Browsing by Author "Bester, Lourens Petrus"

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    Time to think: fostering critical and creative thinking through a practice-based investigation of the effects of time and space in the field of art education
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-04) Bester, Lourens Petrus; Alexander, Neeske; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: my own experience as an artist, I have found the relations between time, space, matter and self to be fascinating subjects. The effort of understanding the impact these notions have on our behaviours led me to think of these influences in a manner that enables critical and creative thinking within the context of art and art education. My research investigated the cognitive effects of time and space to explore new ways of understanding and viewing, using observation and awareness as a means of adopting critical and creative thoughts embodied in visual creations. We occupy space and time, and understand these notions through personal relations, but we do not always understand the impact they have on our behaviours and emotions. To some degree, we are all products of our environment. During the course of my postgraduate studies in Art Education, I was introduced to qualitative and post-qualitative research methods situated around a materialist perspective of being. With the use of these mixed methods I conducted research that aimed at discovering the possibilities of becoming aware of the intra-active agencies between human and non-human entities, and to reflect on the processes and happenings throughout. The research was conducted through a case study during the course of three weeks at a high school situated in the Western Cape with 21 Grade 11 learners. The aim of the research was to explore how the act of creating art can be used as a medium for critical, creative and reflective thinking. My focus was on shifting the understanding of art beyond the ‘realistic’, direct copying of life method of creating art that is commonly found in school curricula. From a materialist perspective, our current education system fails to recognise the impact of our own experiences and lived realities on understanding and developing new ways of knowing. By allowing learners to become part of a materialist perspective of mind, body and matter through art, I explored the possibilities of how they were able to become more aware of these interrelations and, in turn, develop a better sense of self. The conclusions of the findings suggest that high school learners have the critical and creative means to think of and with mind, body and matter to develop a greater understanding of themselves in relation to their surroundings. They also suggest the importance of art as a medium for learning to help develop the necessary critical, creative and reflective thinking processes for acquiring a better understanding of a given phenomenon. Art creates moments for self-discovery, self-reflection and self-inquiry that help individuals grow. Not only can learners achieve personal development through the act of creating, but they are also able to better understand the dynamics of instances that surround them.