Grant recipients:
Trish Van Katwyk, School of Social Work, Renison University College
Amir Al-Azraki, Studies in Islam, Renison University College
Soheila Kolahdouz Asfahani, Studies in Islam, Renison University College
(Project timeline: May 2018-April 2019)
Description
We propose to create a multi-media arts-based workshop that can be incorporated into different curricula whose focus is on social analysis and social change. We would enter into a classroom with a three-hour workshop that incorporates visual art making, theatre and movement that is tailored to the curricular aims and particular characteristics (i.e. student number, classroom features, student accommodation) of the course we are contributing to.
The aim of this project is to utilize various forms of artistic process in order to provide students with new ways of engaging with the topic of social justice in addition to the conventional method of reflective writing on assigned academic articles. Bringing art into the classroom through physical enactment (theatre), embodied experience (movement), and hands-on art making (visual arts) opens up not only symbolic but also real life approaches to the understanding of social justice issues. This awareness in turn facilitates a shift in expectations, norms and assumptions that sustain social inequities.
Research Question
What is the impact on learning does an arts based pedagogical approach have on learning about social justice?
Findings/Insights
Of the 67 workshop participants, 42 students completed a survey at the end of the workshop. There were scaled questions, as well as short narratives.
Scaled questions
15% of the respondents identified ‘neutral’ in response to a statement about their ability to connect the art activities to the reading. A few of these students identified that they had not read the material, and selected ‘neutral’ for this reason. 85% agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.
In terms of the art activities being useful in approaching the readings differently, 94% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed. 6% of the respondents responded in the neutral, and no students responded with disagreement. The arts-bed activities in the workshop was useful in terms of approaching the readings differently.
In their consideration of whether the workshop had opened up new ways of engaging with the topics of readings, 8% of the students responded with neutral, and none disagreed. 92% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.
The students were asked in the survey how they found the art making section of the workshop. 20% responded that it was good, 80% responded that it was very engaging.
Narratives
Respondents were asked to describe the scaled answers and their overall experience and learning that took place in the workshop. We conducted a thematic analysis and found themes related to learning that was alternative, holistic, and stretching beyond a comfort zone; diversity in terms of learning styles, ideas, expressions and life experiences; and greater retention of learning material through holistic learning and use of symbolic expression.
14 Qualitative one-on-one interviews:
Three Emergent themes:
Safe Space. One way in which safety was experienced was through the diversity of ideas, identities, and expressions that could occur because the learning activities were critical arts-based. What also could then occur was a diversity of interpretations, diverse ways of making meaning of the learning material and the art that was being created by fellow students as their response to and articulation of the learning. Safety was also
referred to as interviewers discussed the kind of vulnerability and exposure that was required for critical arts-based learning responses, so that trust was built in the sharing of critical arts-based learning activities.
The interviewees described sharing space and activities where there was no hierarchy based on best, correct, languaged articulation. Even without the hierarchy and right/wrong dichotomy, a vulnerability was felt, and some of the interviewees described feeling courageous and active because of how they had worked through discomfort and tension in order to engage. What made the engagement feel safe for some interviewees was the sense of participation and collaboration that was required with shared critical arts-based activities, as well as the coming together of the group to witness the art work of their peers.
Moving Beyond the Comfort Zone. According to some of the interviewees, the critical arts based approach to learning requires students to think outside of the box, in terms of expression, in terms of the learning style and text-dependency that is characteristic of much of the learning in the classes that the students were most familiar with. Creative expression also required students to leave their comfort zones in order to express knowledge, learning, and ideas in ways that were subjective and innovative.
Due to the discomfort, courage, and vulnerability that this called upon for the students, interviewees described a shifted sense about themselves: pride, insight, and discovery about capacities and skills that had previously been unacknowledged.
Learning was heightened, and the learners had the opportunity to appreciate the unpredictable learning that comes from discomfort.
New, Disrupting Realizations. Intentions and rupture were also explored in the interviews. The focus on social justice learning was particularly impacted through the critical arts-based pedagogy. The ruptures in normative perceptions were related to privilege, colonization processes, and invisible inequity.