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Shared Literacies: Promoting Thinking and Learning in Art Education Through Movement Literacy

Received: 6 April 2019     Published: 27 August 2019
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Abstract

The notion of Shared Literacies describes a process in which specialization in two separate domains merge to generate an opportunity for a new kind of knowledge to evolve. The paper presents a study where "movement literacy" (expertise in the field of dance in both theoretical and practical aspects) meets "graphic-symbolic literacy" (expertise in the creation and decoding of graphic-symbolic representations of any kind of knowledge). The theoretical background contains an overview of the two kinds of literacy, as well as two pertinent pedagogical ideas: the ability to translate information between different modes of representation; and self-generation of representations, an idea which emphasizes the independent design of symbols by learners. Both are tools for constructing a deeper understanding of a given phenomenon. The Shared Literacies' products are independently developed graphic-symbolic representations for dance movements, which emerged through a designated methodology. These reveal new aspects of the participants' insights: in the field of movement, learners became aware of its various aspects, including the ability to analyze, think of and conceptualize the components of bodily movement; in the field of symbolic representation, participants improved their abilities to manage multifaceted information about a phenomenon, using symbolic knowledge already at hand, as well as developing new representational means. The study demonstrates the power of Shared Literacies – the integration between different artistic and general fields of thought – as a novel approach for education in the Arts.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 7, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20190704.12
Page(s) 78-86
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Art Education, Constructionism, Graphic-Symbolic Literacy, Interdisciplinarity, Movement Literacy

References
[1] Literacy, N. (2019). [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/literacy [Feb. 28, 2019].
[2] R. Riggs Leyva. Dance Literacy in the Studio: Partnering Movement Texts and Residual Texts, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Ohio State University, 2015, pp. 16–22.
[3] E. W. Eisner. “Cognition and representation: a way to pursue the American dream?” The Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 78, no. 5, pp. 348–353 [p. 353], 1997.
[4] E. W. Eisner. "The arts and the creation of mind", in What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. Yale University Press, 2002, Chapter 4, pp. 70-92.
[5] S. Ofer. (2018). "Self-Generated Notations: A Suggested Methodology of Introducing Movement Literacy," Journal of Movement Arts Literacy [On-line]. 4 (1), Article 9. Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/jmal/vol4/iss1/9 [Feb. 28, 2019].
[6] L. W. Barsalou. "The human conceptual system" in The Cambridge Handbook of Psycholinguistics. M. J. Spivey, K. Mcrae, & M. F. Joanisse, Eds. New York, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, Chap. 12, pp. 239-258.
[7] S. Ofer, "Movement literacy: implementing dance notation studies into educational dance curriculum" in The Wisdom of the Many–Key Issues in Arts Education, International Yearbook for Research in Arts Education, vol. 3. S. Shonmann, Ed. Munster: Waxman Publication, 2015, pp. 117-121.
[8] L. Tolichinsky, "The multiple functions of external representations: Introduction" in Notational Knowledge: Historical and Developmental Perspectives. E. Teubal, J. Dockrell & L. Tolichinsky Eds. Rotterdam/Taipei: Sense Publishers, 2007, pp. 1-10.
[9] B. Eilam, "Preface" in Teaching, Learning, and Visual Literacy: The Dual Role of Visual Representation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. xvii.
[10] B. Eilam, "Preface" in Teaching, Learning, and Visual Literacy: The Dual Role of Visual Representation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. xvii-xxii.
[11] S. Ainsworth. "The educational value of multiple-representations when learning complex scientific concepts" in Visualization: Theory and Practice in Science Education. J. K. Gilbert, M. Reiner, and M. Nakhleh, Eds. New York: Springer, 2008, pp. 191-208.
[12] Y. B. Kafai. "Constructionism" in The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences. R. K. Sawyer, Ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, Chap. 3, p. 35.
[13] S. Papert and I. Har'el. "Situating constructionism" in Constructionism. S. Papert & I. Har'el, Eds. New York: Ablex Publishing, 1991, Chap. 1.
[14] A. A. diSessa, D. Hammer, B. Sherin, and T. Kolpakowski, "Inventing graphing: meta-representational expertise in children". Journal of Mathematical Behavior, vol. 10, pp. 117–160, 1991.
[15] B. Sherin. "How students invent representations of motion", Journal of Mathematic Behavior, 19, 399–441, 2000.
[16] S. Ofer. "From movement literacy to visual literacy" in IVLA 2013 Selected Readings: Reconceptualizing Visual Literacy. N. Valanides, Ed. March, 2014, pp. 45-56.
[17] E. R. Tuft. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 1990, p. 119.
[18] S. Ofer. Development of Symbolic Language to Represent Movement among Fourth Graders, Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Haifa, Israel, 2009 (Hebrew with English Abstract).
[19] N. Eshkol and A. Wachman. Movement Notation. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1958.
[20] B. Glazer and A. I. Strauss. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine, 1967.
[21] D. Hammill, N. A. Pearson and J. K. Voress. Developmental Test of Visual Perception, 2nd ed. Austin, Tx: Pro-ed. 1993.
[22] B. Eilam and S. Ofer. "Similar information, different representations: designing a learning environment for promoting transformational competence" in Towards a Framework for Representational Competence in Science Education, vol 11. K. L. Daniel, Ed. Models and Modeling in Science Education, pp. 31-54, Chm: Springer, 2018.
[23] E. G. Guba and Y. S. Lincoln. Effective Evaluation. San Francisco: Jessy Bass, 1981.
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  • APA Style

    Shlomit Ofer. (2019). Shared Literacies: Promoting Thinking and Learning in Art Education Through Movement Literacy. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 7(4), 78-86. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190704.12

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    ACS Style

    Shlomit Ofer. Shared Literacies: Promoting Thinking and Learning in Art Education Through Movement Literacy. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2019, 7(4), 78-86. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20190704.12

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    AMA Style

    Shlomit Ofer. Shared Literacies: Promoting Thinking and Learning in Art Education Through Movement Literacy. Int J Lit Arts. 2019;7(4):78-86. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20190704.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20190704.12,
      author = {Shlomit Ofer},
      title = {Shared Literacies: Promoting Thinking and Learning in Art Education Through Movement Literacy},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {7},
      number = {4},
      pages = {78-86},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20190704.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20190704.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20190704.12},
      abstract = {The notion of Shared Literacies describes a process in which specialization in two separate domains merge to generate an opportunity for a new kind of knowledge to evolve. The paper presents a study where "movement literacy" (expertise in the field of dance in both theoretical and practical aspects) meets "graphic-symbolic literacy" (expertise in the creation and decoding of graphic-symbolic representations of any kind of knowledge). The theoretical background contains an overview of the two kinds of literacy, as well as two pertinent pedagogical ideas: the ability to translate information between different modes of representation; and self-generation of representations, an idea which emphasizes the independent design of symbols by learners. Both are tools for constructing a deeper understanding of a given phenomenon. The Shared Literacies' products are independently developed graphic-symbolic representations for dance movements, which emerged through a designated methodology. These reveal new aspects of the participants' insights: in the field of movement, learners became aware of its various aspects, including the ability to analyze, think of and conceptualize the components of bodily movement; in the field of symbolic representation, participants improved their abilities to manage multifaceted information about a phenomenon, using symbolic knowledge already at hand, as well as developing new representational means. The study demonstrates the power of Shared Literacies – the integration between different artistic and general fields of thought – as a novel approach for education in the Arts.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - The notion of Shared Literacies describes a process in which specialization in two separate domains merge to generate an opportunity for a new kind of knowledge to evolve. The paper presents a study where "movement literacy" (expertise in the field of dance in both theoretical and practical aspects) meets "graphic-symbolic literacy" (expertise in the creation and decoding of graphic-symbolic representations of any kind of knowledge). The theoretical background contains an overview of the two kinds of literacy, as well as two pertinent pedagogical ideas: the ability to translate information between different modes of representation; and self-generation of representations, an idea which emphasizes the independent design of symbols by learners. Both are tools for constructing a deeper understanding of a given phenomenon. The Shared Literacies' products are independently developed graphic-symbolic representations for dance movements, which emerged through a designated methodology. These reveal new aspects of the participants' insights: in the field of movement, learners became aware of its various aspects, including the ability to analyze, think of and conceptualize the components of bodily movement; in the field of symbolic representation, participants improved their abilities to manage multifaceted information about a phenomenon, using symbolic knowledge already at hand, as well as developing new representational means. The study demonstrates the power of Shared Literacies – the integration between different artistic and general fields of thought – as a novel approach for education in the Arts.
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Author Information
  • Department of Dance, Kibbutzim College of Education Technology and Arts, Tel Aviv, Israel

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