An Action Research on Enacting Play-Based Pedagogy in a Pre-Service Teachers' Art Classroom Yuting Ye University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2017 An Action Research on Enacting Play-based Pedagogy in a Pre-service Teachers' Art Classroom Yuting Ye University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Art Education Commons Recommended Citation Ye, Yuting, "An Action Research on Enacting Play-based Pedagogy in a Pre-service Teachers' Art Classroom" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 1957. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/1957 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN ACTION RESEARCH ON ENACTING PLAY-BASED PEDAGOGY IN A PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ART CLASSROOM by Yuting Ye A Thesis Submitted in Partial FulFillment oF the Requirements For the Degree oF Master oF Science in Art Education at The University oF Wisconsin-Milwaukee August 2017 ABSTRACT AN ACTION RESEARCH ON ENACTING PLAY-BASED PEDAGOGY IN A PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ ART CLASSROOM by Yuting Ye The University oF Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2017 Under the Supervision oF ProFessor Dr. Rina Kundu As a school-based art educator, I advocate For an educational environment that embraces and values concepts of play and play-based pedagogy and encourage understandings of the signiFicant role oF play in teaching and learning and its relation to art, artiFacts, and multiculturalism. This thesis documents an action research project, reFlecting a dialogue about play-based art education in a college classroom. As a social constructivist and an advocate For multiculturalism, I introduced knowledge on play-based pedagogy and its beneFits to college students and studied my practices in relation to student learning, especially those students in pre-service teacher education programs. Concepts associated with play included true or authentic play, material rich environmental learning, integration oF play with art and other disciplines, and multiculturalism and in relation to social and cultural conteXts. The role oF art and artiFacts was used to build a sense oF the connection between art and play and its relations. This action research helped me build a sense oF practice in relationship to learners in my classroom and through two cycles oF reFlection on how play could be used as learning tool and as an integral oF a curriculum for young children. Data was collected over the course oF one semester and explored using narrative analysis, Focusing on values and belieFs associated with play-based art education. ii © Copyright by Yuting Ye, 2017 All Rights Reserved iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. THE PROBLEM ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 My Encounters with Play-based Pedagogy ............................................................................................................... 5 1.1.2 New Perspectives and Questions ............................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 Background to the Problem ....................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 My Early Understandings oF Play-based Learning .................................................................................................... 8 1.2.2 Current Situation Considering Play and Teacher’s Identity ...................................................................................... 9 1.2.3 Call For Artistic Play in Curriculum .......................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Statement of the Research Problem ........................................................................................ 12 1.4 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................... 14 1.5 Significance of the Study ......................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................ 17 2.1 Embracing Social Constructivism ............................................................................................. 17 2.1.1 Social Constructivism .............................................................................................................................................. 17 2.1.2 Social Constructivist in Art Education ..................................................................................................................... 20 2.2 Play and Art ............................................................................................................................ 22 2.2.1 Children’s Play ........................................................................................................................................................ 22 2.2.2 Learn through Play and Art ..................................................................................................................................... 26 2.2.3 Play and Art in Anji Play and Reggio Emilia Schools ............................................................................................... 27 2.2.4 Artists and Play ....................................................................................................................................................... 30 2.3 Connecting Play-based Learning and Art Education to Multiculturalism ................................. 32 2.3.1 Multiculturalism and Multicultural Education ........................................................................................................ 32 2.3.2 Multiculturalism in Art Education .......................................................................................................................... 35 2.3.3 Multiculturalism in Play .......................................................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: ACTION RESEARCH AND NARRATIVE ANALYSIS ................... 39 3.1 Paradigmatic Assumptions ...................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Understanding Action Research .............................................................................................. 40 3.3 Design of the Study ................................................................................................................. 41 3.3.1 Participants and Location of the Study ................................................................................................................... 44 3.3.2 Role oF the Researcher ........................................................................................................................................... 46 3.3.3 Methods oF Data Collection .................................................................................................................................... 47 3.4 Methods of Data Analysis: Narrative Analysis ......................................................................... 48 3.4.1 Introduction to Narrative ....................................................................................................................................... 48 3.4.2 Action Research and Narrative Analysis ................................................................................................................. 50 3.4.3 Models oF Narrative Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 51 3.4.4 Applying Model to Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 53 3.5 Validity and Limitation of the Study ....................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER 4. DATA ANALYSIS: PARTICIPANTS’ STORIES AND MY STORY ............................................... 57 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 57 4.2 Lily’s Partial Story ..................................................................................................................... 57 4.3 Zoey’s Partial Story ................................................................................................................... 65 4.4 My story ................................................................................................................................... 74 4.4.1 Knowledge Construction within Play-based Art Education .................................................................................... 76 4.4.2 Interactions and Connections among Play, Art and Multiculturalism .................................................................... 88 4.4.3 Teacher’s Identity and Values For Play ................................................................................................................... 98 CHAPTER 5. IMPLICATIONS ..............................................................................................................