International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Vivoda, A. (2019). Tactile picture books in art education in Croatia. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 20(22). Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea20n22.

Abstract

This article investigates a teacher education project that involved designing and producing a series of tactile picture books as part of the arts curriculum at the Department of Teacher Education Studies in Gospić, University of Zadar. Founded upon the ideals of inclusion and efforts to offer a holistic education for all children, the project aimed to heighten awareness amongst basic education university students to the particular requirements and needs of pupils with visual impairments and also to emphasize the important role of art as an intermedia experience of creation in the educational process. The project focused on participatory art making, involving a dynamic collaboration with special education teachers and librarians from the First Library for Children with Visual Impairments at Pećine Elementary School in Rijeka. Expanding perspectives and rethinking art practice students devised substantial collection picture books, addressing important social and educational issues through creative production. Realizing their tactile picture book projects as independent endeavors or initiating various kinds of collaborations, they were discovering art education as multilayered creative learning processes.

Visual Abstract

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