i.+ng ideals of what is good and in raising standards in the homes of boys as well as of girls in the community.

A further contributing essential to stimulating interest in art is a teacher who exemplifies in her appearance the art she is teaching.

It is said that sometimes our most successful teaching is done at a time when the teacher is least conscious of it. The teacher of an art cla.s.s who appears in an ensemble of clothing which is unsuited to the occasion and in which the various parts are not in harmony with each other from the standpoint of color, of texture, or of decoration loses sight of one of her finest opportunities for influencing art practices of pupils and developing good taste in them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 7.--Sprouted sweetpotato produced this attractive centerpiece for the home table]

There is no more applicable situation for the old adage, "Practice what you preach," than in the teaching of art. One teacher was conducting a discussion on the choice of bowls and vases for flowers as a part of flower arrangement while behind her on the desk was a bottle into which a bunch of flowers had been jammed. Contrast this with the situation in which the teacher had worked out the arrangement of wild flowers and gra.s.ses as shown in Figure 1.

DISCUSSION OF METHOD IN THE TEACHING OF ART

In discussing the best methods of teaching art, Whitford[20] says:

As a practical subject art education calls for no exceptional treatment in regard to methods of instruction. The instruction should conform to those general educational principles that have been found to hold good in the teaching of other subjects. Without such conformity the best results can not be hoped for.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 8.--Gla.s.s-paneled doors open from the dining room directly into a main first-floor corridor in the high school at Stromsburg, Nebr.]

It is antic.i.p.ated that through the course in related art pupils will have gained an ability to choose more suitably those materials and articles of wearing apparel and of home furnis.h.i.+ng which involve color and design. It is through understanding certain fundamental principles of art and using them that the everyday art problems can be more adequately solved. The teacher is confronted with the question as to how to develop most successfully this understanding and ability. Shall she proceed from the stated principles to their application in solving problems or shall she start with the problems and so direct their solution that the important principles and generalizations are derived in the process. The present trend in education is toward the second procedure and in keeping with this trend, the elaboration of method in this section is confined to the so-called problem-solving method.

When pupils have an opportunity to formulate their own conclusions in solving problems and through the solution of many problems having an identical element find a generalization or principle that serves as a guide in other procedures, experience seems to indicate that they get not only a clearer conception of the principle but are able also to make greater subsequent use of it.

In their everyday experiences pupils are continually faced with the necessity for making selections, combinations, and arrangements which will be satisfying from the standpoint of color and design. Before they can select wisely they need some standards upon which to base their judgments and by which they can justify their decisions. Before they can make satisfying arrangements and combinations of material they need judgment skill in determining what to do. They also need principles or standards by which they can determine how to proceed. Finally, they need opportunity for practice so that they may become adept in a.s.sembling articles and materials into pleasing and harmonious groupings and arrangements.

The more experience pupils have in confronting and solving true-to-life problems under the guidance of the teacher, the greater is the probability that they will have acquired habits of thinking that will enable them to solve successfully the many problems that they are continually forced to meet in life.

It might be well to inquire at this point the meaning of the word problem as used in this bulletin. According to Strebel and Morehart[21]--

Probably there is no better definition of a problem than the condition which is spoken of by Doctor Kilpatrick as a "balked activity." This idea is general enough to include all sorts and phases of problems, practical and speculative, simple and difficult, natural and artificial, final and preliminary, empirical and scientific, and those of skill and information. It covers the conditions which exist when one does not know what to do either in whole or in part, and when one knows what to do but not how to do it, and when one knows what to do and how to do it but for lack of skill can not do it.

In teaching by the problem-solving method Professor Lancelot[22] makes use of three types of problems.

Through the first type, known as the _inductive problem_, the pupil is to determine certain causes or effects in the given situation. In determining these causes and effects, various details of information are needed but these do not remain as isolated and unrelated items. Out of the several facts is evolved a general law, a truth, or a principle.

For example, in developing pupil ability to understand and use the underlying principle of emphasis, the teacher may make use of such questions as:

Have you ever tried to watch a three-ring circus? Pupils are given an opportunity to relate their experiences.

Have you ever seen a store window that reminded you of a circus?

In which of the store windows on Center Street do you think the merchant has displayed his merchandise to the greatest advantage?

Why?

From a discussion of such questions as these the teacher can lead the pupil to realize the desirability of avoiding confusion in combining and arranging articles used together and to understand at least one way of producing the desired effect.

The next type is the _judgment or reasoning problem_, which offers two or more possible solutions. In certain subjects as mathematics in which there is but one correct answer, the reasoning problem is used. In other subjects in which, in the light of existing conditions, there is a best answer, the judgment problem is used. This best answer or final choice is determined upon the basis of the law or principle established through the inductive problems. Few subjects are more concerned with the making of choices than art. For this reason, judgment problems play an important part in an art training which is to function in the daily lives of pupils. As soon as a principle has been tentatively established, it is desirable to give the pupils an opportunity to recognize the use of the principle in several similar situations and to use it as a basis for making selections. For example, following the establishment of the principle of emphasis, the teacher may ask the pupils:

Will each of you select from these magazines an advertis.e.m.e.nt in which your attention was immediately attracted to the article for sale? Be ready to tell the cla.s.s why you were attracted to this piece of merchandise.

The third and final type is the _creative problem_, which makes use of the truth or principle discovered in the inductive problems, so that the pupil is encouraged to do some creative thinking by using the principle as the basis for determining procedure to follow in a new situation. Since everyday living is full of opportunities for making choices and combinations, it is essential that both judgment and creative problems be included in practical art training. For example, to teach the use of the creative problem in the study of emphasis the instructor may say to a pupil:

Choose a partner with whom to work. From the materials I am providing make an attractive table arrangement for a living room, and then choose a large piece of wallpaper or a textile that would make a good background for it.

Lamps, candles, candlesticks, flowers, pottery, and books will be provided for this activity, as well as the textiles and the wallpaper.

Professor Lancelot[23] sets up five standards for determining what are good problems. They must, he says, be--

1. Based on true-to-life situations.

2. Interesting or connected with things of interest.

3. Clearly and definitely stated.

4. Neither too difficult nor too easy.

5. Call for thinking of superior ability.

In addition, there are four other factors to be considered in the planning of a successful problem series;

1. Each problem should score high according to the above standards.

2. The usual sequence is in the order already given--inductive, judgment, and creative. Since the creative problems call for the highest type of thinking and are the most difficult, the natural place for them is at the end of the problem series. At that point the pupils should have sufficient information and judgment ability to enable them to solve the most difficult problem quite readily.

Introducing the difficult problem too soon may discourage the pupil and lessen interest in the course as a whole. Some creative problems involve fewer art principles than others. For example, the s.p.a.cing of a name on a place card is much simpler than the hanging of a picture in a given s.p.a.ce. In art it is desirable to use simple creative problems as they fit naturally into the problem series. (See pp. 38-39.)

3. As the problem series develops, there should be an increase in the difficulty of the problems. It is obvious that the simpler problems are to be used at the first of the series. To develop judgment to a desirable extent, the later choices will be determined from an increasing number of similar situations and from situations in which the degree of difference decreases as the problem series progresses.

4. Each problem series should involve as many types of life situations as possible. For example, applications of art are needed in the various phases of homemaking. (See Section III, pp. 18-21.) For that reason it is very desirable to select problems in each series from as many of these phases as possible. By this means the pupils are better able to cope with their own problems in which a fundamental art truth, or principle is the basis for adequate solution.

The following detailed procedure is presented as an ill.u.s.tration of the way in which an art principle may be developed through a problem series. It may appear to be unnecessarily detailed and to require more time than the average teacher would have for planning. However, part of material here given consists of probable pupil replies and a description of the ill.u.s.trative materials that are to be used.

SUGGESTED PROCEDURE FOR DEVELOPING AN ABILITY TO USE A PRINCIPLE OF PROPORTION FOR ATTAINING BEAUTY

An effort is here made to present the details of a teaching plan by which a principle of proportion may be developed by the pupils. This plan is spoken of as a lesson, but not in the sense that it is to be accomplished in a limited amount of time, such as one cla.s.s period.

The term _lesson_ is used to designate the _entire procedure_ from the introductory problem to the point where the pupils have developed the ability to use the principle of proportion. It will be possible to make more rapid progress with some cla.s.ses than with others and in some cla.s.s periods than in others. It is suggested that the teacher endeavor to evaluate the cla.s.s time and plan so that the end of the period comes not as an interruption but as a challenge to further interest, observation, and efforts.

The lesson suggested below should take not more than three of the short cla.s.s periods of 40 to 45 minutes. If too much time is spent on one series there may be a lessening of interest because of seeming repet.i.tion. On the other hand, if sufficient applications and problems are not used after the principle is established, there is danger that the pupils will not be able to use it in solving other daily problems.

Further suggestions for problems, ill.u.s.trative materials, and a.s.signments may be found on page 40.

SUGGESTED PLAN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRINCIPLE OF PROPORTION AND ITS USE

_General objective._--To develop ability to--

Select articles which are pleasing because of good proportions.

Adapt and make pleasing proportions as needed.

_Specific objective._--To develop ability to--

Divide a s.p.a.ce so the resulting parts are pleasing in their relations.h.i.+p to each other and to the whole.