Today went really well I think. The students are really understanding the process of inquiry. They understand that is indeed a process. They are truly thinking about their questions/problems and how they can explore that cognitivly and experimentally before artistically. I'm not quite sure if this is true inquiry or rather more arts based research .I really feel like I am lacking in that topic of what it means to inquire, research and learn through artmaking. I think they are engaging in inquiry within their specific disciplines wheteher science, social science, Those are the two main disciplines taht I think my students are working in and an emphasis on the social sciences. I'm not sure why that is the trend of this classs. Not that it is a part of my research but it will be interesting to compare these projects to that of my other students. I wonder if I can include that in my resaerch. I guess if I am including my journals and observations as points of data then why not?
A great moment today was when annalise approached me to discuss her plan of action. Having a nice direction of her question and experiment, she ended the discussion she somewhat apologized by say that she had no idea what her artwork would be. I informed her that was a very good thing.
Why, in my limited knowledge of inquiry, am I so confident with the idea that students shouldn't know what they are going to make for their project? Did I read somewhere that inquiry should be so inductive. I guess that is the way I think. And that aligns with the definition that inquiry is extracting meaning FROM experience. I guess I feel that experience is needed first. As students engage in inquiry through research, thinking and experimentation they gain experience. From those experiences the students can make meaning which will be the motivation for their artwork. I guess the art making is included in the experience and thus the meaning making. So my question for arts based research is if the meaning is not fully manifest or is most strong after the artwork is made? I mean I guess the creation of art does invoke more thought and internal processing and thus takes the initial meaning and solidifies it both mentally within the artist as well as physically/digitally in the form of an art work. So through this thought-writing I guess the artwork is indeed a culminating step of the process of arts based inquiry/research.
Anyways some updates on student projects:
Max is still thinking about finding beauty in the flawed or imperfect. I had him watch the video about glitch art that we watched in Aundrea's class. He really liked both the aesthetic as well as the idea. I encouraged him to definitely consider glitch art, but to explore other avenues.
Annalise's project is full on social science, Human development. By the end of class she had a pretty solid experiment of having 5 students around a table and putting 4 prizes on the table and see what happens. This is an awesome experiment and she and I kept trying to figure out the logistics of eliminating bias and variables.
Ella is still focusing on soft versus harsh voices. She recorded her own voice sounding soft and harsh. Her harsh was a little too comical as much as she tried so she recruited some friends to perform that act for her. One vision of a work is to have people listen to the different speaking and video their reactions. She could also have the two repeating on loop for people to listen to in the art show.
Digression: I just love that students feel so comfortable and it feels so natural for them to council with me or Amandine to discuss their artwork. There is literally a line of students to come talk to me. I try not to say this in a boastful manner, but rather to share how much the students care about their work to share and discuss and really collaborate with me for their ideas. My intent is just to help students brainstorm, challenge them, present options, problem solve, trouble shoot, and really to push them to perform to the best they can.
For example, Crista Elmer wants to compare reading vs writing and which students like better. To expand on her what turned out to be a surface level idea, I discuss with her that a comparison of reading and writing is similar to the ideas of producer and consumer. This I relate to the internet and how most people consume the internet while a few produce. Similarly, writing is a creative act, where something is brought into existence. Reading, on the other hand, is indeed hermeneutic and can be quite revelatory, but is consumption instead of production.
One of my goals before next week is to come to a better understanding of arts-based resaerch so that as my students reach the point of art-making I can better help them translate their findings, understandings and meanings into an artwork.
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