Browsing by Author "Van der Berg, Cecile"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Exploring critical thinking and critical citizenship education in a visual art course at a secondary school, KwaZulu-Natal
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-03) Van der Berg, Cecile; Constandius, E.; Perold, Karolien; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Critical thinking and critical citizenship are generally considered to be desirable outcomes of the educational process as they enable students to make thoughtful choices. Citizenship Education does not currently form a separate part of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), but is rather one of the main objectives and principles that shape the whole curriculum. In this research study, students took part in a project where the aim was to promote critical thinking and critical citizenship through the investigation of contemporary South African artworks. The purpose of the research was to firstly establish how students’ participation in the project affected their ability to think critically about Post-1994 South African art and the issues it conveys. Secondly the aim was to establish how effective the teaching strategies employed were in facilitating critical thinking and critical citizenship. An interpretative approach was followed in this case study. The nature of this research is predominantly qualitative, but is used in conjunction with quantitative methods to measure the increase of critical thinking applied. During the base-line assessment, students’ initial critical thinking skills were measured through the analysis of previously unseen images. Their ability to critically analyse artworks was assessed by utilising the Artful Citizenship Visual/Critical Literacy Scoring Rubric compiled by Rawlinson et al (2007). In the post-project assessment, the same visual examples and rubric were used, to detect possible changes in the students’ ability to apply critical thinking. Main themes and sub-themes were identified during the project. The main themes were knowledge, power and identity. The subthemes were meaningful knowledge, citing of evidence, experience, multiple opinions, exclusion of voices, power versus rights, binary oppositions and self in relation to other. With these themes, I aimed to unpack and explain the differences that occurred in the results from the pre- and post-project assessment. The findings of the post-project assessment showed a 39% improvement of critical thinking applied subsequent to the project. The teaching strategies followed during this project proved to be effective as the ability of the students to think critically was positively affected. The research indicated that activities which exposed students to multiple perspectives were conducive to the development of critical thinking.