The present research focuses on modernising the approach to learning and teaching the visual arts in teaching practice, as well as examining the performance of an interactive approach to learning and teaching in visual arts classes with the use of a combination of general and specific (visual arts) teaching methods. The study uses quantitative analysis of data on the basis of results obtained from a pedagogical experiment. The subjects of the research were 285 second- and fourth-grade students from four primary schools in the city of Rijeka, Croatia. Paintings made by the students in the initial and final stage of the pedagogical experiment were evaluated. The research results confirmed the hypotheses about the positive effect of interactive approaches to learning and teaching on the following variables: (1) knowledge and understanding of visual arts terms, (2) abilities and skills in the use of art materials and techniques within the framework of planned painting tasks, and (3) creativity in solving visual arts problems. The research results can help shape an optimised model for the planning and performance of visual arts education, and provide guidelines for planning professional development and the further professional education of teachers, with the aim of establishing more efficient learning and teaching of the visual arts in primary school.

One of the basic features of the modern educational system is manifested in the reversal of the transmissive (traditional) approach to learning and teaching to the transformational (modern) approach. The transmissive approach to learning and teaching is that one in which students adopt ready-made constructs of organised knowledge through passive acceptance of the facts mediated by the teacher. In contrast, in the transformational approach, the teacher encourages the student’s active participation through exploratory, problem-based learning, during which students gain much more of their potential than in traditionally conceived classes. Changing the obsolete pedagogical paradigm began with the development of contemporary (cognitivist and constructivist) pedagogical theories. According to the constructivist theories of learning, individuals develop their knowledge of the world based on their own experiences and reflection of these experiences. Learning is the result of cognitive constructs based on individual experience and (pre)knowledge gained during the social interaction determined by the culture in which individuals live. Interpretative activity in the constructing of understanding is particularly emphasised in visual arts education. In this paper, the main determinants of constructivism and constructivist theories in the context of the educational process are elaborated. The main principles of constructivist-based teaching of visual arts are interpreted related to other contemporary teaching strategies and approaches such as active learning, learning through problem-solving, and interactive approach to learning and teaching of visual arts. The teacher’s role is also discussed, whose approach, awareness of the student’s pre-knowledge, and capacity for meaningful communication with students, greatly influence the success of the students’ adoption, understanding and interpretation of visual arts contents. The present paper aims to highlight certain elements of the constructivist teaching theories because their understanding and application in the teaching process can help achieve better learning outcomes, specifically students’ better ability to use visual arts knowledge in everyday life.

A b s t r a c tContemporary educational concepts advocate for interdisciplinary/integrative approach to teaching in order to generate operable knowledge applicable in life situations, as opposed to the mere memorizing of facts. Project teaching that is based on research and dealing with concepts within different subjects and disciplines as well as detecting and resolving problems through students' independent research work is one of the forms of integrated teaching. This paper presents theoretical background of integrated/project teaching and two examples of implementing project teaching during elective art class in the higher grades of elementary school as an alternative approach to teaching, which is in the contemporary school practice expected to carry out experiential and problem solving learning, as well as encourage independence and active participation of students. The results of implementing projects in art classes indicate a greater student motivation for work, developing social skills and self-confidence, active participation in the teaching process in addition to better quality and long-term acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes.

The task of contemporary visual arts education is to enable quality interaction among all subjects of the teaching process, through which the students are encouraged to think, imagine, and develop higherorder cognitive activities. The objective of this empirical research study was to verify the differences in the results of students in the control and experimental groups (n=285) regarding their knowledge and understanding of visual arts content. Analysis of the results shows that the students in EG showed significantly better results compared to the students in CG, which means that the interactive model of learning and teaching positively influenced the students’ understanding of visual arts content.

In visual arts education, specific competences pertain to having knowledge from the theory and praxis of visual arts and the teaching methodology of visual arts. The goal of this research was to examine the opinions of 231 students of graduate teacher studies and 143 in-service primary school teachers about the importance of specific competences in the visual arts, as well as the level of achieving the stated competences during studies. The frequency of teachers attending various forms of professional training in the visual arts was also examined. Two questionnaires were designed for the research. The data obtained with the questionnaires were processed at the level of descriptive and inferential statistics. A Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to compare the differences in the arithmetic means between the perception of importance and the perception of possessing the competences between these two groups. The research has shown the existence of a statistically significant difference between the self-assessment about the importance of specific competences in the visual arts, and the self-assessment of having these competences, both with students of the Croatian faculties of teacher education and primary school teachers. The results also have shown the insufficient presence of teachers’ further professional training in the visual arts area.