Research on Art Creative Teaching-A Case Study of Design And

International Journal of Affective Engineering Vol.18 No.4 pp.205-214 (2019) doi: 10.5057/ijae.IJAE-D-18-00010

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Research on Art Creative Teaching – A Case Study of Design and Teaching Activities of Elementary Students in Taiwan –

Li-Chun HUANG*, Ming-Chuan HO** and Thomas Chiang BLAIR***

* Graduate School of Design, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 6F-2, No.55, Sec. 1, Zhonghua Rd.,Taichung City 40041, Taiwan (R.O.C.) ** National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan *** National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan

Abstract: The education theories in Taiwan during the last 30 years are heavily influenced by trends of postmodern art. Therefore, design teaching that emphasizes practicality has received more attention in national art curriculum. The first author is an elementary school art teacher who have planned T-shirt-design activity for the last 6 years, to analyze students’ design abilities and aesthetic expression in the pseudorealistic stage. On this research, the results of questionnaires were analysis with SPSS 18.0, and interviews were also conducted. The results revealed 77% of students were able to create variations of the provided motifs, reflecting their abilities to create their own designs. The students tended to use pure and warm colors required guidance to create complicated designs. The students demonstrated ability to use Chinese, English, and numbers to convey their thoughts and feelings. The results also showed that the T-shirt-design creative teaching activity could stimulate elementary students’ creativity. Keywords: Elementary school design education, Design creative teaching, Contemporary artistic trend

In 2001, the 9-year mandatory education policy was 1. INTRODUCTION implemented in Taiwan, conventional visual art teaching activities were incorporated as part of the arts and The 21st century is the era of the competitive knowledge humanities learning field [28]. However, many experts economy. In response to the challenges, the promotion and the first author who has taught primary school for and application of creativity has become a crucial topic 26 years (here after referred to as “the first author”) have in various research fields around the world. Sternberg discovered that Progressionism is prevalent in Taiwan and Lubart (1995) indicated that creativity is an ability and the specialization of teachers are not so valued in that can be developed through cultivation, training, and primary schools. There only have small number of study [24]. A creative environment and teaching activities trained teachers to teach arts courses in elementary can inspire and enhance children’s creativity, thereby schools, in general, art courses have teached by class guiding their growth into individuals with creative ability. teachers mostly. These class teachers normally have Creativity is an essential factor of art creating, and child- to make preparations for four or five different subjects. hood is the initial stage of creative development. Thus, It is simply asking too much for them to prepare for design activities, which entail tapping into one’s creativity, the practical and lifestyle design education courses. may be used to foster creativity [7]. Design activities In Taiwan, some students traditionally wear class inspire and nurture children’s creativity. uniforms (T-shirts) when participating in routine school In postmodern art, the line between pure art and popular activities. In the past, the class uniforms of the Li-Ming art has become obscure, or even disappeared [11]. Under Elementary School which the first author teaches in have the influence of postmodern artistic thinking, people stop generally been designed and printed by design studios; admiring the idea of “art for art’s sake”, begin to research teachers have sometimes appointed some students to the art under cultural and social contexts. In consequence, design the uniforms. Participation of all students in a art education in schools will also be affected by such class in designing class uniforms is rare. The first author contemporary artistic trend. In art education, the social- initiated a T-shirt-design creative teaching activity is to ization of art and the integration of art and daily life enable the Li-Ming Elementary School spirit around issues will be stressed. Therefore, incorporating the spirit its art and humanities courses, also to increase the art- of practical art into today’s art courses that educators course content within students’ lives. In the activity, cannot neglect. students in the pseudorealistic stage hand-drew designs,

Received: 2018.06.29 / Accepted: 2018.12.20 Copyright © 2018 Japan Society of Kansei Engineering. J-STAGE Advance Published Date: 2019.07.24 205 All Rights Reserved. International Journal of Affective Engineering Vol.18 No.4

which were then analyzed to determine the students’ of art teachers is required to follow rigorous course- levels of creativity and their abilities to design T-shirts oriented curriculum [5]. At this point, mainstream art and demonstrate aesthetic sensibilities. In addition, the education in Taiwan was still based on child-centered art questionnaires and interviews were also used to further education theory. understand the students’ design concepts and their In the late 1980s, besides fine arts, courses of DBAE thoughts and feelings about the learning activity (i.e., on folk customs and popular arts were also opened [2]. designing class uniforms). The objective of the activity As DBAE continued to develop, Hamblen renamed and this study was to enrich the design-education postmodern-oriented, subject-based art education as curriculum of the Li-Ming Elementary School, using “neo-DBAE” [16]. After 1993, the design of new art design activities to elevate students’ creativity and education courses in junior high and elementary schools, abilities to adapt to new artistic trends. and the emphasis on art appreciation teaching, were considered the result of influence from neo-DBAE 2. OVERVIEW education theories [25]. Art education during this period not only stressed the improvement of skills in use of 2.1 Elementary School Art Education in Taiwan Today media, but also developing students’ taste and apprecia- In 1895, after Taiwan became a Japanese colony, tion for arts. Taiwan started to adopt art education ideas from 2.1.2 1994 to now other countries, and schools also officially began to Postmodern art became a trend in the 1970s [27]. offer art courses. In 1945, Taiwan was returned to the In 1996, American scholars Efland, Freeman, and Stuhr Republic of China, and Taiwanese educators took over pointed out in their book Postmodern Art Education: An the responsibility of designing art courses. Therefore, Approach to Curriculum. The authors’ view toward art this paper presents a brief history of Taiwan elementary education was a culturally diverse one. The assertion that art and design education from 1945 to the present in art and daily life objects and matters had to be integrated. light of the theme of changes in art education thinking Art presentation was the description of the contents of in the modern world and the reforms of Taiwanese art life of an individual’s experiences [17]. June King McFee courses. (1970) strongly advocated for community-based art 2.1.1 1945 to 1993 education [21]. She saw art education as a process In 1948, the education authority announced that through which students could discover, perceive, and “painting” classes were renamed “art” classes and the praise the value within community; art education had to curriculum would include art appreciation, presentation, be able to make students become more part of society who and learning. In lower grades, art classes were combined can participate and promote social activities and social with “crafts” classes to become “task” classes in Taiwan. development. The abovementioned artistic thinking and In 1962, the education authority revised the curricular ideas about art education caused Taiwan’s art education standards [25]. It was around that time when Lowenfeld program emphasize the integration of the art and sociality, (1947), in the US, and Read (1958), in the UK, put forth art and daily life issues, art and cultural exchange and so the “child-centered art education” theory. This theory was on [20]. The 9-year Mandatory Curricular Guidelines introduced into Taiwan in the 1960s and had an impact on were implemented in 2001 and remain in force even Taiwanese visual art education for over three decades [5]. today; “learning areas” have replaced separate subject Nevertheless, the children’s natural growth was overem- teaching[4]. Therefore, art courses for lower grade phasized and their creativity was overvalued, making students are consolidated into the “life curriculum,” and art education become an instrument that helps children the art courses for third through ninth grades are included grow up physically and mentally and losing its unique in the “arts and humanities learning areas” [25]. To function [15]. ensure that Taiwanese students have the ability to face and In 1968, Taiwan launched its 9-year mandatory adapt to the world full of uncertainty and ever-changing in education. Later in 1975, art and crafts were consolidated, 21st century, curricular design is approached with an and the teaching hours (for each week) were reduced. atmosphere of practicality, suitability, flexibility and There was a greater emphasis placed on design [25]. diversity that takes into account measures to enhance In the 1960s, American art educators Eisner, Clark, and students’ knowledge and understandings of their surround- Greer put forth the assertion of Discipline-based Art ings and uses of the art to guide them to influence and Education (DBAE) [8]. In DBAE, the teaching approach improve their society and environment.

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2.2 Creativity in Art Education W. Lambert Brittain (1922–1987), has exhibited the most In 1950, J. P. Guilford’s (1897–1987) study on substantial and sustained influence on art education [19]. “creativity,” were presented at the annual American The book suggests that children’s cognitive development Psychological Association meeting, initiated a trend of is divided into six stages. Drawings created by children in creativity-related studies [13]. In terms of art education, the pseudorealistic stage (approximately 11–13 years old) after the emergence of the concept of “child-centered are characterized as follows: art education”, an aesthetic concept that encouraged (1) Children in this stage have a gap exists between their children to express themselves and create, in the 1940s, observation skills and drawing skills. Therefore, creativity output and artistic activities have since teachers must teach or demonstrate drawing tech- become inseparable. Subsequently, creativity-related niques to these children. studies performed by Taiwanese and foreign scholars (2) The children’s mental development has reached increased in number, and their definitions of and theories the formal operational stage, as described by regarding creativity diverged due to their different Piaget [22]. They possess enough intelligence to perspectives in their studies [6]. In contemporary art solve problems, are developing the ability to judge education, students are taught to focus on not only their artwork critically, and create fewer irrational formal and stylistic beauty, but also on social and drawings. Children in this stage engage in abstract cultural issues such as globalization, localization, social thinking, value their artwork, and produce increas- justice, and environmental pollution. Social issues have ingly realistic drawings of people. become integral to artistic expression, expanding the (3) Based on the children’s different perceptual responses, vision of contemporary visual arts. Therefore, scholars their visual art representation can be divided into of contemporary art education generally agree on the two categories (i.e., visual and nonvisual [tactile]). notion of “creativity informed by the social system,” “Visually inclined” children notice changes in light which maintains that creativity is a product of the and shade in the environment, use colors that are close society rather than of the individual; involves exchanges to those in nature, and are able to adjust their use of knowledge, ideas, and opinions among people; of colors according to their visual impressions. and can promote “interactions” between ideas and “Tactilely inclined” students choose which colors to people [3]. In addition, because different scholars have use in their artwork according to their subjective proposed different methods for measuring creativity. emotions [18]. Therefore, it is challenging to establish a standard evalu- ation system [30]. Hocevar (1981) and Bachelor (1989) 3. STUDY DESIGN divided more than a hundred tools or methods for measuring creativity into eight categories, which were Children aged 11–12 are approaching the mature “tests of divergent thinking,” “attitude and interest pseudorealistic stage in terms of their art creation and inventories,” “personality inventories,” “biographical expression skills. Therefore, instilling them with more inventories,” “rating by teacher, peer, and supervisors,” design concepts and experiences through appropriate “judgments of product,” “eminence,” and “self-reported design-related activities will enhance their art creation creative activities and achievements” [29]. “Judgments and expression skills during their adolescence stage. of product” assesses people’s creativity by evaluating In creative teaching, teachers plan, design, and apply the artwork or products that they create [24]. In novel teaching directions, methods, and activities to addition, the judges will use varying indicators to adapt to students’ mental development, trigger their assess creativity according to the definition of creativity motivation to learn, help them create meaningful that is given [23]. learning experiences, and achieve educational goals [14]. In Taiwan and the world, there are numerous studies 2.3 The Pseudorealistic Stage in Art Education conducted on design-based creative teaching for high Wang De-yu, an art education scholar in Taiwan, school and university students, but scant studies conducted remarked that numerous domestic and foreign studies on on design-based creative teaching for elementary students. children’s mental imagery and the development of their Current design teaching provided to elementary students drawing and art-creation abilities have been conducted. in Taiwan mostly entails creating 2D design such as Of these studies, the book Creative and Mental Growth, creating drawings and making cards and posters. The use by American scholars Viktor Lowenfeld (1903–1960) and of T-shirt-design should be a more favorable option.

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Because T-shirts are 3D design objects, inexpensive to (2) Questionnaire survey: The researchers designed a make, easy to commercialize, people regularly wear semi-open-ended questionnaire, which the students them and children are familiar with them. The first author were required to complete after concluding the activity. is a teacher in the Li-Ming Elementary School. The Six visual arts teachers (three with master’s degrees students of grade six students in the Li-Ming traditionally and three with bachelor’s degrees), each with more wear class uniforms (T-shirts) when participating in than five years of teaching experience, and five routine school activities. The first author created and grade-five and grade-six teachers (three with master’s implemented a T-shirt-design activity for grade five degrees and two with bachelor’s degrees) were asked students, providing them an opportunity to design their to conduct an expert review of the questionnaire. ideal class uniform. The first author encouraged other The questionnaire was subsequently divided into teachers to implement the activity with their classes three parts. The first part was used to collect the as well. The researchers who conducted this study students’ basic information (e.g., class, age, and sex) (here after referred to as “the researchers”) employed and previous design experience; the second part the observer narrative method to observe and record examined the aesthetic presentation (e.g., motifs and the students’ reactions during the design activities. colors) in the students’ T-shirt designs, the degree In addition, the researchers used questionnaires and which the designs were modified from or imitated interviews to gain insights into the students’ thoughts designs they had encountered, and how much help and feelings about the class uniform design activity. was provided by the students’ parents and teachers; The results of this study may be used to design creative and the third part involved assessment of the students’ education activities that stimulate students’ design thoughts and feelings about the T-shirt-design potential and aesthetic expression, elevate their abilities activity, how much the students liked their designs, to adapt to new artistic trends, and enable them to and how much each student’s peers like the student’s showcase their creativity. design. (3) Interview survey: During the activity, the first author 3.1 Study Objectives asked the students questions according to the The objectives of this study were as follows: student’s educational requirements and the goals of (1) Assess whether the creative teaching activity the study. The questions included the following: can elevate students’ design abilities, enhanced “How and why did you choose this design?”; their aesthetic sensibilities, and fostered their “Did your family members help you draw the creativity. design?”; and “Do you like your design?” Students (2) Determine whether the artwork designed by the students whose designs were relatively aesthetically sound or can reflect the characteristics of pseudorealistic-stage who offered unique responses to the questionnaire children’s drawings as indicated by Lowenfeld and survey were interviewed in depth by the researchers Brittain [18]. in the teachers’ lounge during lunch or after school. (3) Understand the students’ thoughts about design learn- ing and creation after their participation in the design 3.3 Study Questions activity. This study focused on 4 research parts. 1. What are some suitable motifs for the student designed 3.2 Study Methods T-shirts? What are the purposes for adopting such To accomplish the study objectives, 3 kind of methods themes? were used: 2. How students use color and why? (1) Observation: The researchers utilized the observer 3. How able are students to design patterns indepen- narrative method to collect and record the students’ dently? Will the patterns students design be able to learning processes. Researchers took notes during the convey their intended messages? session and subsequently used these notes as data 4. Will the learning activity of designing class uniforms from which they discerned children’s behavioral trigger the schoolchildren’s interest in creating their patterns. To avoid interfering with the students’ own works? learning processes, no video or tape recorders 5. Do the T-shirts designed by the students show were used in the classroom to record the students’ remarkable creativity? Does the T-shirt-design creative engagement with the activity. teaching activity stimulate the creativity of students?

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3.4 Study Procedure thoughts during the learning process. This study

＊ Establishing study contents, meth- adopted the “judgments of product” concept proposed ods, and steps Collecting and sorting related ＊ Establishing teaching steps and the → documents and data → by Amabile (1996) to divide artwork creativity into contents of the teaching materials Conducting the teaching activity five levels, which were “very creative” (5 points), Preparing teaching materials → → (Dec. 2014) “creative” (4 points), “neither creative nor uncreative” ＊ Initial administration of the ques- ＊ Revising questionnaire contents tionnaire → ＊ Modifying teaching steps and the → (3 points), “uncreative” (2 points), and “very uncreative” ＊ Review of initial study results contents of the teaching materials (1 point), to assess the creativity demonstrated by the ＊ Record the results of natural Conduct the teaching activity again observation students’ artwork [1]. (Nov. 2015) → ＊ Complete all interviews → ＊ Complete questionnaire survey ＊ Quantify and analyze questionnaire survey data ＊ Write and present study results 3.5 Study Time and Targets The teaching activity of this study began in December 2014 The educational activity was designed as follows: and which ended around June 2016. The total of 1 1/2 year, (1) Activity objectives: (a) Enable all students to design spanned between two school years. The targets of the study their ideal school uniform; and (b) enrich the students’ were fifth grade students at an elementary school in design experience and elevate their creative and Taichung City. The preliminary questionnaire survey and aesthetic expression capabilities. teaching were conducted on 28 students during the first (2) Activity materials and content: The teachers used an year, and the initial study was performed on 68 students Internet search engine (Google) to identify and select (41 11-year-olds and 27 12-year-olds) during the second year. T-shirt-design images to use as teaching materials. And the third year, the study and teaching were conducted The materials were divided into categories according on 57 students (42 11-year-olds and 15 12-year-olds). The to designers or styles and were sequentially introduced results of this study are taken from these 57 fifth grade to the students using appropriate descriptions. The students at the elementary school where I was employed. teaching materials were created with computer presen- tation software, and were presented to the students 3.6 Difficulties and Limitations of Study during class using computers and projectors. Throughout this action research, besides the experi- (3) Activity procedure: The teachers used computers and mental course, the students had to attend other classes. projectors to introduce students to various aspects of For this reason, the first author was unable to conduct the the T-shirt designs, displaying pictures or design draw- same teaching activity repeatedly on the same group of ings of T-shirts while explaining related details such as students, and therefore the first author had to use new T-shirt design and style, T-shirt creation techniques students in the following year with which to conduct and materials and so on for 20 min. Subsequently, as modified teaching and study approaches. Consequently, the activity began, the teacher demonstrated design the study time became longer than originally anticipated. techniques and guided the students, and the segment This teaching activity and study were only performed at lasted for 70 min. During the final 20 min of the activity, one school; hence, the expandability and universality of each student presented and explained their design the results of this study are undetermined. Because of drawing to the class. children’s shorter attention spans and their inferior speak- (4) Assessment of the activity: During the design activity, ing and comprehension skills compared to teenagers the researchers recorded observations and conducted and adults, questionnaires used in related literature were interviews to assess the students’ learning stages. The inappropriate for the Li-Ming Elementary School students. researchers used Lowenfeld and Brittain’s (1982) Accordingly, children’s stage of physical and mental characterization of pseudorealistic-stage children’s development must be considered in determining ques- drawings and related items for evaluation proposed tionnaire design, the use of professional terms, and the by Gilbert A. Clark in Clarks’ Drawing Abilities Test length of questionnaires when said questionnaires are to (i.e., topics, senses, forms, expressions, techniques, be administered to children. Although the questionnaire and drawing ability) to evaluate the aesthetic expres- used in this study was assessed and modified by experts sion of students’ work and the development of their and revised according to suggestions from grade-five creativity [9]. In addition, teachers distributed ques- students before it was disseminated, it could not tionnaires by which students were asked to assess completely measure the students’ deepest thoughts. their designs. The researchers used the questionnaire Therefore, semi-open interviews were required to obtain results to analyze the students’ designs and their data to complement the results of the questionnaire.

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4. STUDY RESULTS AND FINDINGS Table 2: The copying degree of the motif’s pattern No. of Times Percentage The first author instructed the students, observed their No changes 5 8.6% Slight Changes 2 3.4% learning stages, and conducted interviews with them Some Changes 9 15.5% during class. After the educational activity and surveys Big Changes 4 6.9% had been completed, the first author analyzed the students’ Completely changed 2 3.4% Total 22 37.8% design drawings to evaluate the students’ creativity and Self-created 36 62.2% aesthetic expression. As described, students whose design drawings or questionnaire survey results were relatively original were interviewed. The study results are summa- rized subsequently.

4.1 Types of motifs Figure 3: Children often use similar themes In this activity, 62.5% of students were able to come up with their own motifs for T-shirt patterns. Others referred 4.2 Use of colors to use characters and images from popular cartoons, or Besides the original colors in the motifs (like the seven ideas drawn from the Internet (15.5%) or patterns from colors of the rainbow and white clouds), the elementary books (6.9%). However, 73% of students could make students also employed other colors that they liked. But proper changes to the motifs they copied or make adapta- most of them used a lot of primary and warm colors, such tions from them (Figs. 1-2; Tables 1-2). At the same time, as red and yellow. That is conformed to the hobbies of different children adopted similar motifs, including most children preferring bright colors. However, because crowns, stars, rainbows, basketballs, and so on (Fig. 3). of some elementary students’ practical consideration, These patterns suggest that some children would like those clothes used black and purple on would not show to win the T-ball or basketball tournament or other dirty for long wearing. And some elementary students inter-school sports competitions (as evidenced by the also thought that dark colors looked “cooler” and more crown and cloverleaf images), whereas some others mysterious (Tables 3-4; Fig. 4). hoped to have a rainbow-like beautiful life or to be like shining stars in other people’s eyes. Such unpretentious art expressions coincide with the mentality of children in the pseudo realistic stage. They want to be cool, pursue their dreams, and are full of ideals and imagination. Figure 4: Elementary students used a lot of black and blue Table 3: Ratios of colors elementary students use Color No. of Times Percentage Warm colors (red, orange, and yellow) 82 37% Cold colors (green, blue, and purple) 67 31% Figure 1: The Whitebeard Pirates logo from One Piece, Neutral colors (black, white, and gray) 51 24% a popular cartoon Others 15 8% Total 262 100%

Table 4: Number of times each color was used

Figure 2: Dooby, from a popular cartoon Table 1: The sources of motif’s pattern No. of Times Percentage Books 4 6.9% Films 1 1.7% Samples 6, 9, 21, 22, 26 and 30: “I like these colors.” The Internet 9 15.5% Samples 4, 15, 20, 27, 32 and 38: “These colors are bright and pretty.” Existing Patterns on Objects 3 5.2% Samples 4, 28, 35 and 49: “The colors fit the pattern.” Others 5 8.6% Samples 24 and 29: “Yellow represents sunshine and the Yellow Self-created 36 62.1% Emperor, and blue represents the sky.” Total 58 100% Samples 9, 17and 57: “These things are supposed to be these colors.”

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Table 7: Ratios of elementary students using and not using texts No. of Times Percentage No 14 24.6% Yes 43 75.4% Total 57 100.0%

Figure 5: Clean and simple designs with clearly presented themes Table 8: Types of language elementary students use in their designs

Figure 6: Messages and meanings behind motifs clearly conveyed to viewers Table 5: Ratios of elementary students having and not having problems when designing No. of Times Percentage No problems 35 61.4% Some problems 21 36.8% Figure 7: Designs including images and texts Lots of problems 1 1.8% Total 57 100.0%

Table 6: How elementary students solved problems encountered when designing Samples 6, 7, 34 and 40: seeking advice from the teacher Samples 26, 33, 46 and 52: seeking classmates’ opinions Figure 8: Designs using numbers and English Samples 32, 38 and 54: thinking it over Samples 25 and 37: asking family members or seeking their help Sample 3: referring to images in books or on the Internet

4.3 Image presentation Nearly half (47.4%) of targets within the study were Figure 9: Designs complying with class characteristics and team spirit able to design their own patterns and stuck to the aesthetic principle of designing with a clean and simple patterns which can clearly presented their themes (Fig. 5). Elementary students also tried their best to use their designs to convey the messages and ideas they wanted to Figure 10: Works affirmed by most classmates express (Fig. 6). Meanwhile, more than 26.3% of the elementary students adopted or adapted their ideas from 4.5 Application of design principles images they found on the internet. If elementary students Almost all (91%) of elementary students within the encountered difficulties in the design process, they would study had no previous experience with designing an ask their family members for help and discussed ideas objects or patterns. To prevent an overemphasis on design with their classmates or seek advices and guidance’s principles from decreasing the interest of the elementary from the teacher (Tables 5-6). students in the design of objects, I only listed out some principles of design aesthetics on draft paper to guide the 4.4 Use of texts to convey messages elementary students to design a good T-shirt (Table 9). Besides drawing patterns, the elementary students in Then, in accordance with the works created by the children the study also used the number that represented their class. and their individual abilities, I provided further explana- 3/4 (75%) of them used Chinese or English to express tions and stressed the design principles. The results of certain special features of the class (being good at basket- the teaching and study showed that there was still quite ball, smart, etc.) and to exhibit their ambition to win a lot of room for improvement in the patterns designed different interschool competitions (victory, championship). by elementary students in the pseudo realistic stage. In addition, the elementary students also used texts that Surprisingly, after the end of the teaching activities, most matched the motifs, and placed them in the right spot to of the elementary students till remembered the design give a fine finishing touch (Tables 7-8; Figs. 7-8). principles taught by the teachers. They also tried their best

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to design simple and clean T-shirts of good classroom 4.7 Other findings and verification features and teamwork (Table 10; Fig. 9). Guilford noted that creative people must also have a matching personality or motivation to make their think- Table 9: Elementary students’ experience with designing things ing and creativity effective [26]. In this study, 73.7% of on their own the students demonstrated patience, passion for creativity, No. of Times Percentage and creative techniques during the learning process Having no experience with designing things 52 91.2% Having experience with designing things 5 8.8% (more than those demonstrated in other art classes). Total 57 100.0% Additionally, they overcame numerous obstacles to create school-uniform designs that would be chosen as the Table 10: Ratios of T-shirt design principles applied by schoolchildren (multiple choice) students’ favorites. These results indicate that practical design courses can spark students’ interest in the learning process, inspire their passion to create, and induce them to create original design drawings (Fig. 11). When elementary students completed designs that were affirmed and praised by their classmates and teachers, the increase of self-confidence in and liking for artistic creation was

A1: Design must be creative design, meet the class character and team spirit. obvious (Fig. 10; Table 12). The study proves that A2: Don’t use too many colors to save printing costs. elementary students in the pseudo realistic stage do value A3: It’s available to plus other decorative patches or color bar at collar, cuffs and other places. their own works. A4: The size of pattern and text must be controlled in the range of T-shirt. A5: Round neck or V-neck and other shape of T-shirt must be fatten the patterns.

4.6 Assessing creativity Design is considered to be a strong indicator of creativ- ity because design activities are a process that requires people to utilize their creativity. The use of creativity Figure 11: Process of revision of the reverse side of Sample 17 during design involves introducing new structures (to existing things), new unit objects, or new methods of Table 12: Elementary students’ feelings and opinions about arrangement to change present design prototypes [7]. the class uniform design activity Selecting appropriate tools or methods for measuring the Samples 2. 5, 14, 20, 36, and 40: “It was fun to design class students’ creativity based on their artwork is a challenging uniforms and I was happy to do it. It was my first time to design clothes, and there were some problems, but I solved them and task. Accordingly, this study recruited three art teachers had fun doing that. The teacher was strict, but I was happy to with more than 10 years of teaching experience. The participate in designing a class uniform. It was great that I could design my own patterns.” teachers divided the students’ creativity into five levels to Samples 9, 16 and 32: “It was an opportunity to express my own judge the creativity of their design artwork. The results ideas and understand others’ ideas. I was happy to see everyone’s showed that 56.2%, 29.8%, and 14% of the artwork love and care for the class. A class uniform represents the class, were identified as being “very creative,” “neither creative so I had to design something special.” Samples 10, 22 and 46: “It was difficult to design clothes on my own, but I felt accom- nor uncreative,” and “uncreative or very uncreative,” plishing [sic.] when the design was successfully completed. Then respectively (Table 11), which signified that the judges I realized it was not as tough as I had thought. It was also an opportunity to improve my painting skills.” considered more than half of the students’ design artwork Samples 12, 26, 30, 42 and 49: “I got to see different design to be creative, confirming that the T-shirt-design creative styles and learn a lot of painting skills from the classmates’ teaching activity can stimulate the creativity of students. works. It was an opportunity to use our imagination and learn to design clothes.” Table 11: Creativity level of the artwork created by the students Samples 25, 33, 53 and 57: “It was not important whether my work was chosen by the classmates, but I had to take the design Score No. of students Percentage job seriously and make good use of my creativity. I saw how Very creative 5-4 11 19.4% serious and hardworking everybody was about designing class Creative 4-3 21 36.8% uniforms. With this experience, I will not be afraid of designing Neither creative nor uncreative 3 17 29.8% objects anymore.” Uncreative 3-2 5 8.8% Samples 8, 13, 29 and 38: “It was tiring and frustrating to have to Very uncreative 2-1 3 5.2% revise my design repeatedly, and coloring was a lot of work, but Total 57 100% It was fun.”

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5. CONCLUSION Table 13: Degrees of elementary students liking for designing class uniforms Accumulated Gardner (1993) examined the development and demon- No. of Times Percentage Percentage stration of creativity and proposed that displays of Like it very much 3 5.2% 5.2% creativity can be divided into big C [12]. creativity Quite like it 20 35.1% 40.4% and little c. creativity. “Little c. creativity,” also called Like it 19 33.3% 73.7% Like it OK 9 15.8% 89.5% “everyday creativity,” refers to ideas or solutions that Dislike it 6 10.5% 100.0% people devise to solve daily problems [10]. The educa- Total 57 100.0% tional activity introduced in this study was designed to guide students in using “little c. creativity”; to create designs comply well with the aesthetic sense and design drawings. The design activity enabled the students psychological development of elementary students in to use this type of creativity to solve daily problems, the pseudo realistic stage. This suggests that design- understand design-related aesthetic principles. In addition, learning activities can stimulate students’ potential for the children’s’ diligence in completing the design drawings creative work. The T shirt-design activity has been strengthened their self-esteem. The educational design widely used by the teachers of the Li-Ming Elementary activity introduced by the researchers to solve educational School. The researchers hope that this study may be used challenges achieved the following results: to enrich art education in elementary schools as well as (1) Topics: Nearly 2/3(63%) of the elementary students enhance students’ creativity and their abilities to adapt to in the design activity tried to design their own themed new artistic trends. T-shirt patterns. Over 70% of those copying patterns from the internet or books were able to make changes to the motifs they duplicated. This indicates that such REFERENCES design teaching activities can accomplish the objec- 1. Amabile, T. M.; The social psychology of creativity, tive of guiding students to play their creativity. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1983. (2) Senses: Reacher shows 37% elementary students 2. Chalmers, F. G.; Celebrating pluralism: Art, education, used primary or warm colors, but also like black, and cultural diversity, The Getty Center for Education blue, yellow, and red, on the T-shirts and this complies in the Arts, Angeles, CA, 1996. with elementary students’ preference for bright, 3. Chang, C. L.; A study on elementary school students’ primary colors. creativity through integrated curriculum in contempo- (3) Forms: Majority of these elementary students were rary art education, PhD Thesis, Department of Fine able to stick to the aesthetic principle of designing Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, 2011. clean and simple patterns with the themes clearly 4. Chen, B.; An analysis of the concepts and theories presented, but assistance and guidance from the behind 9-year mandatory education curricula, A teacher or family members was still needed when the selection of papers from seminars on 9-year mandatory patterns were complicated. education curricula: Curricula in a new era. Associa- (4) Expressions: Most of the English and numbers the tion for Research and Development of Teaching elementary students applied on the T-shirts were Materials, Taipei,1999. compatible with the patterns they designed and 5. Chen, C., and Huang, R.; Elementary school art and clearly conveyed their ideas and feelings. crafts teaching materials and methods. Wunan (5) Creativity: 56.2% the students’ artwork pieces were Publishing, Taipei, 1999. identified as creative, verifying that the T-shirt-design 6. Chen, Y. C.; The structure of the affected students creative teaching activity can stimulate the creativity creativity and creative thinking teaching the treatment of students. effect of the meta-analysis, PhD Thesis, Department 73% of the elementary students enjoyed the class of Special Education, National Kaohsiung Normal uniform design activity. Most of these elementary students University, 2007. thought it was fun to design T-shirts (Tables 12-13). 7. Chen, Z. R.; A design creativity model for peer-group Meanwhile, the author also discovered that elementary interactions, PhD Thesis, Department of Civil Engi- students in the pseudo realistic stage can make an effort neering, National Chiao Tung University, 2012. and actively participate in the designing of practical 8. Clark, G. A., Day, M. D., and Greer, W. D.; Discipline- things, and the aesthetics and expressiveness of their based art education: Becoming students of art, The

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