A teacher in the first two cycles of elementary school as well as a student teacher is confronted constantly to variety of students' special needs, including deficits in the areas of perseverance, attention and concentration. Arts therapy as one way of professional support involves different artistic means of arts: music, dance, drama and fine arts. Its aim is to help explore students’ emotions, improve their self-esteem, resolve their emotional conflicts, develop their social skills and improve symptoms of anxiety, their self-image and behavior. A review of literature revealed a lack of research in the field of providing assistance with art activities in the teaching of fine arts to students with perseverance, attention and concentration problems.
In a qualitative action research, which was carried out in twelve steps, a ten year old boy was involved. Each step of the research included planning, action, evaluation of the achieved result or learning process and modification of further action in fine arts support. The qualitative approach was based on observation, analysis of structured interviews before and after the activity, analysis of the student's artwork and analysis of partially structured interviews after the activity.
The results of the research revealed that the process of using various art fields, techniques, materials and methods of art expression and art concepts in the teaching of fine arts, had a positive effect on (student's) perseverance, attention and concentration. The more action steps were taken, the more persistent the boy was in finishing the artwork. His concentration and perseverance were improved during the research, he furthermore accepted easier the fact that effort and perseverance are essential for a quality artwork realization. During the process of designing the artwork, the boy became increasingly independent. He realized all art tasks, but his perseverance, attention and concentration were better when working with art techniques and materials which he used rarely or even for the first time. He also preferred these tasks more. During our meetings, the boy realized that it is necessary to be patient and persistent in creating, as this leads to better quality of artwork. According to the results of the research it is evident that the boy’s perseverance, attention and concentration increased through our meetings, as he paid more and more attention to artwork, had no problems with concentration, persisted until the product was completed and also integrated the required content according to the art problem. He furthermore adopted art concepts step by step and introduced them verbally while assessing his artwork. There was also a positive change in the atmosphere before and after the meeting as artistic expression provides him satisfaction and joy. The disadvantage of the conducted qualitative action research is that the obtained results cannot be generalized. A certain limitation is also the duration of the research, as for clearer results it would be necessary to monitor the process of assistance with art activities for a longer period of time (more than three months). The present research also raises the question of sustainability of effects and transferring acquired skills to other subjects.
|
