The Intuitive Reasonings of Jessica

What is art? That is a question I had often asked myself throughout my own educational experiences. As a young child, I thought that art was something flat that could be framed and hung on the wall. At that time, my art schema only included drawings and paintings. However, as I encountered sculpture at the art museum, I accommodated my art schema to include three-dimensional objects as well. 

Everybody’s mind organizes information into schemas—groups of concepts and actions that can be revised by new information. When I went to the art museum as a child, I encountered many paintings and drawings that I had never seen before. I assimilated that new information into my existing schema for “art”. By assimilation, new information is put in an existing schema. However, when I encountered sculpture, I had two choices. I could either accommodate my existing schema for “art” and make it include three-dimensional art as well, or I could create a new schema for “sculpture” and not include it as “art”. Accommodation is when an existing schema is modified to include new information, or a new schema is created for the new information.

When new information is introduced that does not fit into a person’s existing schema, one is forced into a state of cognitive disequilibrium. As a young child at the art museum, being in a state of cognitive disequilibrium enabled me to learn new concepts about art. As a future teacher, I want to give my students as many opportunities as possible to learn new information. In Block 1, I had an exciting opportunity to teach 10th grade ceramics students a lesson about anything I wanted. Hoping to challenge them as much as possible, I decided to introduce functional art, and consequently create cognitive disequilibrium in some of the students.

I taught the 16 high school students in the ceramics class how to make mugs. Most of them had a schema for art that included things like painting and sculpture, as well as anything made in art class. However, most of them did not include the contents of their kitchen cabinets in their schema for art. As the students began to work, I could tell by their conversations that I had successfully created cognitive disequilibrium in their young minds. Many of them were accommodating their “art” schemas to include cups, plates, and even silverware. Some decided that these functional objects were only art if they were handmade, thereby only slightly modifying their schemas. Others did not see the mug that they were making as something that they would ever use. Those students assimilated their handmade mug into their existing schema for art, which included only handmade objects created solely for aesthetics.

As a future art teacher, I believe that it is important to constantly present students with opportunities for cognitive disequilibrium. Those situations offer students ample opportunities to learn. Teachers can successfully create such situations by placing an object, such as a mug, in a situation, such as art class, where it doesn’t seem to belong. As a result, students are pushed to ask questions, to accommodate their schemas, to think things through, and most importantly, to learn.

In WIT a few weeks ago, Jenny asked us if there was anything we were really trusting God for. I said that I was trusting God for a summer job, but that I didn't feel like I was trusting Him enough because I wanted a really awesome job, but I was losing hope and starting to think I would settle for just about anything. However, I knew that God had a plan for my summer, and that He would provide me with the perfect job.

I have since filled out a half dozen more applications, and emailed student coordinators at other Purdue dining courts (since Ford is closed this summer). Earlier this week, the student coordinator at Windsor Dining Court had emailed me, asking what my availability was. That sounded hopeful, so I immediately responded that my availability was unchecked, save for Sundays, on which my availability was naught. The coordinator responded that I should come in to fill out an application, so I proceeded to do so the next day.

As I walked into Windsor, I saw people wearing uniforms indicating that they were student cooks, student supervisors, administrators, and other such personages of whom I was accustomed to seeing at Ford. Oddly enough, I felt immediately at home on the grounds of Ford's rival. I proceeded to the office, where I encountered the student coordinator I had been emailing. Upon introducing myself to him, I found that he remembered me. He handed me an application, and I filled it out and returned it. Then, he asked me to step behind his desk so I could see my tentative schedule on his computer. I was pleased to see big black boxes covering up every Sunday.

"So, does this mean I'm hired?" I asked. 

"Yes," said he. "I just needed you to fill out an application for our records."

"Praise God!" said I on the inside. "Excellent! I'm looking forward to working with you guys," said I on the outside.

I spent the rest of the day floating around on cloud nine. Less than 24 hours later, I received a call from Hilltop Apartments, who had received my application and wanted to interview me. I politely informed them that I had already accepted another position, and would not be able to join their cleaning crew in mopping floors, scrubbing toilets, and whatever else they intended to do this summer. (Praise God!)

The only glitch in my happy story is that my job at Windsor does not start until June 8th. However, upon reviewing my finances, it looks like I will be able to pull through until then, since I will be working a few extra shifts at Ford during finals week.

Now, I have all of May free for roadtrips, visits to my parents' abode, and some painting. I've been meaning to paint my own interpretation of Apollo and Daphne for some time now, and it looks like the month of May just might give me the time slot I've been looking for.