TY - JOUR
T1 - Contemporary Art as Extra-curricular Learning: Lessons from a University Art Gallery
AU - Winter, J
AU - Chapman, S
AU - Treasure, K
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Abstract: This paper reports on a UK-based research project which investigated the extent to which a university–based contemporary arts gallery
could potentially enhance the student learning experience. There is growing interest across the higher education sector about the ways in which
extra-curricular and campus-based learning opportunities are useful vehicles for students’ holistic educational development (Hopkinson, Hughes and
Layer, 2008; NASPA and ACPA, 2004). This runs parallel to a developing understanding of the cultural and cognitive benefits of interaction with
contemporary art, which purportedly include the encouragement of disciplinary and interdisciplinary understanding, improved meta-cognitive skills
and enhancing the ability to interpret meaning from distinct media (Creative B, 2010). However, to date there is no work which consciously draws
together these two areas and investigates the impacts of exposure to contemporary art within a gallery environment on the higher education student
learning experience. This project addressed this effective gap by developing critical understandings of how students’ experience the gallery using
Falk and Dierking’s’ (2000) ‘contextual model of learning’ to encapsulate the determinants of constructivist learning within the free-choice learning
environment of a gallery. The paper reports on our findings and makes recommendations for how links can be forged between curator and curriculum
to engage students and create life-wide learning opportunities throughout the broader university milieu.
AB - Abstract: This paper reports on a UK-based research project which investigated the extent to which a university–based contemporary arts gallery
could potentially enhance the student learning experience. There is growing interest across the higher education sector about the ways in which
extra-curricular and campus-based learning opportunities are useful vehicles for students’ holistic educational development (Hopkinson, Hughes and
Layer, 2008; NASPA and ACPA, 2004). This runs parallel to a developing understanding of the cultural and cognitive benefits of interaction with
contemporary art, which purportedly include the encouragement of disciplinary and interdisciplinary understanding, improved meta-cognitive skills
and enhancing the ability to interpret meaning from distinct media (Creative B, 2010). However, to date there is no work which consciously draws
together these two areas and investigates the impacts of exposure to contemporary art within a gallery environment on the higher education student
learning experience. This project addressed this effective gap by developing critical understandings of how students’ experience the gallery using
Falk and Dierking’s’ (2000) ‘contextual model of learning’ to encapsulate the determinants of constructivist learning within the free-choice learning
environment of a gallery. The paper reports on our findings and makes recommendations for how links can be forged between curator and curriculum
to engage students and create life-wide learning opportunities throughout the broader university milieu.
U2 - 10.18848/2326-9944/CGP/v10i01/36176
DO - 10.18848/2326-9944/CGP/v10i01/36176
M3 - Article
SN - 2326-9944
VL - 10
SP - 29
EP - 41
JO - The International Journal of Arts Education
JF - The International Journal of Arts Education
IS - 1
ER -