Chula Demonstration School’s Award-Winning Innovation – “History of Art” Makes Learning “Fun”

A teacher at Chulalongkorn University Demonstration Elementary School has created “History of Art – The Journey”, an innovative educational media for art history education dedicated to elementary school students who can practice their reading, listening, hands-on and play skills while fully enjoying the world of art.

“Because art is not just painting,” said Ajarn Supinya Somta from Chulalongkorn University Demonstration School, Elementary Division, she, therefore, developed an innovative learning set, “History of Art – the Journey” for students to learn about Western art history on their own through games, and other fun activities. Recently, it received an outstanding innovation award from Thailand Research Expo 2021.

The origin of innovative learning materials for art history for elementary school students

Ajarn Supinya related the experience from the art classroom that sparked this outstanding learning innovation concept saying that “when we gave examples of certain artists’ work for them to copy and study the artists’ techniques, students would be interested about the origins of the art and artists. So, we experimented with offering an elective class about a brief history of art through a lecture. We found that the children were interested in learning more about art, so we later developed a learning kit that is more activities-based.”

Teaching Discipline-Based Art History to Elementary School Students

Most of the art classes for elementary school do not teach art history but tend to focus on the creation of art. However, the “History of Art, the Journey” pushes the boundary of traditional art education. Ajarn Supinya explained that learning to draw is just one of the four cores of Discipline-Based Art Education, which consists of

1. Art Aesthetics

2. Art History

3. Art Criticism

4. Art production

“Before creating a piece of art, learners need to possess an understand and skills in all four cores disciplines to get the most benefits,” said Ajarn Supinya.

History of Art Curriculum

For “History of Art, the Journey”, children will learn the history of Western art in six periods: Prehistoric, Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary.

“Western art history is quite rich and the content can be arranged in chronological order to make it easier to understand. In addition, studying Western history will allow children to see different cultures and compare the differences of Western culture with their own,” Ajarn Supinya explained.

“But what is more important than memorizing the names or the works of each era is to convey to children how the art of each era has different concepts and origins, and make them understand that art is not just a picture, but it’s the ideology of the people of that era.”

“History of Art” Learning Activity Set

Ajarn Supinya explained that each child has a different learning style, so the “History of Art, the Journey” learning kit is designed to meet the diverse needs of learners with the following activities:

“History of Art” Book

focuses on cartoon images, and adventure stories. Apart from a book form, a digital flip-book format is also available for those who prefer reading online by scanning the QR code.

Online lessons

take students on a 3D tour of art museums which will lead to more interesting research.

Matching card game

is a game of matching the works of art with their era. Besides learning to play the game by themselves, teachers can also use the game to enhance interaction in the classroom.

Art Experiment Set

For learners who enjoy hands-on practice, this activity set has art activities at the end of the chapter with art supplies for practice. For example, the prehistoric art set has samples of cave paintings for students to learn and experiment with cave paintings using the provided supplies.

Conclusion

“This innovation addresses the needs of the individual learner. People who like to listen can turn on video clips. Those who like to read can turn to the book. Those who like to play games also play card games. Those who are not interested in the content but like to practice art can do so. Students can enjoy learning on their own without the teacher’s help,” said Ajarn Supinya while adding that she plans to add Asian art history content for students to learn more and enjoy.

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