What Works? Bridgework

narrowing my research question:

How can art education curriculum meet the needs of the iKids generation and incorporate their skills?

mindwork: discover what you know

– What is my definition of iKids? skills, culture, personalities, etc.

• multimodal

• multitaskers

• born into a multimedia, mass media society

• communication happens through many media sources

• they have the answers at their fingertips with Google and Wikipedia.

• used to instant gratification and expect it

• entering a more globalized society

• technologically savvy

• connected, yet disconnected

• gimme gimme culture

• peak of mass consumption and consumer culture

• have only experienced standardized testing, teach-to-the-test curriculum, education emphasizing the "core" content areas

– What sources do I know already that I might consult?

• "Signs of Change: Art Education in the Age of the iKid" by Kathy and Melissa :)

• Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future

• Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why right brainers will rule the future

• Paul Duncum and Olivia Gude's new 7+7

– What people might I ask or contact as resources?

• Kathy and Melissa

• art educators in the field

• others studying new age education and/or the "iKids"

– Where would I go to find out more?

• Duncum's current research and published articles

• More of Gude's research

• Other experts in the field

• TED videos

• database searches

mindwork: Google-ography

– keyword search: "teaching art in the 21st century"

• 1st stop: not to my surprise Art21 was the first thing to pop up, but the second result was "Why teach art in the 21st Century!" This site voices why the arts are important in today's society and how the arts can provide an essential set of thinking skills for our students to be global citizens. Pretty interesting stuff, check it out regardless of your research topic.

• 2nd stop: an article from the Boston Globe "Art's power to teach 21st-century skills." The article sounded as if Pink's message of right-brain skills dominating the future has started to spread beyond art education pedagogy.

• 3rd stop: Teaching for Artistic Behavior, a site dedicated to choice-based teaching and learning. They listed the cognitive skills needed for today's society from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which led me to my next stop

• 4th stop: The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website. Part of their mission statement is "P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing the three Rs and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation)." WOW! This is exciting stuff.

• 5th stop: an EdTech Digest article, "21 definitions for a 21st-Century Education," which listed 21 definitions of what 21st Century skills look like and how teachers can best utilize and teach them.

• 6th stop: Project Tomorrow, their mission statement is "preparing today's students to be tomorrow's innovators, leaders and engaged citizens." They joined forces with Blackboard in their Speak Up report about taking it mobile, how technology and mobile devices are more prominent in today's schools and how today's students learn with technology. The survey's complete findings can be found on Blackboard.

... the journey never ends.

– How many options do you have for further, more focused search?

I have so many options for furthering my research. There are so many articles, blogs, web articles, organizations and projects surrounding this idea of 21st century skills and how these skills are important for the future of our students.

– What do you know now that you didn't know before?

I've been living a Mizzou bubble. I had no idea that there were so many advocates for 21st century curriculum and how many believers their are in the power of the arts on student thinking and building skills for today's society.

– Are there alternative keywords that might help you find more information?

I found quite a bit with my first keyword, but iKids, multimodal literacy, technology in the art room, and today's visual learning might find different results for furthering my research.

– Do you need to consult another electronic source?

I need to try Google Scholar and databases like ERIC for scholarly research and published articles.

– What would you want to download or print?

I'd like to download the survey results from the Speak Up survey. This might be a good source for my own research. I'd also like to download more articles by people like Duncum and Gude.

mindwork: shape your working bibliography

– my working bibliography, more to come

Duncum, P. (2004). Visual culture isn't just visual: Multiliteracy, multimodality and meaning. Studies in Art Education, 45(3), p. 252-264.

Ellis, K. (producer and director). (2009, May 27). Welcome to the digital generation. [video file]. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-project- overview-video.

Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Hu, W. (2011, Jan 8). The rise of the ikids. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://www.thespec.com/living/familyparenting/article/319189--the-rise-of-the-ikids.

Magner, T. (executive director). (2009, Dec). P21 framework definitions. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://www.p21.org/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf.

Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind: Why right brainers will rule the future. New York: Riverhead Publishing.

Prensky, M. (2008). The 21st century digital learner: How tech-obsessed ikids could improve our schools. [Electronic Version]. Edutopia Magazine. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-digital-learner-technology-2008.

Tapscott, D. (2009). Grown up digital: How the net generation is changing your world. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

– more current articles/books?

No, all of my sources are within the last 7 years.

– eliminate sources I thought were valuable?

Not quite, I'm still in the beginning stages and these sources may still be valuable as I'm answering my research questions.

– enough different types of materials?

I could use a bit more variety, but I do have articles, books and website videos or documents.

– where to go next?

More published articles, more videos perhaps (ie. TED), my own books

– time to revise?

After feedback from my scratchwork, I refined my question, which I restated at the top of this entry. I think this has more direction and focus than my original question.