Art Education (PK-12)
The art education program at Moravian University places child-centered teaching and learning theories into practice. As children and adolescents create works of art about big ideas that matter to themselves and others, they are problem-solving and problem-seeking. As they create works of art based on ideas that are shaped through dialogue with their peers and teachers, they are constructing new knowledge about their experiences in and through the world. They do so in an atmosphere that emphasizes cooperative, student-directed, and peer-group teaching and learning strategies. The primary outcome of this approach is that through the creation and sharing of personal meaning-making, students foster a greater understanding of themselves and others and awaken to alternative possibilities in the world. Art education provides an opportunity for children to respond to the question, “must things be as they are?” In doing so, they cultivate a more peaceful and socially just world and education becomes transformative.
Child-centered lesson units based on this philosophy and written by our pre-service art educators vigorously meet the Pennsylvania Department of Education Academic Standards for the Visual Arts and Common Core Standards. Moreover, because it is child-centered, this philosophy supports educators in teaching students with diverse needs, such as students who are learning the English language and those with disabilities.
To carry out the ambitious goals set forth within this mission of art education, pre-service art educators at Moravian University develop and sustain their own studio art practice and use it to inform their pedagogy. In doing so, art educators come to understand their studio practice as research, as the place where they are constructing new knowledge. Through the mastery of art processes and techniques, through the understanding of materials and their potential for shaping ideas, the pre-service educator a calls on these experiences as he or she writes curricula that support and challenge the artistic, cognitive and social development and learning styles of all children.
Professional Education Courses Required for Certification
Recommended for Freshman Year
- EDUC 100.2 Intro. to the Education of English Language Learners (Fall)
- EDUC 260 Culture, Community & Diversity: Intro. to Critical Pedagogy (40-hour Stage 1&2 Field Experience / M3)
Recommended for Sophomore Year
- EDUC 230 Student Development & Instructional Design (40-hour Stage 1&2 Field Experience)
Recommended for Junior Year
- EDUC 244 Including Students with Disabilities
- EDUC 250 Art and Child Development (Spring / M6)
Recommended for Senior Year
- EDUC 366 Curriculum & Instruction in Art, WI (Fall only; 150-hour Stage 3 Field Experience)
- EDUC 375-7 Student Teaching
- EDUC 379 Seminar in Art Student Teaching
The Art Major Leads to a Bachelor of Art Degree in Art Education
Freshman Year
- ART 170 Drawing I (Fall)
- ART 142 Visual Foundations: Composition, Color & Design (Fall)
- ART 270 Drawing I (Spring)
Sophomore Year
- ART 113 Art History Survey: Caves to Cathedrals (Fall)
- ART 180 Painting I (Fall)
- ART 119 Art Processes & Structures: Material Investigations (Fall / M6 - Sophomore or Junior Year)
- ART 114 Art History Survey: Renaissance to Abstraction ( Spring)
- ART 280 Painting II (Spring)
Junior Year
- ART 119 Art Processes & Structures: Material Investigations (Fall / M6 - Sophomore or Junior Year)
- ART 146.2 Printmaking & Book Arts (Fall)
- ART 160 Ceramics I (Fall)
- ART 159 Design: Three Dimensional (Spring)
Senior Year
- ART 131 Introduction to Graphic Design (Fall)
Important Guidelines
- Students must have an overall GPA of 2.7 in order to take 200 level education courses or above.
- All education courses must be completed prior to beginning student teaching. Other than the performance unit, no other courses should be taken during the student teaching semester.
- Students must have prior written approval by the program coordinator if they plan to complete any of these courses at another institution
Program Coordinator
MaryJo Rosania-Harvie
Art Education Coordinator and Advisor
rosaniaharviem@moravian.edu