An Action Research of Integrating Animal Protection Issue in a Commercial High School Visual Art Curriculum

• Main Authors: Hui-chieh Lee, 李慧潔
• Other Authors: 王麗雁
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/69085466554541863649

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 藝術教育研究所 === 97 === Abstract This action research aims to explore the implication of applying animal protection issue in a visual art curriculum of a vocational high school. The thesis first explains the essence of humanism, the relationship between animal protection and humanism, and appropriate teaching methods for teaching humanistic spirits. Four teaching units – (1) Animal, You, It and I; (2) Pet Animal Protection Experts; (3) The Power of Arts and Love; (4) Animal Protection Artists – are designed and implemented. Teaching process is documented; student’s learning results, questionnaire and interview data are analyzed. Research findings are as the followings: 1. Animal protection advocates the concept of respecting life. Also, animal protection can serve as a vehicle to fuse humanism into visual art curriculum to increase students’ moral awareness, and establish a worldview based on love, empathy, equality, respect, and sharing. 2. Visual art is part of the general curriculum in the vocational high school education. In addition to focusing on learning required curricular knowledge, art education curriculum should focus on developing student’s full potential, and building healthy personality. To best facilitate the animal protection issue, teaching should integrate art appreciation, art making and dialectic thinking. It is believed that these multiple approaches help students better understand the importance of animal protection right, and further establish a more positive humanistic concept via discussion and artistic creation. 3. The teacher-researcher utilizes art appreciation, field experience and artistic creation as her teaching methods. Students first work in small groups to debate on moral dilemmas. After clarifying values on related issues, the teacher takes students on a filed trip to an animal shelter. Students volunteered to clean up the environment and take care of the animals there; the purpose of the event is to help students combine what they learned in class with first-hand experience. In the end, students create and donate their artworks; they also organize a fund raising event for animal protection purposes. This research concludes that the curriculum successfully raises students’ interests and attentions. Students clarify their moral values through discussion and art making activities, and accumulate new experience and gain new sense of achievement. 4. Integrating animal protection issue and visual art education does not only expand the art teaching domain, but also raise students’ awareness. By combining visual art and animal protection, one of the key issues in life education, students learn to appreciate the multi-faceted possibilities of art; teaching and learning also become more meaningful. Key words: art education, animal protection, action research