The rapid development of technologies in 20th century led vastly world-wide time and space to building a close culture area, called "Global". That circumstance resulted in a cultural phenomenon, Postmodernism, which is characterized by pluralized and ...
The rapid development of technologies in 20th century led vastly world-wide time and space to building a close culture area, called "Global". That circumstance resulted in a cultural phenomenon, Postmodernism, which is characterized by pluralized and decentral changes such as mutual text, or expansion of genres, self-reflection, interest in popular culture by changing from absolute, objective, and universal thinking to open thinking. Accordingly, art education faces strong demand of a new paradigm which is fit for the 21st century.
This study aims to suggest the direction of art education in middle school focusing on finding methods to apply a variety of visual cultures which are not displayed in realism education, design education, expressionism education, practicalism education, subject-oriented education in school as the paradigm of art education moves from modernism to postmodernism and is mainly based on literary research.
For this study, first of all, how postmodernism is displayed in art education in school in Korea needs to be investigated with understanding of the concepts and characteristics of postmodernism which appears as a social trend. Then, the validities of visual cultures are to be identified with the concepts and definition of visual culture to deal with the background and role of the visual culture expanded from art education under postmodernism stated in recent books and documents.
Next, the ways of practical visual culture education in which visual culture signs can be written and read in terms of semiology as visual cultures are regarded as a method of communications. Lastly, visual culture education can improve cultural ability because it deals with the context of daily lives. So, the ways of critical thinking for proper understanding and communication on visual culture need to be studied and programs for visual culture education should be developed more.
The conclusions are as follows:
According to this study, Visual culture has "the visual" aspect and "the culture" aspect on the rise, and the combination of the two are also considered as visual culture based on the extensiveness of visual arts and the complexity of cultures.
The combined one is justified because it can involve from pure art works to video images like advertisements, films, televisions, and Internet, and complex daily experiences like shopping malls and amusement parks as well as printed images like photographs, newspapers, and magazines in one category.
Improvement of cultural ability which is aimed in visual education means understanding and communicating. Learner's visual communication ability can be obtained not only in the course of expressing their visual images but also in the course of understanding visual images and communicating.
Humans are involved in their lives through expressions and comprehension as a means of communication which form communality in their daily lives.
Communication is producing and changing of meanings rather than just conveying information in the view of semiology. and systematic education curriculums by which learners can read and write signs of visual culture based on understanding of context is required because understanding of text is needed from the point that the meanings or roles of texts are formed in culture.
Writing(expressing), reading(comprehension), and rewriting(communication through mutual interaction) in a practical aspect of visual culture education are circular principles and they are in the middle of contextualization of information.
As for one of writing methods, meaning can be formed with parody, a representative strategy of mutual text.
As for reading, which helps learners understand socio-cultural circumstances and form meanings in its context. Socio-symbolic reading strategy through learners' context-based questions lead learners to critical reading.
Rewriting, which connects writing and reading, allows interaction method on a shared website to make learners understand continuously through consistent correction and supplementation with reflective thinking by reinforcing interactions between individuals or groups.
In conclusion, the critical interpretation of visual culture using critical investigation can improve learners' cultural ability because learners can have reflective and critical thinking ability through their active participation and they can get comprehensive understanding of various visual culture and a new point of view on visual cultures.
The study, which investigates critical learning in visual culture education, has the significance to provide an alternative as a practical method of middle school art education responding to the recent postmodernism trend, which is insufficient in a way under modernism education.
Various developments of programs applicable in school education and a step toward media art including visual and audio images around us is expected as well.