| Volume 25 Number 16 | August 12, 2024 |
Transdisciplinary Inquiry that Elevates the Arts? Insights from a Data-Visualization Pilot Project
Joy G. Bertling
University of Tennessee, USA
Amanda Galbraith
University of Tennessee, USA
Tabitha Wandell Doss
University of Tennessee, USA
Rita Swartzentruber
University of Tennessee, USA
Meredith Massey
Synergy Evaluation Institute, USA
Nikki Christen
Synergy Evaluation Institute, USA
Citation: Bertling, G. J., Galbraith, A., Doss, T. W., Swartzentruber, R., Massey, M. C., & Christen, N. (2024). Transdisciplinary Inquiry that Elevates the Arts? Insights from a Data-Visualization Pilot Project. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 25(16). http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea25n16
Abstract
Over the past decade, the arts’ potential role in advancing mainstream transdisciplinary curriculum models, like STEM, has been more overtly recognized, both within arts and STEM communities. In this study, we explored STEAM curricula centered around data visualization, a transdisciplinary practice commonly utilized in design and STEM fields and increasingly practiced in contemporary art. Through addressing the research question “What opportunities and challenges for learning does arts-based data visualization provide Grade 4-8 students?,” this study highlights the value of transdisciplinary curriculum models that incorporate the arts for fostering K-12 students’ learning. However, the findings related to student engagement and teacher perceptions also raised some important questions. Which classroom contexts are most conducive to such inquiry? And, which contexts and conditions will avoid reinforcing the disciplinary hegemony that marginalizes the arts, a crucial, yet increasingly underappreciated, system of inquiry and knowledge needed for navigating life in the twenty-first century?
