An Application of Visual Culture Studies: Gender Roles

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The dominant role of visual language in today’s world is an unavoidable fact. In living conditions where mass communication devices and animated images are in the lead, the special emphasis on “visualization” by public production is an important element. Therefore, it is crucial to develop an understanding about the new visualization of culture. In order to get an understanding of visual experiences that form an important part of today’s life experiences, education plays an important role. The applications of visual culture studies in educational settings may help students to make their life more meaningful by asking them to question the levels of meanings regarding visuals.

The aim of this study was to find out how visual culture studies can be carried out in a Visual Arts course in primary schools. Since the study is based on educational applications of cultural studies in a Visual Arts course, it was conducted within the action research design.

The study was conducted in one primary school in the fall term of 2007-2008. The educational side of the study was done with 30 students in class, but a total of seven students (four females and three males) were chosen as focus of the study. The visual culture studies were conducted in 10 school hours of Visual Arts course between 17 October 2007 - 07 November 2007. The data of the study were collected with different data collection tools, such as demographic information scale, video recordings, semi-structured interviews, document analysis, researcher diaries and student diaries. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive analysis.

At the end of this study, students effectively participated in visual culture studies, critically examined in gender roles in their culture and defended their opinions based on their previous experiences.

Stream: Creative Arts and Learning

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Burçin Türkkan is a Dr. in Faculty of Education in Anadolu University, Turkey. She has a BA on Art teacher education, MA on Educational Programs and Instruction and PhD on Elementary Education. Her research interests are art education and visual culture studies.

Şefik Yaşar is a full professor of Curriculum Development in the Department of Primary Education at Anadolu University, Faculty of Education, in Turkey. He has been teaching courses such as “curriculum development”, “program evaluation”, “individualized instruction”, “teaching and learning process in primary education” at graduate and undergraduate levels. He has also been supervising master and Ph.D. theses. He has articles and book chapters regarding the curriculum development, teacher training and instructional technology. He is married with two sons.