Interdisciplinary Concept of “Image” in the Cross-Cultural Pedagogical Technology of “ART+”

Abstract

This article presents the principles and mechanisms of Cross-cultural pedagogical “Art+” technology work, which implements an idea of integration of sciences and arts into the learning process. The technology is based on the universal concept of “image”, which adds valuation and subjective connotation in relation to the new knowledge and helps to lean on associative connections during the actualization of the student’s experience. Education designing happens according to principles of intersection and complementarity of two cultures: natural-science and humane.The power of the image in its interdisciplinarity can be perceived by feelings and consciousness. The mental image of the object there are integrated the real and abstract things, or concretized the details and properties, developed new, imaginary patterns that can be expressed as a semiotic, linguistic, and painting resourses. The urgency of the universal concept of "image" in education is confirmed by its wide use in art (artistic image), and science (symbolic imagery, semiotic models).

Keywords: Culture, art, science, education, image, pedagogical technology

1. Introduction

Interdisciplinarity desire in education process became a distinctive feature of our world. You can

see some historical pattern here, which, along with the increasing role of visual information, provoked,

according to leading visual culture theoreticians, a “cultural turn” (M. Dikovitskaya) or “figurative

turn” (W. J. Mitchel). Indeed, usual verbal methods of information exchange: radio, newspapers, text

magazines were replaced by visual: computers, videos, glossy magazines and advertising in the last 15

years. According to W. J. Mitchel, this turn to drastic cultural changes manifested itself in specific

return of technologically advanced cultures to the mythology. The dominating of visual way of

information exchange over the verbal one is typical for mythological view of life. It seems, that cultural

development of mankind made a giant curl and came full circle, at the qualitatively new level, of

course. It may be no accident that an ancient syncretism serves as interdisciplinarity, integrity

nowadays, and represented by synthetic kinds – movies and TV – in arts.Along with “cultural” or

“figurative” turn increases the importance perception ability of visual images and image thinking in the

structure of individual development.

2.Methods of research

The easiest way to present the mechanism of technology usage is to draw a “grid”, where in

vertical direction the meaningful vectors of learned subject are lined and in horizontal direction –

meaningful vectors of art. At intersections of scientific and imaginative knowledge appear “knots” of

understanding in the learner’s mind (W.S. Bibler).Detecting the “knots” of integrity and convergence

of the educational fields with the art significantly increases the meaningful and emotional image-

bearing intension of information, greatly reducing its shape, i.e. providing “close packing” (V.P.

Zinchenko, A.I. Nazarov).

The universal example is Van Gogh’s painting “The Starry Night”. Through the image of full of

expression and anxiety starry sky with raging colourful and luminous spectacle, in clouds and twirls of

spiraling star motion is represented high-profile model of liquid turbulent patterns, resembling the

mathematical equation of Russian scientist Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, concluded in 60 years

after the painting creation! Kolmogorov was close to an understanding of the work of turbulent

patterns, however the full description of turbulence still remains a serious physics problem. No matter

how difficult it was to understand turbulence mathematically, Van Gogh managed to catch the whole

depth of motion nature and represent it in the painting. Clash of clouds in the centre of the painting,

forming a spiral splicing, resembles Ancient-Chinese symbol of harmony – Taiji, and gives the

painting a deep philosophical meaning. This symbol shows the struggle of two opposing principles: the

active light male principle yang and the passive dark female principle yin. The essence of all living

involves in it since in the interaction of these principles lies a reason to any change.

Thus, THE IMAGE is a subjective world view and a living, visual representation of anything, it is

the appearance of existing and the copy, mark in consciousness of objective phenomena, and

imaginative reflection of ideas and feelings in sound, word, line, colour, and a visual demonstration of

a phenomenon through the other one, more concrete; comparison, likening. Consequently, given the

specificity of modern culture with its unlimited flows of information, visual priorities, desire for

integration, strongly expressed semantic principle and new forms of manifestation of mythological

world perception, we developed and tested in practice our cross-cultural pedagogical technology with

the key concept of “image”. Cross-cultural technology of “Art+”embodying the idea of integration of

sciences and arts in the learning process, helps to ease the downsides in it:

• The discrepancy between the entirety of culture and its fragmental representation in different

learning subjects;

• The gap between the child’s typical integral view of life and “monocources” of the learning

subjects;

• The child’s subtraction from the cultural traditions, inactive emotional and axiological

relations to the world;

• The disparity of volume of education content to the child’s abilities, the remoteness of

subjects from each other, from life and experience of the students;

• The inability to find the optimal ways of interacting with the sign and symbolic reality.

The usage of new connections, general and universal laws governing a phenomena and semantic

elements of learned subject with the art will provide “interchange” and complementarity.

The technology is implemented on the principles of:

• Culture capacity–provides an introduction of general cultural context necessary for

understanding of the language of culture;

• Dialogueness–aims to develop a culture of communication starting from the simplest systems:

student – his near circle; moves to more complicated – human and nature, human and science,

human and art, human and humanity. Activation of a possibility to explore the world by

making an active dialogue with it.

• Emotional saturation – the saturation of a lesson with bright moments of “live” knowledge

causes emotional understanding of the content,well, as was written by B.V. Asafyev,

“Emotional understanding creates a sense of value”.

• Creativity – provides a creative nature of a learning process, students’ business starts with the

birth of the spirit towards to the sudden inspiration, when there appears a new idea in the

mind.

• Complementarity – of scientific and imaginary content.

Mechanisms providing a technology work:

• Bear on the concept of “imageThe universal concept of “image” which adds a value and

subjective connotation in the relation to the new knowledge and helps to lean on associative

connections during the actualization oftudent’s experience.

• Decussation and complementarity:Provides detecting the “knots” of integrity and convergence

of the educational fields with the art, which significantly increases the meaningful and

emotional image-bearing intension of information, greatly reducing its shape, i.e. providing

“close packing” (V.P. Zinchenko, A.I. Nazarov).

• Inclusion of oppositional languagesof science and art into the learning process is based on the

principle of subsidiarity, which was proposed by N. Bor, who thought that for the presentation

of one knowledge is necessary to use two mutually exclusive languages. Languages of science

and art are exactly those languages and their opposition ensures the development.

• A comparison and interconnectedness of oppositional pairs of concepts, which was tested by

the time: this opposition was that very one, on which were built myths of all world nations in

ancient times, which are known as “textbooks” of life, activating the development of culture.

• The usage of new connections, general and universal laws governing a phenomena and

semantic elements of learned subject with the art will provide “interchange” and

complementarity.

3.Results

Cross-cultural pedagogical technology of “ART+” can be used to teach children on any subject at

any age. It is important that the material, used for complementarity of a subject with art, should be

available, understood and was interesting for children of a certain age group, with which you are

working. In Table 1 we give an example of finding “knots” of integrity and convergence of “The world

around us” subject in primary school with art (basically with that kind of art, which children are

studying through the program of “The world of artistic images”, whose author is the author of this

article)

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Fig.1 clearly presents a model of complementarity of content of “The world around us” subject in

primary school and “Visual art” subject by identifying “knots” of integrity and convergence of the

educational fields with the art. Unfortunately, we are not able to show examples related to literature

and music within this article.

See Full Size >

The integration of scientific and imaginary knowledge in this article gives a chance to

comprehend the image of a tree, which embodies the universal concept of the world, mythological

representations about it, its role in culture development, the structure and specificity of tree life, which

formed the basis of special relationship with it in culture. Thus, expnding the borders of

understanding of the world by a child, we help him to master the world not only in the rational and

logical way, but by images, too; and at the same time through straining his memory, imagination,

through usage of logical structures – child built his own different models, which can be somehow

connected with the image of a tree: a tree as a model of world-making; as the axis of the world or the

road connecting the underworld, earth and sky; as the symbol of synthesis of earth, water and sky or

the symbol of a strong energy of growth, image of reviving life; a tree as a living organism, etc.

4.Conclusions

The inclusion of oppositional languages: of science and art, and oppositional pairs of concepts in

the learning process ensures its effectiveness. It increases students’ interest in learning, increases the

volume of remembered information, broadens the mind, helps to understand the world in its entirety.

Comparisons and connections between oppositional pairs were tested by time: it is known that all

myths were built on a base of this opposition, myths were “textbooks” of life, activating the culture

development.

5.Acknowledgements

We would like to thank principals of Moscow schools V.I.Chika (school No:996) and V.A. Sidorov (school of “Allada”), as well as teachers T.Y. Golitzina, A.A. Podchernyaeva, I.A. Savchenko, A.G. Petrova, S.V. Tihonova, O.A. Michaleva and others who successfully used our cross-cultural technology of “ART+” in their work.

References

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• Kashekova, I.A. ,Temirov, T.V. “The Concept of development of humanization of education based on cultural approach//Humanitarian space. International Almanac, volume 2”, 2013 Lotman, Y.M. “About art”, Saint-Petersburg, 1998 Mitchell “What is Visual Culture” in Meaning in Visual Arts: Views from the Outside edited by Irving Lavin (Princeton, NJ : Institute for Advanced Study 1995) pp 207-217.

• Perucci, A. “From two cultures to one. Short cnotes on a heritage of scientific and humanitarian discussion//Bulletin of the Tomsk State University. Culturalandarthistory”, 2011 Snow, Ch.P. “Two cultures: collection of publicistic works”, Moscow, 1973 Zinchenko, V.P. Nazarov,A.I. “Thoughts about artificial intellect//About human in humans”, Moscow, 1991