Using Art as a Medium to Enhance Social Responsibility and Citizenship

• Main Author: Costandius Elmarie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2010-06-01
• Series: Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education
• Subjects: responsible citizenship; service-learning; self-reflection; art and design
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2478/dcse-2013-0016

The aim of this research is to consider the impact of a Service-Learning module aiming at enhancing social responsibility and citizenship by using art as a medium for learning and reflection. It involves an explicit and designed programme that includes Socratic discussions and self-reflection projects through art. Action research was used as a methodology, ensuring that the whole class and the researcher were involved in the research process. The results of the project demonstrated that art is an effective medium to address sensitive issues because it functions on a symbolic and metaphorical level. Art that uses metaphors involves participants both consciously and sub-consciously and encourages possibilities for a diversity of interpretations.