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Introduction
Nowadays, there is no question regarding the importance that teachers’ training should approach fundamental concepts, connected to «sustainable developement» and educational practices for sustainability. The conducted study describes a training experiment developed in the curricular unit (UC) of Artistic Expression, integrated in the Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education, in the School of Education and Social Sciences in Poltécnico de Leiria. This experiment strived for knowledge regarding the materials, their transformation and life extension; upcycling (reuse of materials); and upcycled art (conception of artistical objects through the creative reuse of materials). Therefore, we tried to get to know previous ideas that students had regarding «art and sustainability«; a process of teaching and learning was planned and implemented; and, in a final moment, the students were led to reflect and identify the acquired knowledge.
In this process, the students should aim to: a) create an artistical object through the creative reuse of waste material (packaging paper; plastics; metal; undifferentiated material); b) acquire knowledge regarding expression and visual communication contents (shape, structure, composition); c) acquire knowledge regarding simple processes of material transformation (cutting techniques, connecting elements techniques); d) recognize that artistic practice can convey ideas regarding sustainability, both through what it represents, as well as through the materials that it transforms; and e) envision, through their teaching, practices that promote sustainability, when engaging in pedagogical practices in the future, they should be able to promote the artistic practice through the creative reuse of materials and reflection around upcycling.
When following a research-action methodolody, the study conducted around the mentioned experiment aimed to understand in which sense the art creation experiments through the creative reuse of materials pave the way so that future teachers can educate about sustainability.
1. Theoretical framework
There are several documents that guide teachers’ action and that allude to the interaction between «art» and «sustainabilty». Besides curriculum master guidelines, the reference in the inscripted guidelines in the Students’ Profile by the End of Compulsory Schooling is highlighted, in which «Sustainability» is one of its «Principles»; in the guidelines of the Strategy for the National Plan for the Arts 2019-2024, since it stimulates the artistic practice in schools through a transdisciplinary dynamic; and in the guidelines of the National Strategy for Citizenship Education, in which it is mentioned that «Issues relating to sustainability, interculturality, equality, identity, participation in democratic life, innovation and creativity are at the heart of the discussion» (p.1) and in which «Sustainable Development» is integrated in the 1st group of domains for Citizenship Education, therefore being a compulsory approach to every schooling level and cycle.
Eça (2010, p. 13) mentions the importance of this relationship by referring that «art and education through art have an important role in the building of a sustainable future because they promote creativity, innovation and critical thought, essential abilities for an emancipating culture, with equality and social responsability and essential conditions for the development of a sustainable future».
When observing the definition of «sustainable development», we understand which role the school can have when preparing the children and youth for the future. We’re referring to the development that fulfills the needs of the current generation, without compromising the future generations’ ability of fulfilling their own necessities. We’re also referring to the satisfying level of social and economical development and of human and cultural accomplishment which, at the same time, uses Earth resources reasonably, preserving the species and natural habitats (Eça, 2010). In order for that to happen, United Nations proposes that a global model of performance is implemented, guided by the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations - Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, 2021).
Since artistic education is a field that provides transdisciplinary approaches, it allows for the development of critical and creative abilities that may result in responsible action dynamics, by the youth, citizens of the present and of the future, related with serious problems of the planet and the needed search for sustainability. Children draw, sing, tell stories, dance, act, invent, paint and play in a creative interaction with their daily experience (Matarasso, 2019). We learn that the artistic act has, as its intention, the creation and communication of meaning and makes it possible, through art, to express beliefs, values, principles and experiences that we consider important, both in a conscious and unconscious way. Since the artistic object is a cultural product that reflects the production conditions and proposes new meanings (Rocha, 2013), it’s possible to convey and develop acts of awareness, rupture and change, favorable to sustainability.
2. Methods
While considering the stated goal, the descriptive and qualitative study followed a research-action methodology which, in the words of Pérez Serrano (2004, p.111), is a methodology «aimed for the enhancement of the practice», that privileges reflection over action, and through it, acquires scientific knowledge and get a social change through intervention. To this author, the process of research-action is developed according to the following sequence: (1) Diagnose or discover a subject concern or problem; (2) Assemble an action plan; (3) Implement the plan and observe the way it works; and, at last, (4) Reflect, interpret and integrate the results.
2.1 Sample
The study was carried out in the context of the Artistic Expression UC, in the 2nd year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education, and involved 51 students. The training experiment described in this study ocurred in the beggining of the 2020-2021 academic year, when the students were getting ready to begin their first experiments of pedagogical pratice in diverse education contexts.
2,2 Data collection techniques and instruments
The involved students answered an initial questionnaire, with an open question, and a final questionnaire, with an open question as well. The elearning platform was used for the application of these questionnaires. The data collection was also achieved through participant observation and by photografical records. The data was processed through content analysis.
2.3 Procedures
The study followed the phase sequence proposed by Pérez Serrano (2004), with a set of actions developed by all intervenients, matched with each of those phases. In an initial moment, associated to the «Diagnosis», there was the application of a questionnaire about «art and sustainability», before the theoretical approach to UC contents. This approach focused on «Sustainable Development Goals», proposed by the United Nations, the «Action Plan for Circular Economy in Portugal», namely in «Action 3 - Educating for a Circular Economy», and also on the contributions of Eça (2010) and Cabral (2017) in this regard. The questionnaire included one single open question: «What are your thoughts about “art and sustainability”? ».
When analyzing the content of the answers, two categories arised: «Art as a mean of expression and communication of ideas regarding sustainability» and «Art and the way it materializes» (see Table 1 - each student is represented by the letter «E», followed by an attributed number).
Table 1 Some representative records of answers to the question: «What are your thoughts about “art and sustainability”?
The second moment, «Planning», refers to the planning of practical classes and necessary resources, which was then followed by «Implementation». This third momend included the execution of artistic creation classes, planned by the students (data collection about materials, image creation regarding the expressive intention of composition) and the artistic object building, through the application of simple transformation techniques of plastic, metal and packaging paper. In the end, the «Reflection» was carried out regarding the acquired knowledge, through the application of a final questionnaire.
3. Results
The last phase of the process regards the «Reflection» and includes the individual presentation of artistic objects to the group and the filling of a final questionnaire, composed by the open question «Reflect about the experienced process, mentioning the main knowledge acquired».
When analysing the produced answers, the following categories arised«Knowledge in the field of visual arts», «Knowledge about sustainable development» and «Knowledge about educational practices for sustainability», from which we present some significative record unities, in the Tables 2, 3 and 4, respectively.
The category «Knowledge in the field of visual arts» accomodates three subcategories: «Theoretical knowledge about tridimensional plastic exploration», «Creative and expressive process» and «Material transformation techniques».
The category «Knowledge about sustainable development» is divided in two subcategories: «Communication of ideas» and «Upcycling (creative reuse of materials) ».
Table 3 Some representative records regarding the category «Knowledge about sustainable development»
The category «Knowledge about educational practices for sustainability» accomodates the subcategories «Promotion of artistical practice», «Stimulation of coordination abilities» and «Stimulation of the reflection about sustainability».
4. Discussion
The results emphasize that the developed process allowed the students to increase their knowledge about artistic language, about sustainable development and about educational practices for sustainability that may be adopted in the future, as teachers. The process was conducted through the presented steps and was permeated with theorical approaches to key concepts - sustainable development, sustainability, upcycling, circular economy and upcycled art - through contact with several artistic refences - works of Bordalo II, Aurora Robson, Phil Gyford, Sandra Oliveira, an artist presentes by Magalhães (2017), among other artists - considering what is suggested by Rocha (2013), when she refers that the interpretation of artwork is key in the teaching and learning of visual arts. The concepts of structure, shape and volume composition were equally approached, as well as simple techniques of plastic, metal and packaging paper transformation. These approaches were made in a contextualized way, in the moment that the artistic creation was occuring and in which the theoretical knowledge was required for the resolution of practical problems. We believe that this is the reason why students enumerated the several «Knowledge in the field of visual arts», referring the aspects related to the theoretical knowledge about tridimensional plastic exploration, about the creative and expressive process and about material transformation techniques.
When answering to the placed challenge and through tridimensional plastic exploration, the students built objects with shape-function: practical (an object to use, in which its shape relates to the physical aspects of its own use); aesthetiical (objects that are ways of art, for example, a sculpture and in which the shape is solely related with the artistical aspects of creation); and symbolic (objects that work mostly as symbols, with that being their function).
The actions required for the building of artistic objects were pretty diverse, and this data was collected through participant observation: pierce resorting to several tools (nails; hole punch); make insertions; damp and «model» paper; cut with scissors, cutter, hand saw; use techniques to connect elements, such as knotting, sewing, glue, staple and fit together; apply appropriate glue to the materials (hot glue; wood glue; multipurpose glue); design mechanisms by building articulation joints between elements; manipulate materials in the cutting support and use it for measuring; among others. Regarding the level of eye-hand coordination (ability to control hand movement, guided by vision) and the awareness of the hand movements, the students had new experiences (or some that they hadn’t experimented in a long time), understanding their importance when performed by a child - roll elements; screw; rotate elements; hold elements with precision; make movements with precision; pick up elements with different dimensions and formats; coordinate hands in different actions; strenght actions of hand (press; flat; crease; twist). The reference to the works of Cabral (2017) and Rodrigues (2002) were also present, namely when it comes to the suggestion of tridimensional creation experiments, such as «object assemblies», that may arise in the children’s experiments.
The students also revealed that they understood the relationship that may exist between «art» and «sustainability», in the sense that artistic practice allows the reflection regarding the subject, through the materials that it transforms - subcategory «Upcycling (creative reuse of materials) » - and through the messages that it conveys - category «communication of ideas», merging this data with some of that obtained during the Diagnosis phase.
The students’ reflections also focus on the value of the experiment for their training as teachers. The data showed that they learnt how to intervene in the field of education for sustainability, and that that intervention may happen through a plastic expression practice route, in the sense that it achieves the «Promotion of artistical practice», the «Stimulation of coordination abilities» and the «Stimulation of reflection about sustainability».
Conclusion
The results highlight the knowledge acquired by the students throughout the process, thus allowing the achievment of the goal that was initially devised for this study - understand in which measure the experiments of artistic creation, through the creative reuse of materials prepare future teachers to educate regarding sustainability.
These were relative to the UC contents as well as to the importance attributed by the students i) to the artistical practice as a mean of reflection about sustainability; ii) to the messages conveyed by plastic composition; and iii) to the portability of the experimented process for different educational contexts. The importance of these results is emphasized, mainly what concerns the fullfilment of these types of experiments in educational contexts. Training for awareness regarding individual and collective actions that contribute to sustainability is a widely present dimension in the documents that guide educators’ and teachers’ work. And, that being said, the results emphasize the value of this training experiment which, being portable to other contexts, will make sense of what is specified in the curriculum.
