Roland Reichenbach/Nicolaj van der Meulen
Aesthetical judgement and pictorial competence. An introduction
Käte Meyer-Drawe
The Power of the Picture – Educational-theoretical observations
As creators of ourselves we create our own role-models which develop a life of their own in our world of media and react upon ourselves by showing us a reflection of ourselves. It is impossible to do without pictures in the process of education because our sensual perception with regard to ourselves always deserts us. The powerlessness of the self, grounded in a denial, a constant restlessness due to the idea that “everyone is farthest from himself” (Nietzsche), thus corresponds to a power of the pictures which consists in that these provide an – all be it preliminary – answer to this provocative self-deprivation. The individual educated in this sense knows about the magic and about the preliminary nature of images and he or she is aware of the danger inherent in every petrification.
Nicolaj van der Meulen
Pictorial Competence at the Crossroads between Visual Communication and Pictorial Theory – Unanswered questions relating to art instruction
The present contribution examines recent results of pictorial theory formation as to their approach to pictorial competence. The critique focuses on a concept of pictorial competence according to which the understanding of pictures implies a rational act of translation in the course of which pictorial elements are decoded and thus a supposedly original view of reality is opened up. In this, both the idea that pictorial competence would open up a direct access to a “true” reality behind the picture and the conception of a picture as a system of codes and symbols are questionable. The recourse to the concept of visual communication is meant to demonstrate that a broader concept of pictorial competence is still an unfinished desideratum with regard to art instruction.
Hans Utz
History Lessons: Time + Picture + Film
In the processing of history, pictures of the past fulfill the function of condensing historical events into experiences in the eye of the observer. When the viewers evaluate these experiences they can, in turn, gain experience and are thus able to add to their wealth of experience. The pictures become meaningful to them. However, this presupposes that the pictures appear to be authentic, i.e. that they are placed within a historical context recognized and acknowledged to be real. The following contribution examines in how far pictures are up to this double challenge of meaningfulness and authenticity. Then, a transfer is made to films which are regarded as serial pictures strung together by the producer. In order to turn films into something simultaneously authentic and meaningful, filmmakers employ different strategies. The author develops a systematic, historically anchored classification.
Regula Fankhauser Inniger/Peter Labudde-Dimmler
Pictorial Reception and Pictorial Competence in Science Education: Challenges and desiderata
What does pictorial competence mean in the context of science education and general knowledge in the field of natural science? The following contribution focuses on the receptive side of pictorial competence and looks at three so far hardly examined fields of research from a more general perspective. In the first chapter, a compatible theoretical approach is outlined. In the second chapter, the topic is anchored in the present educational-political discussion on educational standards; and the third chapter focuses on illustrative empirical research results. In the final chapter, research desiderata are deduced from the three fields of inquiry, relating equally to theory formation, empirical research, and didactic implementation.
Deutscher Bildungsserver
Tips on links relating to the topic of “Pictorial Competence”
Georg Breidenstein
Observations on a Theory of Classroom Teaching
In a first step, the author outlines common conceptualizations of classroom teaching in order to plausibly demonstrate the need for a new theoretical perspective on teaching. For his part, he advocates a micro-sociological approach to classroom situations which allows describing school teaching as an interactive and communicative event in its own right. In a second step, several empirical phenomena are addressed which challenge the theorization of classroom teaching, such as the relative indifference of school teaching towards the question as to its purpose and meaning or the growing detachedness of the practice of performance evaluation. Finally, some of the elements needed to develop a theory of classroom teaching are sketched: teaching as a system of interaction; organization and interaction; the representation and communication of “learning”; the evaluation and attribution of “achievements” to individuals; and, finally, the significance of the peer culture among students.
Marc Thielen
Beyond Tradition – Modernity and change in male lifestyles in the context of migration as a provocation for sex education
Present issues and problems of sex education focus on pedagogy of manifold lifestyles meant to open up a variety of gender-related, sexual forms of experience to the subjects of educational processes. Accordingly, heterogeneous sexualities, lifestyles, couple relationships, or forms of family life and friendship are focused upon. In contrast, intercultural discourses tend to attribute rather traditional lifestyles to Muslim migrants, based on strictly heterosexual relationships and patriarchal dominance. Following a critical reflection on “foreign masculinity”, the author reconstructs gender-related sexual processes of change among Iranian-born men in migration and interprets these as processes of learning and education. The autobiographic testimonies given by the interviewees represent a challenge to immigration society in that they require it to reflect upon its inherent hetero-normative patterns of order which limit and regulate the diversity and variability of gender-related sexual lifestyles.
Dina Kuhlee/Jürgen van Buer
Educational-Political Ideals and Realities of the Educational System: On the prospects of lifelong learning among disadvantaged adolescents
Lifelong learning is one of the key aspects of national and international education policy initiatives. The paper deals with the possibilities for lifelong learning of a selected group of young people, namely those with less successful learning experiences in primary and secondary school. It, on the one hand, analyses the political discussion on lifelong learning and the political intentions. On the other, it looks at the institutional structures of the educational system in Germany and their contribution to the development of less educated young people’s interest in involving in lifelong learning and their ability to do so, and raises the question in how far corresponding support is provided. For this specific target group, there exists a gap between political announcements and institutional realities, a circumstance that encourages social differences in educational participation and, as a consequence, broadens the gap between educational haves and have-nots.