Educational formation through art. Transfer of knowledge between university and school.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Klaus Krüger
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 263358636

The relevance of image and media skills for successful participation in an increasingly visual society is generally undisputed. The research group BildEvidenz. History and Aesthetics has dedicated itself to the structures and processes involved in the generation of pictorial Evidenz and is investigating one of the most fundamental aspects of reflection on images and pictures. In relation to this there is an important socially relevant aspect and skill that needs to be learnt: By relating the self-determination of images and pictures and their references to reality, by relating the historicization and the aesthetical analysis, one is able to assess an image and recognise its functions and meanings adequately. Together with six high schools in Berlin and Brandenburg, the research group has designed a concept in order to make the aims of its project as useful as possible for society. By working together with pupils, the project aims to teach them how to assess images properly. In order to do so, pupils need to learn how to recognise aesthetic qualities in an image and put this into an economic, political and historical context. This enables the pupils to develop their image and media skills, an important prerequisite for successfully educated members of our modern society. Pupil should learn not only to appreciate the aesthetics of an image, or to use it as a historical source, but to put these images into context. However, common teaching methods often separate these skills strictly. Close cooperation with our partners and the questions that have arisen, have led to the con-clusion that a well-founded handling of image and media analysis is required and should be taught as part of the curriculum in German and History. Due to the fact that there have been no pedagogical methods developed in the subject of History of Art pertaining to these skills, a highly innovative co-operation with chairs for German and History teaching methods will be realized in this project. An in-depth exchange of teaching methods and skills should be included in the curricula of these subjects. Different forms have been developed in order to do this, for example, students from universities teaching in schools, accompanied by interdisciplinary university seminars. The recently introduced seminar courses in the schools of Berlin and Brandenburg make it possible to deal with the subject of image analysis in a cross-disciplinary way, thus ensuring a sustainable implementation. The teaching modules, created in co-operation with the schools and research group and based upon teaching experience, will be published. Since the Kunsthistorische Institut and the application partners have already gained extensive experience in a five-year cooperation project, an efficient implementation of the new project can be guaranteed.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants (Transfer Project)
• Participating Institution: Königin-Luise-Stiftung
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Martin Lücke; Professorin Dr. Elisabeth K. Paefgen