Philosophy of Education Statement

The principles that inform our visual arts teaching approach are rooted in the scaffolding¹educational technique. For the introductory period of a session, and for a series of sessions in the early portion of the entire learning experience we cover the fundamentals of art, motion picture animation, and multimedia gradually such as: drawing from basic shapes, shading, drawing in perspective, color mixing, color wheel, story structure, story boarding, flip-book/traditional animation principles, history of animation, and computer art software.

Each lesson is structured to have a comprehensive² approach, where the students are encouraged,and guided through incorporating elements from their community, family, experiences, world view,imagination, and other class subjects into their creative projects. To facilitate the learning process we also implement a differentiated-learning³ experience based on feedback, and checking in to see where each student in the class is along the way.

Project-based-learning⁴ is then implemented towards the middle and latter portion of the learning experience as we start to inform students of opportunities for scholarships, competitions/festivals, museums, institutions, websites, events, and possible guest speakers that could help take their creative projects to the next level. This is all done in the hopes of fostering critical thinking, reflection, literacy, intellectual growth, excellence in the arts as well as emotional intelligence.

Place based-learning⁵ is definitely a teaching method we look to implement. This has been shown to give students a feeling of belonging, and more connected to the historical purpose for learning various subjects. One example of a place based lesson we would implement is teaching a class on the history of paint pigments at a beach, farm, or botanical garden where students can touch the plants that have been the source for various colors, as well as various sea snails that have been used for the pigments of red, blue, and purple.⁶

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¹_{Author, Susan Friedman Editor, Brian L Wright Editor, Marie L. Masterson Editor, Barbara Willer Contributor, Sue Bredekamp Contributor Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs, Fourth Edition, “Chapter 4: Teaching Content in Early Childhood Education.” Published by NAEYC Pages 69-72. November 30, 2021}

²_{Hanson, J.A. and VanderWeele, T.J., The Comprehensive Measure of Meaning: psychological and philosophical foundations. In: M. Lee, L.D. Kubzansky, and T.J. VanderWeele (Eds.). Measuring Well Being: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Social Sciences and the Humanities. Oxford University Press, forthcoming.}

³_{Sally M. Reis; Joseph S. Renzulli . The Five Dimensions of Differentiation.International Journal for Talent Development and Creativity – 6(1), August, 2018; and 6(2), December, 2018.}

⁴_{Thomas, Ph. D, John. A REVIEW OF RESEARCH ON PROJECT-BASED LEARNING. Supported by
The Autodesk Foundation 111 McInnis Parkway San Rafael, California 94903. March, 2000}

⁵_{Karen Goodlad, Anne E. Leonard Place-Based Learning across the Disciplines: A Living Laboratory Approach to Pedagogy. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching .Volume 13  2018}

⁶_{Atlantic – A vast ocean of a million stories by Winchester, Simon 2010}

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