Art&Culture + Education = EMANCIPATION??? Matthew Poole

Art&Culture + Education

= EMANCIPATION???

Matthew Poole

Why acquire knowledge?

What is knowledge good for?

The Question of Certainty

“As long as man was able by means of the arts of practice to direct the course of events, it was natural for him to seek an emotional substitute; in the absence of actual certainty in the midst of a precarious and hazardous world, men cultivated all sorts of things that would give them the feeling of certainty. And it is possible that, when not carried to an illusory point, the cultivation of the feeling gave man courage and confidence and enabled him to carry the burdens of life more successfully. But one could hardly seriously contend that this fact, if it be such, is one upon which to found a reasoned philosophy.”

John Dewey – The Quest for Certainty [1933]

“No mode of action can, as we have insisted, give anything approaching absolute certitude; it provides insurance but no assurance. Doing is always subject to peril, to the danger of frustration. When men began to reflect philosophically it seemed to them altogether too risky to leave the place of values at the mercy of acts the result of which are never sure. This precariousness might hold as far as empirical existence, existence in the sensible and phenomenal world, is concerned; but this very uncertainty seemed to render it the more needful that ideal goods should be shown to have, by means of knowledge of the most assured type, an indefeasible and inexpugnable position in the realm of the ultimately real. SO at least we may imagine men to have reasoned. And today many persons find a peculiar consolation in the face of the unstable and dubious presence of values in actual experience by projecting a perfect form of good into a realm of essence, if not into a heaven beyond the earthly skies, wherein their authority, if not their existence, is wholly unshakeable.”

John Dewey – The Quest for Certainty [1933]

Knowledge is not value-free; interests shape the meaning that is constructed about social events in the present and the past,and thus knowledge is always value-laden. These values may inspire or constrain those exposed to them. In museums, as in other epistemological sites, those who interpret artifacts (or art works), buildings, and sites do so from their own perspectives, making some viewpoints visible while suppressing others.

Eileen Hooper-Greenhill, The Power of Museum Pedagogy, in Museum Philosophy, Edited by Hugh H. Genoways [Alta Mira, 2006], pp.235

To assign significance to an object means bringing that object into a world view; for individuals, it means fitting the object into an existing scheme of knowledge, placing it in a meaningful cognitive pattern. Each individual’s pattern of knowing, while specific, is built up in and through negotiation with his or her varying significant communities of interpretation and practice. Knowledge is necessarily perspectival … Different communities of interpretation will assign meaning from different points of view, and these different perspectives, resonating with other discourses in networks of differential power, have social impacts.

Eileen Hooper-Greenhill, The Power of Museum Pedagogy, in Museum Philosophy, Edited by Hugh H. Genoways [Alta Mira, 2006], pp.236-7

… objects in collections are polysemic, capable of carrying multiple meanings, and … audiences are active interpreters, using their own interpretative communities and repertoires to make sense of what museums do.


The polysemic character of artifacts means that museums can use their collections to tell multiple stories; the reinterpretation of objects opens up possibilities for bringing new stories to light, re-presenting the events of the past in new ways. The active interpretive processes used by audiences mean that museum visitors are able to use objects, events, and visual narratives they find as raw materials for constructing their own stories, for their own purposes. And where audiences are used to c-author museum narratives, new perspectives on old stories may emerge.


It is generally agreed that there are various levels of knowing. The strongest form of knowing come about when we have had a suitable experience of something. That kind of knowing is coded inside us in a felt, compacted, living, tacit form and is part of our total mental structure. With some effort, we can sometimes make this kind of knowledge conscious and think about it verbally. That can help us do things like rehearse it, modify it, extend it, plan ahead or communicate it. We can do these things because, through language, we are able to link events, or objects, that may be far apart in space and time.

Eric Sotto, When teaching becomes learning:A theory of practice of teaching (London: Cassell, 1990), pp.299-100

LEARNING THEORIES APPLIED TO MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

1. Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) – Swiss Philosopher and Developmental Psychologist

Piaget’s theory of the four stages of cognitive development:

1 • birth to 2 years old - Sensimotor stage of learning.

2 • 2 to 7 years - Pre-operational stage: language and symbolic representations.

3 • 7 to 11 years - Concrete operations: abstract reasoning,based on personal experiences.

4 • 11 to 15 years and above - Formal operations: hypotheses and analysis of abstract notions.


2. Jerome Bruner (born 1915) – American Cognitive Psychologist and Educational Theorist -

Piaget’s ideas were further elaborated by Jerome Bruner who also described the three different ways of learning which adults use alternatively to learn something new:

• The performing mode: to do things

• The expressive mode: to make a mental image; to make connections

• The symbolic mode: where learning is separated from the concrete (Whether a person uses this last mode depends on age and intellectual capacities).

3. Benjamin Bloom (1913-1999) – American Educational Psychologist

Benjamin Bloom’s theory of the three learning domains:

• Cognitive learning: the acquisition and organisation of knowledge .

• Affective learning: the instinctive incorporation of knowledge and attitudes.

• Psychomotor stage learning: the acquisition of skills.


4. Howard Gardner (born 1943) – American Psychologist

Howard Gardner’s theory is based on the conviction that learning and teaching should focus on the particular intelligences of each person.

He discerns eight intelligences:

• Verbal Linguistic• Logical Mathematical• Musical• Spatial• Bodily Kinesthetic• Interpersonal• Intrapersonal• Naturalistic

Everyone possesses all of these intelligences but some qualities are more prominent than others.

Note: What intelligences a person develops depends on genetics and also on cultural background.


5. Isabel Briggs Myers (1897 – 1980) - American psychological theorist

In the MBTI [Myer Briggs Type Indicator] Theory, Isabel Myers defined personality types, based on four dimensions:

• Extroversion versus introversion

• Sensing versus intuition

• Thinking versus feeling

• Judging versus perceptive

The resulting combinations can indicate 16 personality types.


5. Myer Briggs Type Indicator Table:

1. Extrovert – Intuitive – Thinking - Judging

2. Extrovert - Intuitive - – Thinking - Perceptive

3. Extrovert - Intuitive – Feeling - Judging

4. Extrovert - Intuitive – Feeling - Perceptive

5. Extrovert – Sensory - Thinking - Judging

6. Extrovert - Sensory - Thinking - Perceptive

7. Extrovert - Sensory – Feeling - Judging

8. Extrovert - Sensory – Feeling - Perceptive

9. Introvert - Intuitive – Thinking - Judging

10. Introvert - Intuitive – Thinking - Perceptive

11. Introvert - Intuitive – Feeling - Judging

12. Introvert - Intuitive – Feeling - Perceptive

13. Introvert - Sensory – Thinking - Judging

14. Introvert - Sensory – Thinking - Perceptive

15. Introvert - Sensory – Feeling - Judging

16. Introvert - Sensory – Feeling - Perceptive


6. David A. Kolb (b. 1939) is an American educational theorist.

David Kolb’s theory of different learning styles is outlined in his book Experiential Learning. His relatively simple proposition is that not everyone learns in the same way. He suggests that everyone has a preferred learning style, or sometimes a combination of more than one learning style, out of a possible total of four. An individual’s preferred learning style determines how he or she goes about the learning process.

Kolb’s ideas seem to relate well to what happens in museums, in that visitors demonstrate different

ways of approaching exhibitions because they have different preferred learning styles. Very often they do not approach the exhibition in the way in which it was conceived or designed. Therefore, in order to create the best possible opportunity for learning to take place, it would seem important that the staging of exhibitions and presentations in museums should offer ingredients that connect to each kind of learning style. According to Kolb, learning is a social process. It is not simply a matter of digesting information through the receipt of instruction, but is related to what individuals bring with them to the learning situation from their own lived experiences and their ways of responding to new information and new situations. In the context of museums this means that what matters is not simply the knowledge which learners acquire as a consequence of their visit, but also the ways in which they experience and learn during their visit.


6. David A. Kolb (b. 1939) is an American educational theorist.

DAVID KOLB’S LEARNING THEORY:

The learning process has two dimensions:

1. apprehension / comprehension,

and,

2. extension / intention.

The first dimension defines the way in which a person grasps an experience;

the second the way in which a person internalises theexperience.


6. DAVID KOLB’S LEARNING THEORY:

Together these two dimensions result in a learning processthat is characterised by four different ways of learning. These are:

1. Concrete experience

2. Reflective observation

3. Abstract conceptualisation

4. Active experimentation



The four ways of learning are related to four different preferred learning styles:

1. Concrete experience in combination with reflective observation results in the divergent learning style of people who are dreamers.

2. Reflective observation in combination with abstract conceptualisation results in the assimilative learning style of people who are deliberators.

3. Abstract conceptualisation in combination with active experimentation results in the convergent learning style of people who are deciders.

4. Active experimentation in combination with concrete experience results in the accommodative learning style of people who are doers.



1. DREAMERS tend to make use of concrete experience and reflective observation. Their greatest strength lies in their imaginative ability and their awareness of meaning and values. They are able to view concrete situations from many perspectives. The emphasis is on deriving understanding through observation rather than action. Dreamers often perform best in situations that call for the generation of ideas and multiple possibilities, such as ‘brainstorming’ sessions. Dreamers tend to be interested in people and to be imaginative and in touch with their feelings.

2. DELIBERATORS tend to make use of abstract conceptualisation and reflective observation. Their greatest strength lies in their ability to assimilate lots of information, to subject the information to reason and analysis, and to arrive at coherent understandings. Deliberators are less focused on people and more concerned with ideas and abstract concepts. Ideas are judged less by their practical value and more by whether they are logically sound and precise.

3. DECIDERS tend to make use of abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation. Their greatest strength lies in their ability to get involved in problem solving, decision-making and the practical application of ideas. Deciders often do best in contexts where there is a single correct answer to be found or a solution to a question or problem. In this learning style, knowledge is applied to solving specific problems. Deciders tend to be less emotional as learners. They prefer dealing with technical tasks and problems rather than social and interpersonal issues.

4. DOERS tend to make use of concrete experience and active experimentation. Their greatest strength lies in doing things, in carrying out plans and tasks and getting involved in new experiences. Doers often perform best when there are interesting opportunities, risks and some kind of action to be had. This learning style is best suited for those situations where it is necessary to adapt quickly to changing circumstances. If the theory doesn’t fit the plan, doers find it easy to change tack. Problem solving becomes more of an intuitive, trial-and-error process, and relies heavily on other people for information, rather than on their own analytic ability. Doers are usually quite at ease with other people but can be seen as impatient and pushy in a learning situation.

Paulo Freire’s “liberatory learning”

Paulo Freire (1921 – 1997), Brazilian educator and highly influential theorist of education.


Provocation:

1. Education that confirms belief is INDOCTRINATION

2. Education that confers certainty is PROPAGANDA

3. Education that confirms belief and confers certainty is NOT education, but STULTIFICATION

Provocation:

1. Education should unsettle beliefs.

2. Education should provoke uncertainty.

3. Education that unsettles beliefs and provokes uncertainty is EMANCIPATORY.

Jacques Ranciere’s Ignorant Schoolmaster

The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation (Paperback) by Jacques Ranciere

Stanford University Press (July 1, 1991

Mnêstêrophonía: slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus, Telemachus and Eumeus (right). Side A from a Campanian red-figure bell-krater, ca. 330 BC.

Telemachus departing from Nestor,

by Henry Howard (1769-1847),

Learning in museums (and galleries) is multidimensional. One of the reasons for the power of this learning is that … learning is based on experience; it is performative. Through acting, doing, performing, the deepest learning occurs.

… Through experience, feelings become engaged and response is direct, apprehending the experience and the related knowledge in an immediate and sensory way. “Experiential learning is the process of creating and transforming experience into knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, emotions, beliefs and senses. It is the process through which individuals become themselves.”


Documents

Art&Culture + Education = EMANCIPATION??? Matthew Poole