Many educators who work with students of all ages discover that student autonomy is integral to grasping the material and improving overall learning outcomes. While student autonomy leads to a more personalized learning experience in academic subjects such as math and science, it also can play a powerful role in enhancing the overall art curriculum.
Explore how art educators can give students more creative freedom that allows them to not only boost their artistic skills and abilities but also learn how to better connect with art and understand the transformative power of the creative process.
Understanding Student Choice in Art Education
Providing students with the opportunity to make their own choices throughout their education allows them to explore self-expression in art and uncover their own strengths, interests and abilities. This approach to art education is sometimes referred to as choice-based art education, and it emphasizes the importance of student autonomy within the learning experience.
What Is Student Choice?
According to research published in the Frontiers in Psychology academic journal, student choice refers to an individual’s ability to make decisions within their educational environment. Sometimes called student autonomy, student choice is pivotal to learning outcomes — as students who have the opportunity to make their own choices within their education are more likely to feel connected to the material.
The Benefits of Student Choice
Numerous benefits are associated with student choice, particularly in art education. According to the American Psychological Association, some of the top benefits of student autonomy include:
- Increasing motivation in learners of all ages.
- Boosting confidence in students, particularly those who are new to artistic expression.
- Stimulating a natural sense of curiosity and wonder about the artistic process.
- Improving the ability of students to engage in interdisciplinary study and make vital connections across subject areas.
Encouraging Individual Expression Through Autonomy
Art educators have found that implementing a choice-based curriculum encourages self-expression and creative problem-solving in art. According to the National Art Education Association, choice-art educators may improve individual expression in their students by:
Personalizing Art Projects
Students can be given the opportunity to make choices within their art education experience in a variety of ways. In some circumstances, a choice-based art educator may work to provide students with several options for an individual project. Other times, the teacher may offer choices to personalize an individual project, ensuring that no two projects are alike. Allowing students to personalize their creations gives them a sense of ownership over their project and promotes creative expression throughout the process.
Cultivating Unique Artistic Voices
A choice-based art education also presents a distinct way to elevate the voices of all students, enabling them to share their personal interests, passions, struggles, emotions and viewpoints within their artwork. The need for representation within the learning experience has never been greater, underscoring the importance of giving students the ability to direct their own art projects.
Promoting Diversity in Perspectives
When students are given step-by-step instructions for how to create an individual art project, the end result is a collection of projects that all look almost exactly the same. Student autonomy in art ensures that there is a diversity of perspectives — allowing students to showcase their true identities and weave their own cultural identities and backgrounds into their work.
Strategies for Implementing Student Choice in the Classroom
Art educators who are interested in leveraging the power of choice-based learning in their classrooms can take some relatively simple steps to increase opportunities for student autonomy. Some of the strategies art educators can use in order to implement student choice in the classroom include:
Creating a Flexible Curriculum
Using a flexible curriculum for your art classroom gives you the structure you need to create lesson plans — plus the versatility required to promote creative freedom in the classroom environment. A flexible curriculum may provide examples of what types of art lessons to cover and even ideas for how to achieve specific learning outcomes. However, it will also give you the freedom to develop and design your own lesson plans that emphasize the importance of student choice in art education.
Balancing Guidance and Freedom
For art teachers, in particular, striking the right balance between offering guidance and freedom can be challenging. Art teachers are often required to instruct their students and teach them specific art skills, yet they want to do so in a way that does not limit perspective, voice or creative freedom. To improve autonomy in the art classroom, for instance, an art educator might record voice instructions for specific skills and techniques as well as allow students to listen to those directions at their own pace while completing their work.
Encouraging Reflection and Goal Setting
Art teachers should provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their finished art projects. Through the reflection process, students can begin to learn more about what they like best about art and where their strengths lie. Additionally, they can start to set their own goals for where they want to improve in the future.
Overcoming Challenges in Student-Driven Art Education
Choice-based art educators often rely on creative centers and choice-based art projects that allow students to play a central role in the creative process. While this flexible approach to education has been shown to increase student engagement, there are some challenges associated with student autonomy in the art classroom.
According to research published in PIONEER Journal of Language and Literature, educators sometimes face obstacles — both academic and cultural — when implementing student choice in the classroom. These might include:
Addressing Skill Gaps
Art instruction is often skills-based, and while students deserve to have a choice in how they complete their art projects, they still need to receive guidance as they begin to work with new art tools and materials. Art teachers must find a way to reduce skill gaps in the classroom without limiting creative expression.
Managing Classroom Dynamics
Dynamics in the art room may vary based on the age level of the students or their previous level of exposure to art. Art teachers must learn how to manage classroom dynamics and offer art project choices that best align with the interests and needs of that particular group of students.
Navigating Resistance to Change
When prioritizing choice-based education in the art classroom, teachers may be met with some resistance to change. Administrators, parents and even students may find that this alternative approach to art education lacks the structure they have come to expect, and teachers may have to actively work to showcase the benefits of student choice in art instruction.
Examples of Student Choice in Action
Below are a few ideas for art teachers trying to prioritize student choice within their own classrooms:
Case Study: Middle School Art Class
Middle school students are at a unique point in their academic careers where they need to start challenging themselves while they learn more about who they are and what they want to become. Middle school art teachers can rely on theme-based projects that allow students to develop their own ideas based on one particular theme or choose-your-own-inspiration assignments, during which these young learners can identify sources of inspiration for their next project.
High School Portfolio Development
High school students enrolled in art classes may be looking to develop their portfolios for art school. Art teachers who work with high school students may want to emphasize self-directed portfolio pieces within their curriculum or passion projects that give these young adults the opportunity to explore an in-depth topic of interest to them.
Collaborative Projects With Individual Roles
At all levels of education, art teachers can leverage collaborative projects with individual roles to promote creative problem-solving in art. Community mural design projects or group installation art are two excellent examples of this type of instruction.
Long-Term Impact of Autonomy in Art Education
In addition to enhancing student engagement and increasing creative expression in the short term, student autonomy in art education offers long-term benefits too, such as:
Building Lifelong Creativity
By giving students the flexibility and freedom to express themselves within their art projects, art teachers can showcase the power of creativity at an early age. This allows students to become connected with the creative process earlier and build a sense of creativity they can rely on as they proceed through life.
Preparing for Careers in the Arts
Student autonomy in art is one of the best ways for young learners to begin preparing for a career in the arts. Most arts-based careers are largely driven by creative expression, requiring professionals to know how to leverage their creativity and overcome challenges that arise during the creative process.
Fostering Resilience and Confidence
Prioritizing voice and choice in the classroom inspires a lasting sense of confidence — giving students the ability to face and overcome challenges throughout their lives.
Learn How to Embed Creativity in Education at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
In order to increase student engagement and empower students to think creatively in all aspects of their lives, art educators can benefit from learning the art of embedding autonomy into their art education curriculum. At Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, we offer an on-campus Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education degree as well as an online Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education degree, both of which equip aspiring art educators with the necessary skills to instruct learners of all ages while simultaneously growing their own artistic practice. Our skills-based, creative curriculum is uniquely designed in a way that allows future art teachers to discover how to leverage the power of student choice within their own instruction.
To get started today, request more information about our fine arts degree programs.
