THE VISUAL

A R T S A N D E A R LY
CHILDHOOD
LEARNING

C H A P T E R N OT E S
D A N I E L L E I M P E R AT O R E
 CHAPTER ONE
Early Stages of Artistic Development
Art making is a natural occurrence of childhood
Ask children what their thought and action was when making their art
Art educators have succeeded in describing the evolution of young childrens art and in explaining the significance of the
subtle transitions of form and meaning that mark the earliest stages of artistic development
Howard Gardner: adults provide the equipment and the encouragement that will allow childrens natural artistry to unfold
Experience is the basis for effective teaching
Many teachers gravitate toward lessons that are directive and mechanical rather than the experiential approach
Many teachers see art as just a form of play
Children are deprived of art when they have to produce something close to an adult model or vision
New Developments
As women in the workforce increased, more children spend their days in education or care settings outside the home
Children absorb routines and rhythms different from their immediate families
Preschool is now an expectation not an exception in childrens socialization and learning
Early Childhood has a lot of exploratory play, self-initiated, and self-directed activity
Structure of academic learning is introduced gradually
CHAPTER ONE
CONTINUED
Responding to the Changes
Art teachers are involved in the training of early childhood teachers, teachers dont have
any art experience/ not specialists
More programs to become certified in early education
Many structure art into the classroom between 30-50%
Lilian Katz: the tendency is to overestimate young childrens capacity for academic work
while underestimating their appetite for intellectual challenge
Every preschool has an array of materials
National Association for Education of Young Children: supports regular and frequent
experiences which promote young childrens artistic expression and aesthetic responses
Children must be free to manipulate new materials
A New Synthesis
Vygotsky: emphasis on social, cultural, and historical influences surround and enable
learning developments
Large influence on young children when they gather in a classroom

CHAPTER TWO
Narration and Art
Construct activities with narratives
Mental play, describing images and drawings
Give art actions such as walking around with a person made from clay so show walking or
moving around the room
Boundedness and Repetition
Repetition can be used for stories, elaboration, or structure
Boundedness: example of using a variety of repeated shapes to create and represent people
and a house
Observing the Child at Play
Each child had individual intentions
The first child was engaged in doing and the second child shifted into making
Children focused on the physical environment around them
CHAPTER THREE
Viewing Artistic Growth
Artistic growth is addressed from at least three perspectives
1. Centered around the natural, genetically preprogrammed unfolding of dispositions controlled
by maturation.
2. Based in considerations of the learning processes which interact with natural maturation and
precipitate or alter artistic growth.
3. The nature of art, aesthetic value, and the unique properties of images produced for children.
Piaget: identified a sequence of developmental changes in childrens mental structures within
four stages in human development
Piagets four stages are biological maturation, equilibration, experience, and social transmission
Teaching approaches were based on considerations of the nature of art rather than the special
needs of children
CH A P T ER T H R EE CO NT I NUED

The Child-Centered Approach

Lowenfeld: Every child has an inborn creative impulse, inhibited by the outside world
Vygotsky zone of proximal development: process of development lagged behind learning
Evaluating Childrens Progress
One may argue that adults life experiences and expectations provide a perspective for
interpreting childrens art not in childs perspective
Significance of Adult Input
Many materials were provided but children didnt take advantage of them because the teacher
wasnt physically at the table
Children wanted to engage in conversations about their actions in order to interact with the
art materials
CHAPTER FIVE
The Art Program
School art is art influenced by a teacher and its more of a manual than mental activity
The Creation of Meaning about Art
Programs are structured around a routine or schedule, gives children security and freedom
Group activities should vary from day to day
Rosario and Collazo: Representational subject matter is encouraged through the teachers comments about the representational
characteristics of the work
Instructional Strategies
Model an action, give positive reinforcements, show process of preforming an activity such as the right way to use a stamp
Meaning about Ownership
Importance of process over product, child constructs knowledge about the world through interactions with it
Contradict this importance by children creating art to get acknowledgements from the teacher as well as by parents who ask children
if they made something that they bought home
Messy Art
Feel the need to have messy art activities at preschool because they might not have that opportunity at home
Douglas: Dirt is the by product of a systematic order and classification of matter in so far an ordering involves rejecting inappropriate
elements.
Some teachers will set limits for messiness such as wearing a smock or telling students they are using too much material
Children become aware of cultural notions of color symbolism such as the color black having negative connotations
 CHAPTER SIX
Art as an Open-Ended Activity
Total freedom can confuse some students and look for guidance from the teacher
Create lessons that invite individual ideas and projects for children
Barriers to Improved Arts Instruction: School Priorities
Most teachers dont see that their job includes the arts but feel responsible for academics
Visual art suffers in the classroom as teachers see it as a distraction from the work that needs to get done
Integration of art into academics is a possible solution to include the benefits of art
Teachers can use arts to vehicle the subject and take away the pressure of academics
Limited Resources
Art is a low priority because so is the budget for art in a school, lack of financial resources
Teachers choose art projects that are easy to teach and manage due to limited resources and time
School Goals and Underlying Values
Schools believe art doesnt fit into the primary role of school which is to develop students cognitive faculties
Art doesnt have structured environments centered around discipline, too open ended and creative for teachers to have control of values of
school in classroom
Coda
Acknowledge much of art is rooted in our culture and learned symbol systems
Dispel beliefs that arts are just for entertaining and decorative
Countering the notion that no learnable body of knowledge and skills exist
Discuss and negotiate realistic goals to teach skills for a developing curriculum
 CHAPTER SEVEN
Recommendations for Appropriate Practices
Developmentally appropriate curriculum addresses all areas of childrens development through
integrated approaches to learning.
Appropriate curriculum planning is based on teachers observations and recordings of each childs special
interests and developmental progress.
Curriculum planning emphasizes learning as an interactive process and is based on childrens
development and interests.
Learning activities and materials should be concrete, real and relevant to the lives of young children.
Programs provide for a wider range of developmental interests and abilities than the chronological age
range of the group would suggest. Adults are prepared to meet the needs of children who exhibit
unusual interests and skills outside of the normal developmental range.
Teachers provide a variety of activities and materials; teachers increase the difficulty, complexity, and
challenge of an activity as children are involved with it and as children develop understanding and skills.
Teachers provide opportunities for children to choose among a variety of activities, materials, and
equipment, and time to explore through active involvement. Teachers facilitate childrens engagement
with materials and activities and extend learning by asking questions or making suggestions that
stimulate childrens thinking.
Multicultural and nonsexist experiences, materials, and equipment should be provided for children of all
ages.
 CHAPTER TWELVE
What the Research Shows
Need to know how children perceive and respond to art objects
Research on Preference and Response to Art Works
Childrens preference of art relies on subject matter and color, as well as attraction for realism which increased with
age
As children age they become more sensitive to individual artistic style
Research on Cognitive Processing and Developmental Stages
Establish cognitive growth patterns which influence childrens responses to art work
Childrens concept of style and ideas of art change throughout time
Color and pattern are the most dominant influences on young childrens preference for images
Children enter their expressive stage towards the end of their early childhood years and begin to think abstractly
Interaction with Art Works Meaningful for Kids
Children advance through several stages of aesthetic and artistic understanding
They eventually are able to think abstractly and view the world from other points of view
Developing also includes training in analysis and criticism
Children will interact with are if it is in their interests and knowledge, provide opportunity for engagement from their
point of view, make it a part of the childs everyday world, and be based on the idea of learning through play