Plenary Session VI: Bringing the Arts and Culture into Education
Challenges to Classroom Culture - Bringing Arts, Culture and Life into Teaching and Learning
Janet Pillai, School of Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
This presentation will showcase an example of an innovative non-formal heritage education initiative for young young urban residents living in the innercity of George Town, Penang (Anak-Anak Kota or ‘Children of the City'). The objective of the program is to help young people retrace the lost narrative of their cultural heritage, to deepen their appreciation of cultural assets in their locality and to encourage them to take social responsibility for the sustainability of their cultural assets.
Anak Anak Kota (AAK) engages students aged 11-22 to participate in mapping and documenting their history, environment and cultural assets with the collaboration of arts educators, artists, community and local societies. The unique aspect of the program is that participants use several media (drawing, photography, and writing, interviews) to map their cultural heritage then continue to interpret and promote it through demonstration, performance, exhibitions and creative writing.
Unlike formal education which uses a cognitive approach to impart skills, information and to problem solve the AAK programs attempts to give prominence to affective and sensory learning. It adapts the liberal educational tenets of Dewey and Rousseau using experiential and participatory methodologies to help children reconnect in a concrete and creative way to their local environment, cultural context as well as to themselves.
The program is located in a ‘real' environment (as opposed to a classroom), to widen the scope and relevance of tools, information, resources and materials which children can work with. Participants are brought into the ‘public space' to engage with real issues, objects, people and environment.
This presentation will introduce school administrators and interested teachers to the following topics:
- A pedagogical approach to developing non-formal arts and culture education program arts and culture education for students outside of school
- A case study of an arts and culture program conducted in a community setting involving, artist, educator, community and facilitators.
- Alternative methodologies to enhance student interaction with arts, culture and life in the community and environment.
Download the paper (pdf, 1.2mb) and presentation (pdf, 3.6mb)