The domestication of mermaids: Capturing the experience of K--12 art pre-service teacher candidates in the Teacher Education Program at the University of Denver (Colorado).

摘要

Teacher Education programs across the United States are host to the needs of pre-service teachers in the education field. When this scope becomes broader and pre-service teachers from disciplines other that regular education, enter teacher preparation settings, issues with instructional practice and content support arise. The k--12 art pre-service teacher candidates in the University of Denver, Teacher Education Program (TEP), are art specialists trying to find their place in the educational scheme of state requirements which dictate the academic mandates for teacher certification. With no art education major in the state of Colorado, the Teacher Education Program (TEP) at the University of Denver, is one of the few options these individuals have to acquire the teacher certification credentials they need in order to teach art in k--12 art classrooms.; In the TEP these k--12 art pre-service teacher candidates are asked to join ranks with regular education colleagues in a condensed, extremely intense, instructional and practicum learning experience. Course offerings are focused on the state mandated educational requirements necessary for accreditation and certification. Art requirements are addressed in only two methods classes.; Using in-depth interviewing, four pre-service art teacher candidates in the TEP revealed their perceptions regarding the experiences and encounters they have with non-art peers, instructors and curriculum. The categories and sub-categories identified in the study revealed the genuine nature of art in a non-art context. Finally, this study, lead to implications for the TEP and teacher education in general. Specific implications had to do with notions of process over product, thinking in images versus thinking in words and the idea that ambiguous and unanswerable problems may be more suited for the art room than for the regular education classroom. In addition, the study looked at lesson plan design and differences in the planning stages for regular education and art education.