AESTHETIC EDUCATION

This course is designed to help students understand the world in new ways through an experiential exploration of the arts. Students will consider the meaning of “aesthetic education” through an empirical examination of the arts and their relationship with education. Utilizing an approach developed by the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education (LCI), students will be immersed in a combination of well thought-out observations and analyses of specific works of art through hands-on exploratory activities designed by arts and education faculty. The LCI approach advocates that through these art making journeys into dance, music, theater, and the visual arts, students will be encouraged to draw upon prior perceptions to build new insights and further their comprehension of the work of art. This inquiry-based practice which encourages students to interact, question, reflect, observe, notice, and analyze art to develop a new perspective- an aesthetic awareness, integral to all forms of education and life itself. Through discussion and dialogue of these shared aesthetic experiences, students will develop an understanding of “aesthetic education” as a process of building knowledge which incorporates the elements of “art” itself, as well as incorporating the arts as a means for teaching other branches of learning.