Figure 1.

View of the marsh and river on

property bequeathed to the university.

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING:
Utilizing Artistic Pedagogies
for Educational Leadership
tracey Hunter-Doniger

Figure 2. Avenue of Oaks

on the property.

46 Art Education
 Project-based learning (PBL) is a dynamic classroom
approach in which students actively use driving questions
to explore real-world problems and acquire deeper knowledge through
constructive investigations (Stepien & Gallagher, 1993; Thomas, 2000). Although
not a new pedagogical approach, PBL has recently gained in popularity and come
to the forefront of educational trends. PBL is a pedagogical form of hands-on,
non-rote memory learning, combined with the design process and experiential
learning. I contend that this pedagogical approach is the foundation of how art
educators teach students. This “nontraditional” method of teaching may be new to the
classroom but the fundamental notions of exploration, skill building, and application
of material have always been a mainstay in the art room.

integrate other subject areas with hands-on projects.” Everyone

I never teach my pupils; I only provide the
conditions in which they can learn.
—Albert Einstein1
As administration and generalist teachers grapple with the
nuances of PBL, they are searching for professionals who can
simultaneously instruct preservice teachers and lead professional
development on this “new” pedagogy. Art educators can and
should lead this charge but how can we persuade administrators
and generalist teachers to recognize our expertise? In this article,
I recall my experience with PBL leadership, how it related to
artistic pedagogies, and its significance for educational leadership.
My Encounter With PBL
I attended a cross-departmental meeting regarding the
development of an outdoor learning experience at an 881-acre
historic property (Figures 1 and 2). A generous donor who often
painted the wildlife on the estate bequeathed this unique property,
located along the Intercostal Waterway of South Carolina, to
my university. The caretaker of the property explained that the
donor wanted the land to be used as an urban refuge for inner city
children to interact with nature and experience the beauty within
pristine forests and ecosystems.
This piqued everyone’s interest and got them thinking how
this land might benefit their students and academic interests:
The science faculty saw the property as a biology lab for college
students, the anthropology professor imagined anthropological
digs, and the environmentalist envisioned an ecological test
center. Everyone had deeply involved ideas, but they were looking
at the property through the singular lens of their departments.
Meanwhile, I thought of this majestic property as an experience
where hands-on learning and problem solving could integrate and
connect learning in various ways. Because the donor was an artist,
my ideas focused on an art-infusion project where paintings and
sketches are made for scientific inquiry data as part of an ecological
question.
The possibilities made it hard for me to contain my excitement,
yet my enthusiasm was ignored as the debate about possible uses
continued. A non-arts colleague suggested that we should try
PBL, which he defined as “a new way to teach students; we could
nodded in agreement but someone asked, “Who has this type of
pedagogical background?” I sat astonished, mouth agape. I had not
only made that exact suggestion but also given a specific example
of how to do it.
Oddly enough, when the dean asked, I alone volunteered to
spearhead the curriculum development for this property. The
science and technology professors shook their heads at me, as if
to suggest that I did not know what I had gotten myself into. They
were wrong. I knew exactly what I was volunteering for. Indeed, 15
years of teaching art in the public schools had prepared me to lead
the PBL.
A Discussion of PBL: A Student-Centered,
Inquiry-Based Approach
In traditional teaching comprising direct instruction, the teacher
presents the objective and the student is a passive participant in
the learning process (Hollingsworth & Ybarra, 2009). William
Kilpatrick (1918), a colleague of John Dewey, proposed the notion
of student-centered learning through experiences, arguing that
this project method could be applied universally to all subjects.
Nearly 100 years later, building on Kilpatrick’s notions, PBL
requires the student to activate higher-order thinking skills to
reach a conclusion on their own about a given concept (Stepien &
Gallagher, 1993; Thomas, 2000). Students are asked to investigate
and resolve a problem by developing questions, gathering research,
receiving teacher scaffolding, and participating in self-evaluation
(English & Kitsantas, 2013; Torp & Sage, 1998). For example,
instead of providing formulas to determine the volume of an
object, students are encouraged to use what they know to reach the
formula on their own, such as using blocks. When project-based
practices are present, students often have a deeper understanding
of the material because they can reason through it and explain how
they reached the conclusion.
PBL is a student-centered, inquiry-based approach toward
learning, where students become active participants in the
construction of their knowledge by investigating and proposing
solutions to real-world problems (English & Kitsantas, 2013; Torp
& Sage, 1998). PBL aims to develop self-regulated learning within
students; it is similar to the artmaking process found in artistic
pedagogies. As opposed to direct instruction, students learn

March 2018 47
 Art infusion is an
interdisciplinary
pedagogy that embeds
the arts into all areas
of the curriculum.
how and where to find information as well as how to apply it to
formulate an answer or solution of their own. Students receiving
PBL instruction become critical thinkers while teachers function
as facilitators and guides to learning. Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of
proximal development (ZPD) suggests that the teacher’s role is
to assist in the learning, extending the level of students’ potential
development by providing scaffolding to assist them. Scaffolding
leads students in the right direction but they must reach a
conclusion on their own (English & Kitsantas, 2013; Torp & Sage,
1998). They must also understand that real-world problems have
various solutions, not just one. PBL focuses on divergent answers
and closely aligns with the artistic pedagogies discussed later in
this article.
The educational practice of PBL is strikingly similar to the
general pedagogical principles that have always governed the arts
classroom. Thomas (2000) identified five essential criteria for
PBL: projects are central and not peripheral to the curriculum;
driving questions frame the project and encompass every aspect of
learning; projects involve students in constructive investigations;
projects are student-driven and give children autonomy in
learning; and projects are real-life based and are not school-like.
These criteria demonstrate that inquiry is an essential part of the
learning process in PBL in ways strikingly similar to the practical
learning one finds in the arts classroom: Specific skills are taught,
and students learn through experiential practice, self-reflection,
and reiteration as part of the process. As students advance,
additional skills are taught and teachers guide, encourage, and
scaffold students.
Transitioning to PBL can be difficult when traditional direct
instruction has been engrained in education, but I believe the
arts are well prepared to lead the way. Teachers of the arts build
skills that can be used in other areas to help students become
self-regulated learners (Hetland, Winner, Veenema, & Sheridan,
2013). Since artistic pedagogies parallel PBL strategies so closely,
arts educators could be an ideal resource for such professional
development.
Comparing PBL to Artistic Pedagogies
Art Infusion
The literature defines interdisciplinary as a “knowledge view
and curriculum approach that consciously applies methodology
and language from more than one discipline to examine a central
them, issue, problem topic or experience” (Jacobs, 1989, p. 8).
Expanding on this, art infusion is an interdisciplinary pedagogy
that embeds the arts into all areas of the curriculum and mandates
48 Art Education
ongoing assessments in all disciplines on an equal level (South
Carolina ABC, 2005). Art infusion allows students to do more than
memorize content. It encourages them to search for it, find it, make
their own meaning out of it, and apply it in diverse and personally
relevant ways. Similar to PBL, art infusion uses Vygotsky’s ZPD
to scaffold lessons. When the art-infused classroom is operating
successfully, lessons are student-centered and students are self-
constructing their own knowledge. Within arts infusion, the arts
are used as a means of not only learning but also demonstrating
acquired knowledge through different modes of expression in all
disciplines (Eisner, 2008). This translates into diverse assessment
strategies, beyond the standard confines of written exams with
convergent answers, through which students have access to varied
methods of conveying learned understanding and exploring new
interests related to topics of study.
Art infusion is a model of instruction that promotes
simultaneous PBL of the arts and core disciplines to deepen
students’ understanding and tap into their creative potential, which
directly correlates to PBL. Art infusion and PBL also both strongly
promote student investment in learning. PBL encourages self-
monitoring of progress, management of strategy use, and revision
of ideas as well as reflection on outcomes—all of which contribute
to immersing learners in their own education (English & Kitsantas,
2013; Torp & Sage, 1998), similar to artistic pedagogies like art
infusion as well as art for arts’ sake.
Art for Arts’ Sake
The arts are a time-honored way of learning, conceptualizing,
and expressing that remain important for the skills that students
can develop through arts education (Baxter, 2014; Winner &
Hetland, 2000). An arts for arts’ sake pedagogy is based on
teaching studio skills used to increase students’ artistic skills.
Researchers argue that the arts are, and have always been,
fundamentally important to culture and education (Eisner, 2008;
Winner & Hetland, 2000). Without the arts, we are left with an
impoverished education leading to an impoverished society
(Winner, Goldstein, & Vincent-Lancrin, 2013; Winner & Hetland,
2000). The arts teach a willingness to imagine future possibilities
while also creating a desire to explore, persist in investigations, and
respect multiple perspectives (Eisner, 2008).
For generations, art educators strove for subject-matter
autonomy and wanted to teach art for its own sake, in isolation
from other subjects (Efland, 2002). Because visual and performing
arts maintain divergent answers, they allow students to observe,
self-reflect, and make reiterations. Art for arts’ sake supporters
contend that the arts should focus only on the outcomes for the
subject matter that the arts education curriculum was designed to
teach (Efland, 2002; Eisner, 2008; Hetland & Winner, 2001; Winner
et al., 2013).
Currently, the arts play a peripheral role in education, and art
for arts’ sake is a way to embolden the arts (Winner et al., 2013).
However, this myopic perspective of the arts could result in an “us
against them” mentality. Ultimately, arts for arts’ sake means that
the arts should be justified only for what the arts can teach and
the knowledge and skill sets that can only be developed through
an artful experience. These skills include technical skills found
in the visual and performing arts as well as the habits of mind
created in art classes (Hetland et al., 2013). Eight dispositions lead
Students can broaden their
to student success: develop craft, engage and persist, envision,
express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and understand the
conceptual understanding
art community (Hetland et al., 2013). These eight dispositions,
cornerstones of Studio Thinking: Eight Studio Habits of Mind, are
when they become active
taught in arts environments but can be transferred to non-arts
classrooms (Hetland et al., 2013; Winner & Hetland, 2000).
participants in the learning
The Studio Thinking skills can be correlated to Thomas’s process...
(2000) five criteria of PBL (Table 1). Artistic pedagogies and PBL
utilize similar strategies, such as scaffolding, inquiry, and self- as a strategy in the classroom. One inconsistency exists between
reflection, to assist in the learning process. In both, students are PBL and artistic pedagogies: Students engage questions and
taught essential skills and then create projects with a variety of problems of relevance through artistic practice but art does not
end products. The skills taught in both pedagogical processes always have a single driving question to solve practical problems
are central to the curriculum, as students observe and reflect with PBL. Nevertheless, students can broaden their conceptual
through constructive investigations. Students also have autonomy understanding when they become active participants in the
as they envision, stretch, and explore ideas beyond their capacity. learning process, expanding their content knowledge and material
Furthermore, students can understand community and express usage through PBL, artistic pedagogies, or a combination of both.
themselves through real-life, problem-solving projects.
Although artistic pedagogies and PBL are not a perfect match,
Conclusion
their parallels are sufficient to demand we consider them together PBL is not exactly the same as artistic pedagogies but they share
numerous similarities. I view the rise in popularity of PBL as an

Table 1. Comparison of Pedagogical Styles

Project-Based Learning Artistic-Style Pedagogy (Studio Thinking)
Centrality of Projects: Develop Craft:
Central to the curriculum, it is an essential part of Learn to use tools, materials, and artistic conventions as well as care
the teaching strategy. for tools, materials, and space.

Start with a Driving Question: Engage and Persist:

The driving question encompasses every aspect of
the learning; used to solve real-world problems.
Constructive Investigations:
Student inquiry is an essential part of the learning
process. Students observe, self-reflect, and
reiterate as part of the process.
Student Autonomy:
The process has no predetermined outcome.
Students complete the process with the teacher’s
guidance, encouragement, and scaffolding.
Real Life (not school-like):
Students create solutions to problems and have a
variety of different end products.
Learn to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or
of personal importance to develop focus conducive to working and
persevering at tasks.
Observe:
Learn to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary looking
requires, thereby seeing things that might otherwise not be seen.
Reflect:
Learn to think and talk with others about an aspect of one’s work or
working process; learn to judge one’s own work and work process
and then the work of others.
Envision:
Learn to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed and
imagine possible next steps when making a piece.
Stretch and Explore:
Learn to reach beyond one’s capacities, explore playfully without
a preconceived plan, and embrace the opportunity to learn from
mistakes.
Understand Community:
Learn to interact as an artist across the art field and within the broader
society.
Express:
Learn to create works that convey an idea, feeling, or personal
message.

March 2018 49

planning a PBL art-based curriculum.
opportunity for art teachers to become educational leaders. It can
be a platform to showcase art educators’ pedagogical expertise
rather than just another bandwagon on which to jump to raise the
importance of the arts. I am not proposing that art educators must
discover how to incorporate PBL into their classrooms. Rather, I
contend that art educators have been using PBL throughout their
careers and have perfected it.
Too often, art teachers feel isolated because they are the only arts
teachers in their schools. Although it might be challenging, arts
educators should volunteer to lead professional development in
their schools and assist generalist teachers who may be intimidated
by hands-on learning and divergent outcomes. We should provide
our colleagues with examples of how children can discover a
variety of answers to a problem while still being correct. Non-arts
educators should know that it is acceptable for children to stand or
talk to each other when they work. If colleagues do not listen, we
should not give up; we can invite them to our rooms to see artistic
Figures 4 and 5. Children painting the river and wildlife, and observing and sketching nature, while participating in PBL lessons on
the property.
50 Art Education
Figure 3. Teachers walking the property during a workshop
If PBL is a rising “new”
pedagogical platform and
art educators are the
experts, why not lead?
pedagogy in action. If PBL is a rising “new” pedagogical platform
and art educators are the experts, why not lead? (Eisner, 2008).
I am leading the PBL educational outreach at our university’s
newly acquired property. I have brought 10 educational
professionals together to begin a PBL curriculum for grades K-12
(Figure 3). The lessons and activities developed thus far include
making scientific observations through painting, designing and
constructing a shelter, sketching animals and hypothesizing
environmental issues, acting out animal adaptations, exploring
anthropological documentation, and writing scripts. One aspect
of each activity setting it apart from a standard educational
experience is that I have mandated that all lessons have art infused
into them. While facilitating the workshops, I introduced the five
criteria for PBL and combined them with the eight Studio Habits.
I subsequently observed the visual and performing art teachers
intrinsically taking charge in guiding the non-arts teachers through
the process, resulting in a collaboration of equality and respect.
In May, our first class of 2nd-grade students piloted this
program. The children were engaged as they encountered nature
 first hand. They sketched birds while speculating why certain nests
were abandoned. They also painted the landscape with an eye of
an 18th-century scientist, theorizing why certain plants seemed
to thrive in this environment (Figures 4 and 5). Now, instead of
looks questioning if I know what I got myself into, I get nods of
respect because I demonstrated my valuable experience in this type
of pedagogy and confirmed that art teachers have a lot to offer in
educational leadership.
Moving Forward
Where do we go from here? How can we, as art teachers, make
a sustainable change in leadership? Seeking out opportunities is a
beginning. As educational leaders, we are responsible for executing
change yet change can be a difficult process. According to the
organizational change theory, for change to survive and thrive,
leaders should act in such a way to leave a lasting impression and
make the change lasting (Fullan, 2008). Student achievement
increases when teachers work together in learning communities,
are supported by professional development, and have access to
various leaders within the school, including art teachers (Fullan,
2008; Senge, 2014). In the upcoming year, through my leadership, I
plan to meet with more teachers and provide a sustainable program
that can continue on artistically for many years to come. n
Tracey Hunter-Doniger, PhD, is Assistant Professor at
College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina. E-mail:
hunterdonigertl@cofc.edu

Baxter, K. (2014). A convergence of Hetland, L., & Winner, E. (2001). The Senge, P. M. (2014). The fifth discipline Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in
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Endnote
1
www.quotationspage.com

March 2018 51
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