Abstract

Art and design education hold a unique role in preparing the kinds of innovative, balanced, synthetic creators and thinkers needed in the 21st century. This paper sheds shed light on how learner-centered art classrooms, that incorporate design thinking as a balanced process, can better develop the overall learning capacity of students. In a mash-up between mixed model research involving the impact of learner-centered pedagogies on visual art students’ balanced intelligence and reviews of literature surrounding the promotion of depth and complexity of knowledge, new conceptual frameworks are offered. Towards a vision of fostering deep, connected, and independent thinkers, the author—as designer, artist, and art educator-- explores design thinking as an aesthetic, inquiry based process that integrates complex intelligence theories.

Keywords

Design thinking, design pedagogy, balanced thinking, critical thinking, creative thinking, practical thinking, learner-centered, dispositions, successful intelligence, quality thinking, learning capacity

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Jul 23rd, 9:00 AM

Practically Creative: The Role of Design Thinking as an Improved Paradigm for 21st Century Art Education

Art and design education hold a unique role in preparing the kinds of innovative, balanced, synthetic creators and thinkers needed in the 21st century. This paper sheds shed light on how learner-centered art classrooms, that incorporate design thinking as a balanced process, can better develop the overall learning capacity of students. In a mash-up between mixed model research involving the impact of learner-centered pedagogies on visual art students’ balanced intelligence and reviews of literature surrounding the promotion of depth and complexity of knowledge, new conceptual frameworks are offered. Towards a vision of fostering deep, connected, and independent thinkers, the author—as designer, artist, and art educator-- explores design thinking as an aesthetic, inquiry based process that integrates complex intelligence theories.

 

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