I decided to explore Margaret Macintyre Latta and her work on aesthetic education. Her work outlines the misunderstanding of aesthetics as simply something pretty and magnificent. Latta explains how aesthetic education is often connected to the arts and therefore overlooked as being beneficial to education as a whole. By moving past these preconceived notions of aesthetic education Macintyre looks to “challenge traditional disciplinary and institutional structures” (Latta, 2008, p.688) and broaden knowledge and understanding.
Margaret M. Latta’s work I feel is very process based and focused on the way things are learned and examined through a critical understanding. This article specifically talks about other works surrounding the concept of aesthetic education and the numerous perspectives and opinions that can be had. By approaching aesthetic learning in the curriculum students can experience more creativity in a process education than in a standardized approach. Latta expresses how aesthetic education can “invite students to participate wholly as creators”(Latta, 2008, p.696) by presenting them with a process model. Latta supports the use of aesthetic learning and pedagogy within the creation and expectations of the curriculum.
From Latta’s work, I am going to continue my research primarily in support of aesthetic education, but I hope to find a scholarly work that goes against this model. Through this, I am going to examine the benefits and negatives of this approach to education while recognizing its role within curriculum and pedagogy. I look forward to examining how aesthetic education fits into the process model of curriculum and how it can be implemented within the education curriculum. I feel at this point there are many directions that I can take with Margaret Latta’s work and it’s impact on curriculum studies.
Sources Referenced
Margaret Macintyre Latta (2008) Aesthetic education: the task of revisioning, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40:5, 687-698, DOI: 10.1080/00220270802054083
Your blog is very well-written and formal. Great work incorporating quotes and including the source.
I wasn’t able to get a clear picture of what aesthetic education is from your summary besides the connection to the arts.
You have a clear goal moving forward and I like how you will examine this idea from a positive and negative viewpoint.
Hi Jarhico! I chose to research Margaret Latta too and I love how you talked about how art is overlooked as being beneficial to education as a whole. I think it is so important to recognize that art is not just a subject area, but an approach to teaching and learning! I approached Latta’s work with more of a ‘play-based’ lens, so it is interesting to read about what you take away from her ideas. I think that art and play-based learning can go hand in hand in creating this “whole” learning experience. I like how you connected to the class and referred to the process model.