Related Data for Thesis/Dissertation: Children as consultants: A constructivist-negotiated approach to art activity planning

In Singapore preschools, most children’s art-making experiences are teacher-directed and product-focused resulting in a lack of individuality and creativity in children’s artworks. One of the determinants affecting the quality of learning and teaching is the lesson plan. Given that children are expert informants about their own lives, this study aims to investigate whether children’s voices and participation in art lesson planning produce lessons of higher quality (i.e., whether it meets the criteria of child-centricity and the Singapore Nurturing Early Learners framework art education goals). A total of 20 children (5–6 years old) from two childcare centres in Singapore served as consultants in focus groups to modify an existing art lesson plan together with the researcher, culminating in two children-modified plans, CMP-A and CMP-B. The children and three observers evaluated the art experience when the original plan (OP) and two CMPs were subsequently enacted. These plans were also evaluated by 35 National Institute of Education (NIE) Master of Education (Early Childhood) students (MEd students), who had an average 11.5 years of early childhood teaching experience. Results revealed that the children found slight improvements in the art experiences of both the CMPs over the OP, while the observers’ rated the enacted CMP-B as better and CMP-A as inferior compared to the OP. Results also showed that MEd students rated the plans in the following order from highest to lowest quality: CMP-A; OP; and CMP-B. Qualitative data suggests that the lower rating for CMP-B was primarily due to MEd students’ erroneous belief that it was too complex for children to follow. Children’s success at comprehending the concepts and following the procedures of CMP-B evidently refuted such child-limiting belief. The study highlights the value of consulting children in art lesson planning, and encourages teachers to adopt the practice of listening to children’s voices as part of their pedagogical repertoire.

新加坡学前教育机构中，多数儿童的艺术创作活动均由教师主导且以成品为导向，导致儿童艺术作品缺乏个性与创造力。影响学与教质量的核心要素之一便是教案设计。鉴于儿童是自身生活经验的最佳知情者，本研究旨在探究：让儿童发声并参与艺术教案的制定，是否能够产出更高质量的教学活动——即是否符合以儿童为中心的标准，以及新加坡《培育早期学习者（Nurturing Early Learners）》框架下的艺术教育目标。本研究招募新加坡两家托儿中心的20名5至6岁儿童作为顾问，通过焦点小组讨论与研究者共同修订现有艺术教案，最终形成两份儿童修订教案（Children-Modified Plans，下文简称CMP）：CMP-A与CMP-B。随后，研究者分别在实施原教案（Original Plan，下文简称OP）与两份CMP时，邀请参与儿童与3名观察员对艺术活动进行评估。另有35名来自新加坡国立教育学院（National Institute of Education，下文简称NIE）早期儿童教育方向教育硕士（Master of Education，下文简称MEd）学生对三份教案进行评估，该群体平均拥有11.5年的早期儿童教学经验。评估结果显示：相较于OP，两份CMP的艺术活动在儿童群体中仅获得小幅好评；而观察员则认为，实施后的CMP-B优于OP，CMP-A则不及OP。此外，MEd学生的教案质量评分排序为：从高到低依次为CMP-A、OP、CMP-B。质性数据分析表明，MEd学生给CMP-B打出低分，主要源于其错误认知：认为该教案过于复杂，儿童难以遵从执行。而参与儿童能够顺利理解CMP-B的活动概念并遵从流程，这一结果显然驳斥了这种低估儿童能力的刻板认知。本研究凸显了在艺术教案制定中征询儿童意见的重要价值，并鼓励教师将倾听儿童心声作为自身教学储备的组成部分。