Arts education in schools frequently experiences the pressure of being validated by demonstrating quantitative impact on academic outcomes. The quantitative evidence to date has been characterized by the application of largely correlational designs and frequently applies a narrow focus on instrumental outcomes such as academically relevant competencies. The present review aims to summarize quantitative evidence from quasi-experimental and experimental studies with pre-test post-test designs on the effects of school-based arts education on a broader range of competency outcomes, including intra- and (...) interindividual competencies. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify relevant evaluation studies. Twenty-four articles reporting on 26 evaluation studies were eligible for inclusion, and their results were reviewed in terms of art domains and outcome categories. Whilst there is some evidence of beneficial effects on some competencies, for example of music education on arithmetic abilities, speech segmentation and processing speed, the evidence across arts domains and for different outcomes is limited due to small sample sizes, small number of studies, and a large range of effect sizes. The review highlights that sufficiently powered experimental studies with pre-test post-test designs evaluating arts education are sparse and that the “gold standard” of experimental research comes at the expense of a number of other study characteristics such as sample size, intervention and follow-up length. By summarizing the limitations of the current experimental research, the application of experimental designs is critically assessed and a combination with qualitative methods in mixed-method designs and choice of relevant outcomes discussed. (shrink)

Profiles of art education in nineteen countries around the world by citizens or longtime residents of those countries comprise the core of this book. Guidelines for the cross-cultural study of art education are presented by the editors in a general introduction and three part introductions, and also by contributing specialists. The nineteen national profiles, with accompanying examples of children's artwork, make up the largest section of the book, Part II. The three chapters in Part I review research that has identified, (...) on one hand, certain universal characteristics of children's artwork attributable to common human stages of development, and, on the other hand, certain differing and unique cultural influences. The need for further research on this distinction is emphasized. Contributors to Part I are Elliot W. Eisner, William Ives and Howard Gardner, and Marjorie and Brent Wilson. The three chapters in Part III discuss three major problems in art education: the use of museum visits, the worldwide attempt to establish valid tests of teacher and pupil proficiency in art, and the design of sound and useful cross-cultural research. Resources for such research are described. Contributors to Part III are Robert Ott and Lois Swan Jones, William Bradley, and Frances E. Anderson. Professionals and students in art education can broaden their perspective through Art in Education, while their counterparts in child development and psychology can gain insights into the creative process. Profiles: Western Europe—England,Finland, Germany, Netherlands; Eastern Europe—Hungary, Poland, Soviet Union; Middle East and South Asia Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Israel; East Asia and the Pacific Australia, China, Japan; Africa—Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa; The Americas—Brazil, United States. (shrink)

As the first President of the Royal Academy of Arts, Joshua Reynolds played a pivotal role in shaping the course of British art in the 18th century. In these discourses, Reynolds reflects on the nature of art, the role of the artist, and the importance of aesthetic education. With insightful commentary on the works of the Old Masters and a wealth of practical advice for aspiring artists, this volume is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of art or (...) art theory. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

This volume has 41 chapters written to honor the 100th birthday of Mario Bunge. It celebrates the work of this influential Argentine/Canadian physicist and philosopher. Contributions show the value of Bunge’s science-informed philosophy and his systematic approach to philosophical problems. The chapters explore the exceptionally wide spectrum of Bunge’s contributions to: metaphysics, methodology and philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of physics, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of social science, philosophy of biology, philosophy of technology, moral philosophy, social and political (...) philosophy, medical philosophy, and education. The contributors include scholars from 16 countries. Bunge combines ontological realism with epistemological fallibilism. He believes that science provides the best and most warranted knowledge of the natural and social world, and that such knowledge is the only sound basis for moral decision making and social and political reform. Bunge argues for the unity of knowledge. In his eyes, science and philosophy constitute a fruitful and necessary partnership. Readers will discover the wisdom of this approach and will gain insight into the utility of cross-disciplinary scholarship. This anthology will appeal to researchers, students, and teachers in philosophy of science, social science, and liberal education programmes. 1. Introduction Section I. An Academic Vocation Section II. Philosophy Section III. Physics and Philosophy of Physics Section IV. Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Mind Section V. Sociology and Social Theory Section VI. Ethics and Political Philosophy Section VII. Biology and Philosophy of Biology Section VIII. Mathematics Section IX. Education Section X. Varia Section XI. Bibliography. (shrink)

In this paper I address some questions pertinent to the development of school art education. I begin by considering how we relate to art and how we might understand the notion of this relation in terms of human subjectivity and the art object. To do this I describe particular art practices that have broadened social conceptions of art, which in turn, become part of art itself and shape performances of understanding, learning and practice. Implicit to this discussion is a change (...) in how artists, art practice and engagement with art are conceived. I then consider some art events in school art education and analyse how human subjects, art practices and objects are understood in this context. This leads to further remarks about how learners and practice in school art education might be discerned in the light of the preceding discussion. (shrink)

In this paper I address some questions pertinent to the development of school art education. I begin by considering how we relate to art and how we might understand the notion of this relation in terms of human subjectivity and the art object. To do this I describe particular art practices that have broadened social conceptions of art, which in turn, become part of art itself and shape performances of understanding, learning and practice. Implicit to this discussion is a change (...) in how artists, art practice and engagement with art are conceived. I then consider some art events in school art education and analyse how human subjects, art practices and objects are understood in this context. This leads to further remarks about how learners and practice in school art education might be discerned in the light of the preceding discussion. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Aesthetic Education 38.4 (2004) 71-80 [Access article in PDF] The Arts and the Creation of Mind: Eisner's Contributions to the Arts in Education Arthur Efland Professor Emeritus, Department of Art Education The Ohio State University In the last four years at least three books in arts education have dealt with the subject of cognition in relation to the arts. I refer to Charles Dorn's Mind in (...) Art, my book Art and Cognition, and Elliot Eisner's The Arts and the Creation of Mind, with the publication of the latter providing the occasion for this article.1 Each of these texts makes its case for the arts in education on somewhat similar grounds. All three share the view that the creation and understanding of works of art, though endowed with feeling and emotion, are nevertheless cognitive endeavors. But why have so many books appeared on the topic of cognition at this time? To answer this question it becomes necessary to describe the changes in our understanding of cognition and the problems these have created for the arts in education.Once cognition was the term used to designate propositional thinking with verbal and numerical symbols, whereas the current sense of the term embraces all forms of thought including mental images obtained through perception. In short it includes all forms of sentience by which the human organism comes to know itself and its environment. This change was to have a major impact upon curriculum reform initiatives in all studies but it was to have a revolutionary impact upon education in the arts for reasons explained later in this essay. However, an adequate story of cognition in the arts cannot be told without a discussion of Eisner's contributions to this discourse. The Waning of Behaviorism For the first half of the twentieth century the psychology that dominated educational practice was behaviorism. Its proponents included psychologists like Edward L. Thorndike, James B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner.2 Each strove to create a science of psychology that would match the rigor of physics or chemistry, where causes in relation to effects would be carefully observed and measured, making the explanation, prediction, and control of phenomena possible, especially those behaviors that fall under the control of the classroom teacher. The formation of connections called stimulus-response (S-R) bonds had become the molar unit to explain learning, much [End Page 71] like the way that differences in the structure of the atom was used to explain the behavior of the chemical elements of the Periodic Table. This bond between environmental stimuli and the organism's response was seen as the elementary unit of behavior while the IQ had become its measure. Invisible notions like mind and imagination were banished to metaphysical philosophy, outside the legitimate bounds of science.Though behaviorists never denied the existence of higher order thinking that is, abstract, sense-free thinking as found in pure mathematics, they were unable to explain how these human capacities emerge through the accumulation of such rudimentary stimulus-response events. Nevertheless, they recognized that humans do have a capacity for thinking that relies heavily upon symbols like words, numbers and the like. Moreover, certain subjects that require reason and logic, like math and theoretical physics, would be inconceivable without such symbols and the rules by which these are manipulated. By contrast it was assumed that the arts, which relied on sensory images, either did not employ this type of propositional thought, or did so to a far lesser degree. Thus the arts could be dispatched to the noncognitive or affective domains with little or no reduction in the learner's cognitive capacities. Indeed, these noncognitive realms, which gave play to feelings and emotions, were often seen as inimical to the acquisition of rational powers of thought. Intellectual power as it was then understood, required that feelings and emotions be brought under the control of reason.As long as behaviorism served as the dominant paradigm, the school curriculum could be divided into two or three broad divisions... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Aesthetic Education 38.4 (2004) 71-80 [Access article in PDF] The Arts and the Creation of Mind: Eisner's Contributions to the Arts in Education Arthur Efland Professor Emeritus, Department of Art Education The Ohio State University In the last four years at least three books in arts education have dealt with the subject of cognition in relation to the arts. I refer to Charles Dorn's Mind in (...) Art, my book Art and Cognition, and Elliot Eisner's The Arts and the Creation of Mind, with the publication of the latter providing the occasion for this article.1 Each of these texts makes its case for the arts in education on somewhat similar grounds. All three share the view that the creation and understanding of works of art, though endowed with feeling and emotion, are nevertheless cognitive endeavors. But why have so many books appeared on the topic of cognition at this time? To answer this question it becomes necessary to describe the changes in our understanding of cognition and the problems these have created for the arts in education.Once cognition was the term used to designate propositional thinking with verbal and numerical symbols, whereas the current sense of the term embraces all forms of thought including mental images obtained through perception. In short it includes all forms of sentience by which the human organism comes to know itself and its environment. This change was to have a major impact upon curriculum reform initiatives in all studies but it was to have a revolutionary impact upon education in the arts for reasons explained later in this essay. However, an adequate story of cognition in the arts cannot be told without a discussion of Eisner's contributions to this discourse. The Waning of Behaviorism For the first half of the twentieth century the psychology that dominated educational practice was behaviorism. Its proponents included psychologists like Edward L. Thorndike, James B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner.2 Each strove to create a science of psychology that would match the rigor of physics or chemistry, where causes in relation to effects would be carefully observed and measured, making the explanation, prediction, and control of phenomena possible, especially those behaviors that fall under the control of the classroom teacher. The formation of connections called stimulus-response (S-R) bonds had become the molar unit to explain learning, much [End Page 71] like the way that differences in the structure of the atom was used to explain the behavior of the chemical elements of the Periodic Table. This bond between environmental stimuli and the organism's response was seen as the elementary unit of behavior while the IQ had become its measure. Invisible notions like mind and imagination were banished to metaphysical philosophy, outside the legitimate bounds of science.Though behaviorists never denied the existence of higher order thinking that is, abstract, sense-free thinking as found in pure mathematics, they were unable to explain how these human capacities emerge through the accumulation of such rudimentary stimulus-response events. Nevertheless, they recognized that humans do have a capacity for thinking that relies heavily upon symbols like words, numbers and the like. Moreover, certain subjects that require reason and logic, like math and theoretical physics, would be inconceivable without such symbols and the rules by which these are manipulated. By contrast it was assumed that the arts, which relied on sensory images, either did not employ this type of propositional thought, or did so to a far lesser degree. Thus the arts could be dispatched to the noncognitive or affective domains with little or no reduction in the learner's cognitive capacities. Indeed, these noncognitive realms, which gave play to feelings and emotions, were often seen as inimical to the acquisition of rational powers of thought. Intellectual power as it was then understood, required that feelings and emotions be brought under the control of reason.As long as behaviorism served as the dominant paradigm, the school curriculum could be divided into two or three broad divisions... (shrink)

First published in 1991. The arts can only thrive in a culture where there is conversation about them. This is particularly true of the arts in an education context. Yet often the discussion is poor because we do not have the necessary concepts for the elaboration of our aesthetic responses, or sufficient familiarity with the contending schools of interpretation. The aim of _Key Concepts _is to engender a broad and informed conversation about the arts. By means of over sixty alphabetically (...) ordered essays, the author offers a map of aesthetics, critical theory and the arts in education. The essays are both informative and argumentative, with cross-references, a supporting bibliography and suggestions for further reading. (shrink)

First published in 1991. The arts can only thrive in a culture where there is conversation about them. This is particularly true of the arts in an education context. Yet often the discussion is poor because we do not have the necessary concepts for the elaboration of our aesthetic responses, or sufficient familiarity with the contending schools of interpretation. The aim of _Key Concepts _is to engender a broad and informed conversation about the arts. By means of over sixty alphabetically (...) ordered essays, the author offers a map of aesthetics, critical theory and the arts in education. The essays are both informative and argumentative, with cross-references, a supporting bibliography and suggestions for further reading. (shrink)

Kevin Williams; Are We Too Defensive about the Place of the Arts in Education?, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 29, Issue 1, 30 May 2006, Pages 149–1.

In memoriam of Elliot Eisner, I wish to commend his book Educating Artistic Vision for advancing a distinction between contextual and essential arguments that has become classical to justify the purposes of the arts in education.1 Contextual arguments typically focus on transferring artistic qualities to nonartistic school areas and aim at achieving extrinsic outcomes such as higher academic results, a better school climate, improved cognitive development, and the like. Essential arguments are those that deal with intrinsic artistic qualities like (...) the development of aesthetic awareness, the exploration of feeling and emotion as ways of interpreting reality, the capacity to make good judgments in the absence of... (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to discuss the role of art in Deweyan thought, making a case for the relationship among art, experience, and education. I will do so by drawing on both Deweyan works—primarily Art as Experience1 and chapter nine of Experience and Nature2—and scholarly literature devoted to the issue.3 Based on such precedents, I wish to argue that art plays a central function in Deweyan thought. Dewey conceived of art as the basis on which to deepen, enlarge, (...) and make sense of experience; the place where human beings search for meaning and unity finds its fulfillment; and the means by which we may enact the primary task of education, namely, bringing newness to the fore, or in Dewey’s words... (shrink)

Plato is usually credited as the source of the "ancient quarrel" between reason and rhetoric—and, for him, the arts fall mostly on the less favorable side of rhetoric.1 To be sure, Plato's harsh verdict on the arts rests on an idealist metaphysics and epistemology (or realism about universals)—enshrining a general pessimism about the epistemic prospects of sense experience—which few, nowadays, would consider persuasive. For Plato, since what is presented to us by the senses is no more than an inaccurate copy (...) of truth as revealed by the intellect, and since the artist merely reproduces such copies, the productions of artists are not once but twice removed from any genuine knowledge of reality. To be sure, Plato is .. (shrink)

In education, art has often been perceived as entertainment and decoration and is the first subject to go when there are budget cuts or test-score pressures. Drawing on Emmanuel Lévinas's idea of the primacy of radical alterity that breaks the totality of our being, enables self-transformation and ethics, and ensures community as a totality of singularities, and on Maurice Blanchot's expansion of radical alterity to art, Guoping Zhao argues that the role of art in education must be reconsidered and greatly (...) expanded. Art as alterity takes students beyond where they are and what they have, and teaches them to appreciate and respect difference and diversity. If art as alterity is so essential to human subjectivity and society, and if education is conceived as a process of human growth and formation, art as alterity is essential to education and needs to be more seriously engaged and more fully integrated into the whole educational process instead of being isolated in arts education. Zhao concludes the essay by pondering the pedagogical implications of such a reconsideration of art as alterity in education. (shrink)

This text introduces readers to definitions and examples of arts-based educational research, presents tensions and questions in the field, and provides exercises for practice. It weaves together critical essays about arts-based research in the literary, visual, and performing arts with examples of artistic products of arts-based research (arts for scholarship's sake) that illuminate by example. Each artistic example is accompanied by a scholARTist's statement that includes reflection on how the work of art relates to the scholar's research interests and practices. (...) Arts-Based Research in Education: Foundations for Practice: helps the reader understand what arts-based research is - tracing the history of the field and providing examples; includes end-of-chapter questions to engage students in practicing arts-based inquiry and to generate class discussion about the material; features a diverse range of contributors -- very established scholars in educational and social science research as well those new to the field; represents a variety of voices - scholars of color, queer and straight orientations, different ages, experience, and nationalities; and presents beautiful illustrations of visual art, data-based poems, plays, short stories, and musical scores. First-of its kind, this volume is intended as a text for arts-based inquiry, qualitative research methods in education, and related courses, and as a resource for faculty, doctoral students, and scholars across the field of social science research methods. (shrink)

This article explores the contrasting arguments for the place of the arts in education made by the two distinguished arts educators—the American Elliot Eisner and British dance and physical education theorist Graham McFee. Both scholars begin with the premise that the arts should be central to a liberal education and then diverge. McFee argues, from his success in seeing dance as part of the National Curriculum in the UK, that a conceptually precise and closely focused philosophical rationale is critical, whereas (...) Eisner takes the opposite path—arguing for the inclusion of the arts because they embody the most profoundly central task of all education—the nuanced development of mind. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Art, Artists and Pedagogy. Philosophy and the Arts in Education ed. by Christopher Naughton, Gert Biesta, David R. ColeAnnette ZiegenmeyerChristopher Naughton, Gert Biesta, and David R. Cole, eds., Art, Artists and Pedagogy. Philosophy and the Arts in Education (New York: Routledge, 2018)The question about the role and purpose of the arts in education in the twenty-first century is an important issue being currently discussed in various publications.1 Despite (...) many valuable approaches about how to reflect on the challenges arts and education face today, no adequate and sustainable solution seems to have been worked out yet.In their book Art, Artists and Pedagogy, Christopher Naughton, Gert Biesta and David R. Cole (editors) and other co-authors explore new ways to rethink arts education in the twenty-first century via two main philosophies in education. The first one is based on Gert Biesta’s work, The Rediscovery of Teaching, that focuses on the relation of the arts to the world and on what kind of society we may wish to envisage by using concepts such as “grown-up-ness” and “middle ground.”2 The second one is based on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, who provide a theoretical framework to look more deeply into the influence of state and global capital when taking decisions on how art education should develop in the future. Within their different positions, both philosophies also complement each other by sharing some relevant aspects concerning, for example, the value of arts in society. [End Page 104]Besides the editors who are leading academics in the arts, philosophy, and education, most of the co-authors are established professors and senior lecturers from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. Considering the fact that the book is intended for educators who teach the arts at different age-levels in schools and universities or for artists working in the community, it is surprising that there are not more voices of contemporary artists and teachers integrated in the publication to capture the philosophical discourse being perceived from their viewpoints. This could add an interesting counterpoint to the philosophical approaches and thus widen the perspective on the subject.The book comprises fifteen chapters which can be read either individually or sequentially. In the introductory chapter, Biesta reflects on the potential of the arts in an era of growing economization of education. Representing the exploration and transformation of our desires, the arts can thus become a positive force for the ways in which we seek to exist in the world in grown-up modes. As a consequence, Biesta suggests an “approach of resistance in how we engage with others and how we come to terms with our own desires and those of the others.”3 He sees the work of the teacher as “interruptive” in that it raises the question about which desires appear to be helpful towards existing in a grown-up way in the world.4Many articles in the book use aspects of Biesta’s philosophy as a (methodological) starting point and lens to further develop their approach. To begin with, Mary Ann Hunter reflects on Biesta’s concept of “interruption” by examining how school partnerships with artists can be valued as a necessary interruption.5 According to Hunter, the way artists act “unteacherly” presents a chance to interrupt the regulatory practices of schooling and to thus ameliorate some of the negative impacts of assessment-focused teaching. Julianne Moss and Anne-Marie Morrissey also refer to Biesta, but concentrate on issues of identity and subjectivity by showing how the teacher comes to terms with herself, her desires, and those of the students (by mitigating her own knowledge and skills with those of her class). Robyn Ewing and John Saunders focus on the concept of grown- up-ness. With reference to a drama project with children from a primary school in the context of an Australian teacher professional learning program, Ewing and Saunders show that the process of co-creating drama work with children provides an open space within teaching where “transformative learning” can be experienced. Nico de Vos focuses on another interesting aspect by bringing in the philosophical idea of bodily connectedness in... (shrink)

This volume explores the deeply interwoven connection of education, art and nature in the context of East Asia. With contributions from authors in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, the book considers unnoticed but significant themes involved in the interplay of nature, art, and education. It manifests how nature and art can educate, and how education and nature play the role of art. The chapters explore a range of themes relevant to East Asian characteristics, including skill acquisition, Japanese calendar arts and (...) ritual of feelings, garden architecture, the ritualised body, collaborative poetry art, translational language between humans and nature, the Confucian classical Six Arts, the artistic embodiment of the Kyoto School, and the heritage art based education in Korea. The authors examine these themes in novel ways to bring to light the relevance of the East Asian insights to the contemporary global world. This book is an outstanding resource to all researchers, scholars, and students interested in educational aesthetics, philosophy of education, East Asian studies, comparative education and intercultural education. (shrink)

In this paper, Andrea Fiore sketches the notion of familiarity in Dewey's thought, particularly in its relations with education, aesthetics, and art. The importance of that notion emerges in Dewey's well-known writings such as How We Think, The School and Society, and Art as Experience, where he shows that not only does familiarity play a fundamental role in our lives, but it also constitutes a helpful tool to make our experience deeper and richer. This is particularly evident in two aspects (...) or functions related to familiarity: recognition and interpretation. For Dewey, especially the latter has an educational value through aesthetics and art, because it allows us to activate the peculiar capacity of human beings to transform the quality of experience. (shrink)

The oral eye is a metaphor for the dominance of global designer capitalism. It refers to the consumerism of a designer aesthetic by the 'I' of the neoliberalist subject, as well as the aural soundscapes that accompany the hegemony of the capturing attention through screen cultures. An attempt is made to articulate the historical emergence of such a synoptic machinic regime drawing on Badiou, Bellmer, Deleuze, Guattari, Lacan, Rancir̈e, Virilio, Ziarek, and Zizek to explore contemporary art (post-Situationism) and visual cultural (...) education. Jagodzinski develops the concept of an 'avant-garde without authority,' 'self-refleXion' and 'in(design)' to further the questions surrounding the posthuman as advanced by theorists such as Hansen, Stiegler and Ziarek's 'force' of art. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between psychology and modern art design education in colleges, and to provide the basis for improving the quality of art education in colleges. Based on the relevant theory, the characteristics of educational psychology and art psychology and the correlation between them were analyzed from the angle of art education. According to the characteristics of college students' psychological development, the significance of art psychology-related courses was analyzed. Through the form of questionnaire, (...) a total of 200 students were randomly selected from Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts and Xi'an University of Science and Technology, respectively. A total of 400 questionnaires were issued, and 382 valid questionnaires were recovered. The results show that almost all students in two colleges think pedagogy and educational psychology are the theoretical basis for art teachers, while less than one-third of students in Xi'an University of Science and Technology think that art psychology is the theoretical basis for art teachers. The difference between the students' aesthetic and life values in the two colleges is significant. In the 15 directions of life values, there are significant differences in five directions: spirit—material, enrichment—emptiness, enthusiasm—apathy, hope—despair, and dedication—acceptance. It shows that the psychological and values of college students are changeable, and the educators should pay attention to the education in the related fields of psychology. This exploration was conducted based on educational psychology, which is of great significance for improving the educational level of art psychology in colleges and enable students to form correct aesthetic standards and life values. (shrink)

Increased attention to the relationship between democracy and education in the UK has been accompanied over the past thirteen years by an interest in how art can be used to promote democratic citizenship.While this approach has led to increased funding for the arts, it is not without its problems,and has often entailed an apolitical and instrumentalist view of both art and education. This paper turns to the political philosophy of Mouffe and Rancière, the work of Rancière in aesthetics, and Biesta’s (...) educational philosophy to develop an alternative way of understanding the significance of art for democracy and education. Building on their work, I take a performative and collective view of democratic subjectivity as the basis on which to construct this alternative understanding. I further argue that this conceptualisation can aid our understanding of democratic learning and our ability to provide opportunities for it through art and educational practice. (shrink)

There appear to be various respects in which the outdoor environment has been regarded as significant for education in general and moral education in particular. Whereas some educationalists have considered the environment to be an important site of character development, others have regarded attention to conservation and sustainable development as pressing moral educational concerns in a world of widespread human environmental abuse. The following paper argues that approaches to environmental education that proceed by way of character education or environmental ethics (...) may yet fall short of the central goal of promoting intrinsic appreciation of nature and the outdoors, and explores an alternative strategy focused on exposure to the arts. (shrink)

There appear to be various respects in which the outdoor environment has been regarded as significant for education in general and moral education in particular. Whereas some educationalists have considered the environment to be an important site of character development, others have regarded attention to conservation and sustainable development as pressing moral educational concerns in a world of widespread human environmental abuse. The following paper argues that approaches to environmental education that proceed by way of character education or environmental ethics (...) may yet fall short of the central goal of promoting intrinsic appreciation of nature and the outdoors, and explores an alternative strategy focused on exposure to the arts. (shrink)