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theses

The Arts are a core academic subject necessary to prepare students for the 21st century. Art Standards demand that students know, use and apply appropriate visual and verbal vocabulary for the arts. Common Core ELA Standards for Vocabulary Use and Acquisition also demand students use grade-appropriate, domain specific vocabulary. The problem is that art standards imply that students will learn this vocabulary mostly through the processes of creating and critiquing art. The research on vocabulary has supported explicit instruction and rich extended exposure to words. Yet, there is limited research on using hands-on engagement in the arts combined with evidence-based strategies to provide rich experiences to learn vocabulary. The questions that guided this study were: How do children use art vocabulary when it is explicitly taught with evidenced-based vocabulary strategies in an art unit on sculpture? Does the explicit vocabulary instruction improve students’ performance on assessments? The study was rooted in Vygotsky’s theory of Social Constructivism where learning was scaffolded. Students constructed knowledge through social situations within their zone of proximal development. Methods This teacher action research used instrumental case study design. A 14-week unit of art study on sculpture was designed that included interactive word wall activities, illustrating words, vocabulary tally chart, explicit vocabulary instruction through the use of read-aloud and art discussions, and journal writing for four third grade students during their weekly art class. Pre/post quizzes and vocabulary self-rating scales were administered to assess the outcome of the study. Interviews, observations, documents, artifacts and field notes were collected before, during, and after vocabulary instruction. Results Findings indicated that students used words in a variety of ways while sculpting with clay. Explicit vocabulary instruction through the use of read-alouds and interactive word wall activities helped teach and encourage students to use art vocabulary. It also increased performance on assessments. The visual and social environment of the art room emerged as one way to help students make meaning of art vocabulary. The results also suggest that evidence- based literacy strategies may be used and modified to meet the needs of special area subjects/content areas where teacher and student contact time is limited.

ETD_6060

Ed.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by RoseAnn LaBrocca

doi:10.7282/T3NS0WMR

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.