Creating Research Questions from Strategies and Perspectives of Contemporary Art

Abstract

This essay considers how strategies and perspectives from contemporary art can suggest new questions for educational research. Although arts-based research has become more prominent lately, the concern of this paper is that the arts have become used primarily as decorative features to educational research (to further illuminate, depict, and explain the ambiguities and complexities of educational practices, see Donmoyer 1997), rather than deeply moving or disorientating perspectives on education. Another stimulant for looking into contemporary art is the concern that education must focus more on the edges of what is understood, rather than on the centers (see, for example, Fox 1995). The essay uses examples to demonstrate how a number of themes from contemporary art can be interpreted to redirect our curiosity about educational practices, policies, and theories. The paper concludes that further consideration of contemporary art can move researchers to ask more varied questions, especially about the wisdom of our progressive, critical, or humanistic views of students and learning that we have built over this century.

Re/Presenting Artful Pedagogy: Relational Aesthetics in Early Childhood Contemporary Art Experiences

“…Contemporary Art Experiences Fox (2001) notes the capacity of contemporary art "to stop us in our tracks, to break the momentum of current themes in educational research, educational practices and educational theory" (p. 33), which provides a point of departure for this research. Specifically, contemporary art has the ability to stop us in our art education tracks, and, within contemporary art, relational aesthetics (Bourriaud, 2001) has the potential to excite new ways to look at curriculum planning, pedagogy, and children's learning in art education contexts.…”

“…How does the art educator conceptualize or use developmental readiness in the art classroom? As a "gutsy possibility" (Fox, 2001), how might young learners participate in research or a/r/ tography practices?…”

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“…The conceptualization of soft boundaries allows for the flow of ideas among these domains and mimics the relationship between research and art-making (Bresler, 2006; Irwin & de Cosson, 2004). This proposed framework highlights the importance of arts-based inquiry and regards artistic practices as significant forms of scholarly inquiry (Bresler, 2006; Finley & Knowles, 1995; Fox & Geichman, 2001; Sullivan, 2005). Therefore, a blend of arts-based and qualitative research creates a new platform for the exploration of concept mapping and its use in health care research.…”

Teaching International Trade Law to the Google Generation: Perspectives on Teaching a Diverse Audience

“…To put into context my conceptions of learning and teaching, I look to Fox and Geichman (2001) who were concerned that education must focus more on the edges of what is understood, rather than on the centres. These boundary conditions are encountered when we go beyond what we know and reach for something more.…”