THINKING WITH YOUR HANDS - THE WORK OF ART AS A VECTOR IN A WORK PROJECT: A CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The result of a case study of a pedagogical experiment conducted in the classroom is presented, as part of the Master's in Art Education, defended in February 2024, at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, focusing on the issue of the development of global learning in the first cycle of Basic Education of the Portuguese education system (children between six and nine years old), with the aim of developing a visual arts project, starting from the artwork, applying a model that combines methodologies of artistic teaching with project work, in order to promote creativity and individual expression. A collaboration project was designed between the head teacher and the specialist teacher, with the purpose of facilitating learning, interconnecting them. Work through collaborative projects facilitated a unique, transformative path, involving uncertainty, doubt, and improvisation. It allowed understanding how the approaches of Art Education can be linked to various curricular areas, resulting in multiple interactions in the approach to knowledge, involving children in its construction and therefore making it more meaningful. The crossing between action research methodologies and ethnographic studies or naturalistic research carried out in this work contributed to a better reflection of this experience. The experience presented here encompasses elements that, although not new, have become true pedagogical innovations over decades. By combining differently here, its transversal applicability in the learning experiences of the children in our sample is demonstrated.