PROBLEM TREE + CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Abstract

This research is constitute of study about drawing skills among primary student with different learning styles. The purpose of this research are to examine students’  learning styles and drawing skills in the Visual Art Education subject in primary schools. This research also to find the factors that influenced the acceptance of primary school students towards learning styles in school.

 

 

Introduction

                Among the highlights of Visual Arts Education includes four main aspects that big of an observation of an active, critical and creative interaction with tools and materials, a simple appreciation of the visual arts and appreciate good value in all aspects of life  (Malaysia, Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah, 2010). Painting is one of the subject areas taught in Visual Arts Education in primary schools. There are four activities in the field of activity of painting such as painting, capan, painting and collage. In all these activities, drawing atau painting activities as a basis for producing a work of art. Through the teaching and learning of Visual Art Education in school, students will be exposed to aesthetic perception, art application, creative expression, and appreciation of art. We realize that our children have different ways of learning to receive their education in the classroom. Drawing skills  is the basis of the learning process before they know the environment in their lives.

‘Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah’ Ministry of Education Malaysia is the teacher guidelines in primary school to measure drawing skill among student. Document Standard Visual Arts aims give students the opportunity to develop interests, develop character, to provide awareness and sensitivity to the values ​​of the arts and the environment and connection with other subjects  (Malaysia, Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah, 2010). Generally, pupils in primary schools in the whole is creative, expressive, and active. Visual art plays a role develop these attributes through visual perception, imagination, and the power of thought. Thinking activities, exploration, and design in a variety of visual art will enable them to express their ideas and self-expression. This experience is important because it can help students build self-confidence, make judgments, and to recognize tastes own.

            Document Standard include asserting titles exploration aspect, the process production, the meaning of art as a whole, and aspects criticism. It is hoped that this curriculum shape the culture savvy generation of Malaysia, and the arts  (Malaysia, Dokumen Standard Sekolah Rendah, 2010).

Children are natural artist. Their expression in the Arts are usually uninhibited and free, without any conceptual understanding of design, proportion and composition. Their works are often based simply on their basic perception and ever-active imagination. Training children to develop drawing skills is important. Without proper training and direction, children tend to gradually lose the natural ability and confidence in the arts as they reach adulthood. Our perception of objects and our environment are ' colour ' by our own unique experiences in life. We became more aware of the differences in basic and complexities of concept. Expectation between perfection and realism also tend to heighten. However, in Art, to express our visual perception on paper or canvas require the skill, which are acquired through proper training, not just by practice alone.

Before making decisions about what to include in our arts programs and how we will go about our work with the children, it is important to give some thought to why we make such decisions. Without some strong philosophical underpinnings, our visual arts programs could be simply a series of ad hoc activities or the slavish following of a formula  (Wright, 2003)

Research in early childhood art education has enjoyed an increased amount of attention over the recent years  (Wright, 2003). A review of the literature shows multiple forces pulling in different directions, with policy statements emerging from the field of early childhood and the field of art education. Uncertainties are perpetuated in a number of common beliefs or myths about the nature of art, development, and creativity of young children  (Kindler, 1996).

The complexity and diversity of influences that have shaped views on the teaching of art can be understood as a palimpsest, a term that describes the way in which the ancient parchments used for writing were written over, but new messages only partially obliterated the original message beneath. Both the new and the original messages still stand, albeit partially erased and interrupted  (Davies, 1993). A reading of the numerous philosophies and practices of art education throughout our relatively recent history allows us to see familiar things in new ways. This new way of seeing enables the continuous exploration of new ideas in bids to improve practice, while recognizing that traces of previous thinking are not always completely obliterated but instead recur, shape, and interact with new developments.

At the site where a young child is learning about art, there are points where ideas about the child, art, and teaching meet, sometimes connecting, sometimes colliding, sometimes competing.  We have beliefs that have shaped our ways of seeing the child, art, and teaching.  Media can enhance our understanding of children and the art media themselves and how we can scaffold young children's learning within these media. 

If we learn something new, we prefer to learn by listening to someone talk to us about the information. Or maybe we prefer to read about the concept of learning, or maybe see a demonstration.

Statement of research problem

Each individual receives a knowledge in different ways. Every parent knows that their children are not all the same even if they are twins. Indeed, they may have some similarities but are not all the same whole. Maybe one interested in art and another interested in science. Not all students learn the same methods in the learning process.

Visual Arts Education is a subject that received less attention by the administration at the school. This makes the level of acceptance of visual arts education subjects less emphasized. Some would replace the subject with other more important subjects and evaluated in the examination at the end of the year. Therefore students are more uncertain and in the long run the country will lose their most talented in the arts.

In addition, if the reception is learning the wrong technique will cause students are more likely to commit an offense in the paint. If not corrected early on, then it will become a habit that one of these methods to high school soon. This will be more difficult for secondary school teachers to correct back among their drawing skills. Learning the less attractive will make students not interested in the subject of visual art. Boring lessons complicate the process of teaching and learning takes place. Therefore difficult to accept input pupil. Further objectives of teaching and learning is not achieved.

Teacher involvement is not an option in Visual Art Education will also make the learning process is retarded. Teachers who are not experienced in Visual Arts Education does not have the skills to teach in this area may be the one to teach drawing skills. This is not an option because the teachers do not have the skills of Visual Art Education. The involvement of the administrator who also support this action adds a bad effect on the future of students in Visual Arts Education. According to Abd. Rahim (1995),  teachers who are experts in the subjects taught are usually able to capture knowledge and is able to deliver more effective teaching.

Furthermore, the method of service of teachers with expertise in the subject being taught is more easily understood, and interests of students. Cooperative learning strategies appear to promise positive effects for students, both with and without disabilities, as reflected in increased academic achievement and improved social attitudes and behaviour.  The general principle behind cooperative learning is that the students work together as a team to accomplish a common goal, namely that each student learns something of value from the cooperative learning activity.  Although cooperative learning activities may require more teacher preparation of group material and monitoring of group activities, the rewards and benefits for both the teacher and students go a long way.  They appear likely to positively influence a school’s academic and social climates as well  (Slavin, 1991).

Each teacher will be delighted with the objective has been achieved after the process of teaching and learning, but what would happen otherwise. This is the question if one only method applied to the subject of visual arts education in schools. Some teachers at the school also uses the old method of teaching and learning and less interactive. By simply giving instructions to the students and let them do some painting activity without the proper guidance. In other words, this teacher uses only one-way method of teaching and learning. Quality teachers not only depend on their own knowledge and skills but also depends on the degree of their motivation to use the knowledge and skills effectively  (Abdul Rahim Abdul Rashid, 1992).

 

Research objectives

This study aims to determine the drawing skills among primary school students with different learning styles:

a)    To examine students’  learning styles  in the Visual Art Education subject  among primary schools  students.

b)    To examine drawing skills among the student with different learning styles in Visual Art Education by using standard document in KSSR.

 

Research questions

a)    What are Visual Art students’ learning styles?

b)    i) What are the student level of drawing skills?

ii) Is there any differences on the drawing skills among different  learning styles students?

 

 

 

Definition of terms

The following list of definitions is presented in order to clarify significant terms that were use in this study.

 

Drawing skills: Children are natural artist. Their expression in the Arts are usually uninhibited and free, without any conceptual understanding of design, proportion and composition. Their works are often based simply on their basic perception and ever-active imagination. Training children to develop drawing skills is important. Without proper training and direction, children tend to gradually lose the natural ability and confidence in the Arts as they reach adulthood. As we grow, our perception of objects and our environment are ' colored ' by our own unique experiences in life. We became more aware of the differences in basic and complexities of concept. Expectation between perfection and realism also tend to heighten. However, in Art, to express our visual perception on paper or canvas require the skill, which are acquired through proper training, not just by practice alone.

 

Children’s drawings are greatly influenced by the art of their society and by

schooling. Children in cultures with little interest in art produce simpler forms

(Isabelle D. Cherney, 2006). Schooling provides opportunities to draw and write, see pictures, and to understand that artistic forms have meanings that are shared by others (Cox,1993). Children’s cognitive development as represented in drawings of the human figure can also reflect a child’s social world. According to  (Voy, 2001), explored the idea that, because cultural differences permeate children’s representations of people, children from different cultural backgrounds may represent these differences in their drawings. Cultural differences were examined by looking at differences in social factors such as smiling, and at details and perception of societal worth expressed by the height of the figures. These findings suggest that children’s drawings not only reflect representational development but a child’s understanding of self and culture as well.

 

Learning style: Learning styles can be defined, classified, and identified in many different way.  Generally, they are overall patterns that provide direction to learning and teaching.  Learning style can also be described as a set of factors, behaviours, and attitudes that facilitate learning for an individual in a given situation.   

 

Styles influence how students learn, how teachers teach, and how the two interact.  Each person is born with certain tendencies toward particular styles, but these biological or inherited characteristics are influenced by culture, personal experiences, maturity level, and development.  Style can be considered a “contextual” variable or construct because what the learner brings to the learning experience is as much a part of the context as are the important features of the experience itself.

 

Each learner has distinct and consistent preferred ways of perception, organization and retention. These learning styles are characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological behaviours that serve as pretty good indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment.

 

Students learn differently from each other and it has been determined that brain structure influences language structure acquisition. It has also been shown that different hemispheres of the brain contain different perception avenues.  Some researchers claim that several types of cells present in some brains are not present in others.

 

Auditory learning: Auditory learning is a learning style in which a person learns through listening. An auditory learner depends on hearing and speaking as a main way of learning. Auditory learners must be able to hear what is being said in order to understand and may have difficulty with instructions that are written. They also use their listening and repeating skills to sort through the information that is sent to them.

 

Kinesthetic learning: Kinesthetic learning (also known as tactile learning) is a learning style in which learning takes place by the student carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or watching a demonstration. People with a kinesthetic learning style are also commonly known as "do-ers".

 

Visual learning : Visual learning are those who learn things best through seeing them. Visual learning students like to keep an eye on the teacher by sitting in the front of the class and watching the lecture closely. Often, visual learners will find that information when it is explained with the aid of a chart or picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Limitation of the Study

One of the goals is a mixture of research methods to examine how learning styles of the way among their drawing skills. This study may simply involve all pupils in primary school within a school. This study was conducted to determine the learning style methods which are more suitable and acceptable to the students surveyed.

Significance of the Study

Styles affect how students learn, how teachers teach, and how the interaction. Each person is born with a certain tendency toward a certain style, but the biological characteristics or inherited influenced by culture, personal experience, maturity, and development. Style can be considered as a "context" variables or build for what students bring to the learning experience as part context as are the essential features of their own experience. Each student has a different way and consistent choice of perception, organization and retention. This learning style is characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological behaviors that serve as a pretty good indication of how students view, interact with, and respond to the learning environment.

           Students learn differently from one another and it was determined that the structure of the brain influence the structure of language acquisition. It has also been shown that different hemispheres of the brain contain different perception channels. Some researchers claim that certain types of cells present in several brain is absent in others.

In other instances, we can determine the level of students' learning styles which tend towards different learning styles according to acceptance in accordance with their learning.

          Therefore this study is important to examine the learning styles of students by type of style  acceptance in the classroom. In addition, it can help teachers to focus on learning styles by type of student acceptance. This study can also help parents identify appropriate ways of learning with their children in school, whether in art or other subject.