Portraiture in the social studies:Interdisciplinary and technological approaches to instruction

Year 2015, , 1 - 25, 30.03.2015

Julie Taylor , Stein Brunvand , Okezie Iroha

https://doi.org/10.17985/ijare.95924

Abstract

This article is based on action research on the integration of portraiture in social studies instruction. At a public high school in Detroit, 54 students in four social studies classes studied the biographies of prominent African Americans, and they created portraits based on historic images. Some of the students’ drawings were exhibited as posters in mass transit stations during Black History Month.  For their own portraits, the students utilized sketch apps, and they engaged in autobiographical writing.  Forty-four students completed optional and anonymous surveys on the portraiture project.  The findings suggest that interdisciplinary approaches to social studies instruction engage learners, and they increase students’ understanding of how art is used in society to honor and commemorate.

Keywords

social studies, arts integration, culturally responsive teaching, authentic learning

References

• Alarcó, P. (2007). Gesture and expression. In P. Alarcó & M. Warner (Eds.), The mirror and
• the mask: Portraiture in the age of Picasso (pp. 61-87). New Haven: Yale UP.
• Barber, J. (1993). To the president: Folk portraits by the people. Lanham: Madison Books.
• Bebell, D., & Kay, R. (2010). One to one computing: A summary of the quantitative results
• from the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative. Journal of Technology, Learning, and
• Assessment, 9(2), 1-60.
• Brilliant, R. (2013). Portraiture. London: Reaktion Books. (Original work published in 1991)
• Creswell, J.W., & Plano Clark, V.L. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed-methods
• research. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
• Davis, J.H. (1997). Perspective taking: Discovery and development. In S. Lawrence-Lightfoot
• & J.H. Davis (Eds.), The art and science of portraiture (pp. 21-38). San Francisco:
• Jossey-Bass.
• Dunn, R.E. (2000). Constructing world history in the classroom. In P.N. Stearns, P. Seixas, &
• S. Wineburg (Eds.), Knowing, teaching, and learning history (pp. 121-140). New York:
• New York University Press.
• Faber, P. (2010). Long live the president! Portrait-cloths from Africa. Amsterdam: KIT
• Publishers.
• Epstein, T. (2009). Interpreting national history: Race, identity, and pedagogy in classrooms
• and communities. New York: Routledge.
• Finkelstein, B. (1998). Revealing human agency: The uses of biography in the study of
• educational history. In C. Kridel (Ed.), Writing educational biography: Explorations in
• qualitative research (pp. 45-59). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
• Finley, C. (2007). Postscript: M is for memory. In D. Willis (Ed.), Let your motto be
• resistance: African American portraits (pp. 155-157). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
• Institution.
• Gage, J. (1997). Photographic likeness. In J. Woodall (Ed.), Portraiture: Facing the subject
• (pp. 119-130). Manchester: Manchester UP.
• Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (2nd Ed.). New
• York: Teachers College Press.
• Graham-Dixon, A. (2013). Foreward. In J. Higgins, 21st-century portraits (pp. 7-9). London:
• National Portrait Gallery.
• Greene, J.C. (2007). Mixed methods in social inquiry. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
• Gustafson, D., & Sidlauskas, S. (2014). Striking resemblance: The changing art of portraiture.
• Munich: Prestel.
• Harris, C. (1987). Portraiture in prints. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc.
• Howgate, S., & Nairne, S. Introduction. In J. Higgins, 21st-century portraits (pp. 11-19).
• London: National Portrait Gallery.
• Jariwala, K. (2010). Introduction. In R. Crill & K. Jariwala (Eds.), The Indian portrait, 1560-
• London: National Portrait Gallery.
• Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American
• children (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Davis, J.H. (1997). Illumination: Framing the terrain. In S.
• Lawrence-Lightfoot & J.H. Davis (Eds.), The art and science of portraiture (pp. 41-59).
• San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Levstik, L.S., & Barton, K.C. (2001). Doing history: Investigating with children in elementary
• and middle schools (2nd Ed.). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Osborne, L.B. (2003). Introduction. In D.L. Lewis & D. Willis, A small nation of people:
• W.E.B. Du Bois and African American portraits of progress (pp. 13-20). New York:
• Amistad.
• Pointon, M. (1997). Kahnweiler’s Picasso; Picasso’s Kahnweiler. In J. Woodall (Ed.),
• Portraiture: Facing the subject (pp. 189-202). Manchester: Manchester UP.
• Powell, R.J. (2008). Cutting a figure: Fashioning black portraiture. Chicago: University of
• Chicago Press.
• Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd Ed.). Los Angeles:
• Sage.
• Seixas, P., & Morton, T. (2013). The big six historical thinking concepts. Toronto: Nelson
• Education Ltd.
• Serraller, F.C. (2007). The spirit behind the mask. In P. Alarcó & M. Warner (Eds.), The mirror
• and the mask: Portraiture in the age of Picasso (pp. 3-9). New Haven: Yale UP.
• Soussloff, C.M. (2006). The subject in art: Portraiture and the birth of the modern. Durham:
• Duke University Press.
• Stearns, P.N., Seixas, P., & Wineburg, S. (2000). Introduction. In P.N. Stearns, P. Seixas, & S.
• Wineburg (Eds.), Knowing, teaching, and learning history (pp. 1-13). New York: New
• York University Press.
• Stuart, J., & Rawski, E.S. (2001). Worshiping the ancestors: Chinese commemorative portraits.
• Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
• Suhr, K.A., Hernandez, D.A., Grimes, D., & Warschauer, M. (2010). Laptops and fourth-grade
• literacy: Assisting the jump over the fourth-grade slump. Journal of Technology,
• Learning, and Assessment, 9(5), 1-46.
• Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2009). Foundations of mixed-methods research. Los Angeles:
• Sage Publications.
• Villegas, A.M., & Lucas, T. (2002). Educating culturally responsive teachers: A coherent
• approach. Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Voss, F.S. (2012). Portraits of the presidents: The National Portrait Gallery. New York:
• Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
• Warner, M. (2007). Portraits about portraiture. In P. Alarcó & M. Warner (Eds.), The mirror
• and the mask: Portraiture in the age of Picasso (pp. 11-23). New Haven: Yale UP.
• Welch, D. (2013). Propaganda: Power and Persuasion. London: The British Library.
• West, S. (2004). Portraiture. Oxford: Oxford UP.
• Willis, D. (2007). Let your motto be resistance: African American portraits. Washington, D.C.:
• Smithsonian Institution.
• Willis, D. (2003). The sociologist’s eye: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Paris Exposition. In D.L.
• Lewis & D. Willis, A small nation of people: W.E.B. Du Bois and African American
• portraits of progress (pp. 51-78). New York: Amistad.
• Woodall, J. (1997). Introduction. In J. Woodall (Ed.), Portraiture: Facing the subject (pp. 1-
• . Manchester: Manchester UP.
• Wineburg, S. (2001). Historical thinking and other unnatural acts: Charting the future of
• teaching the past. Philadelphia: Temple UP.
• Wu, J. & Zhang, Y. (2010). Examining potentialities of handheld technology in students’
• academic attainments. Education Media International, 47(1), 57-67.