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Museums and the Web 2010

The role of art museum websites in primary art education: a case study of the ‘Tate Kids’

Koula Charitonosk.charitonos@open.ac.uk

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Aim

• To reach a better understanding on how to support use of art museum websites in primary art education

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• Web statistics of museums’ websites often indicate a high number of users and visit sessions in on-line resources for schools and teachers

BUT

• These numbers do not reveal how these resources are being used in the classroom

• In practice, effective and sustainable bridges between the wealth of museum digital content and the classroom environment have not yet been built (Peacock et al. 2009)

Gap

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Assumption

IF

• children are given opportunities to view the art museum and works of art on their own terms, using tools many are very familiar with (computers, websites and mp3s) and to engage with the museum processes through co-creation

THEN

• any persistent ideas that art museums are uncomfortable and elitist formal spaces, and that art is ‘not for them’ may be broken down

5Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) (MLA 2004)

‘Inspiring Learning for All’ Framework

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Case study: ‘Tate Kids’http://kids.tate.org.uk/

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‘My Gallery’

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• Participants:

Two Year-5 classes (10 years old)

43 pupils

• Research Instruments:

Questionnaires

Interviews

Observation of the participants

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1st Pre-test Questionnaire

2nd First activity with ‘Ophelia’

Classroom session

ICT sessions (Exploring Tate Kids & My

Gallery)

‘Artcasts’ (in groups n=13)

Second activity with ‘Ophelia’

3rd Post-test Questionnaire

4th Face to face interviews (participants and teachers)

Sessions

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Children’s Interpretive Strategies

• The analysis of children’s interpretations is based on: visual analysis of the artwork (colour, tone, composition, form, space)

process of art-making (materials, technique and style)

drawing on ‘socio-cultural context’ of the artwork (subject-matter, artist, personal associations and context)

(RCMG, 2001)

• Emergent theme: drawing on ‘social techniques’

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Children’s experience in looking at and talking about works of art was limited

“[…] I don’t get the picture, I don’t really get the picture…and I don’t know if the artwork is good”.

“Art isn’t treated as in school. When you get to do some stuff out of school for art, you don’t get to do as much as you do at school”.

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a. ‘Ophelia’

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Aris’ first attempt to interpret ‘Ophelia’

“I thought of nothing, my mind was blank”

a. ‘Ophelia’

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Aris’ second attempt to interpret ‘Ophelia’

“It’s a woman dead in the river and flowers are falling from the trees above onto her will (while) she is floating down the rivercolours: green, white, pink and black

a. ‘Ophelia’

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First activity with ‘Ophelia’ Second activity with ‘Ophelia’

‘Socio- Cultural context’ • Description of the scene and

children’s interpretation of it ( 27 out of 37)

• Make up a story (10 out of 37)• Personal Associations ( 5 out of 37)• Context (1 out of 37)

‘Socio- Cultural’ context • Description of the scene and

children’s interpretation of it (18 out of 37)

• Make up a story (17 out of 37)• Personal Associations ( 24 out of 37)• Context (4 out of 37)• Meaning of the painting (8 out of 37)• Artist (7 out of 37)

Visual Analysis • Colour (3 out of 37)

Visual Analysis • Colour (14 out of 37)

Process of art making Process of art making • Materials (3 out of 37)

‘Social Techniques’ ‘Social Techniques’• Discussions among children

(‘collective interpretations’)

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• Fourteen children posted twenty-two comments on ten artworks

• Drawing on the ‘socio-cultural context’ emerged as the dominant strategy“[…] It looks like when I watched Tom n Jerry and there was a big explosion […]”

“ […] It reminds me of cartoons […]”

• Not involved in dialogic conversations

b. Tate Kids

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b. Tate Kids

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c. ‘Artcasts’

• References to the artist and title (13 out of 13)

• Drawing on ‘socio-cultural context’ dominant strategy

- make up a story (13 out of 13)

- personal associations (6 out of 13)

- meaning of the artwork (3 out of 13)

“[…] I think it is a really funny picture and I enjoy looking at it. It makes me feel this way because it has Mickey-mouse in it. It reminds me of a mouse jumping out of a box […] I think the artist was inspired by a TV series. He might had children who were watching this programme.

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• ‘Visual elements’ of the artwork ( 12 out of 13) (not only colour, but tone and form too)

“[…] It is like a photograph because the colours are very real and

have lots of details […]” “[…] It’s very bright in the face…On one of the ears he has mainly used chalk to show that one of the ears is sticking out […]

• ‘Processes of art-making’ (4 out of 13) - materials and techniques

“[…] We think the artist used tissue paper and painted over it […]”

“[…] It looks like he copied and pasted the wieners’ sausages and the characters […]”

c. ‘Artcasts’ (continued)

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A head of a young boy 1945 (Pablo Picasso)

Example 1

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“The picture was made when the war finished at 1945. I think the reason why the artist aint’ showing the body is because the boy got executed”.

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Example 2

“The meeting or have a nice day Mr Hockney” (Peter Blake )

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“The one in white would be Mr Hockney’s assistant and I think they would say: ‘Have a nice day Mr Hockney’. Mr Hockney would say ‘Thank you’”.

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Findings

• Participants were employing a wider range of ‘interpretive strategies’

• The use of a museum’s website can enhance learning and engage children

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• The use of art museum websites can be beneficial for a holistic approach to art education

• Further tools are required on museum websites that will enable interpretation and meaning-making process

Conclusions

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• Lack of contextual tools on the museum’s website might have an impact on the level of learning the users receive and the construction of meaning

• Further research on how tools that museum websites will provide the users can facilitate meaning-making and learning

Future work

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Thank you!

K.Charitonos@open.ac.uk