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In the contemporary process of teaching fine arts, the students’ own creative expression and art appreciation are used to encourage learners towards both perception and reception; consequently, the evaluation and internalisation of works of art play an equally important role. In art education practice, we manage to provide adequate incentives and are able to follow incentives for artistic expression, but pay less attention to developing art appreciation. This research presents the results of a study that monitored the development of art appreciation abilities among 9- and 10-year-old students (4th and 5th grades; n = 2794) in Slovenian primary schools. The level of art appreciation abilities was rather average, but was more developed among older students and girls. In monitoring the school stratum, we did, however, notice a statistically significant difference regarding perception, whereby students in urban schools performed better than their peers in suburban schools.

Picture books discussed with pupils in primary school are considered multimodal texts, as they combine at least two communication codes (verbal and visual). A discussion involving picture books will normally be included in Slovenian language lessons, with pupils focussing mostly on the text. The visual aspect, which equally carries a message, is often neglected. The objective of the present case study that was conducted among fifth-grade primary school pupils in the 2018/19 school year was to explore how a cross-curricular approach to planning and executing the lessons in the Slovenian language and visual art can help pupils learn about the characteristics of the picture book as a multimodal text. We conducted a set of didactic activities entitled Getting to know the picture book, introducing selected picture books to pupils as part of their Slovenian language classes, which resulted in them developing their receptive skills while observing and defining the structure of the texts. In visual art classes, the pupils learned about the visual features of the picture book. As a productive response to the picture book discussed, the pupils were instructed to complete the following tasks: design a cover for their own picture book, design endpapers, illustrate their own poem, and produce their own leporello. The survey involved 21 pupils, a generalist teacher, and a researcher in art didactics. The case study was completed in five weeks. The data were obtained by means of initial and final testing, questionnaires for pupils, and participant observation.

The self-portrait is a reflection of the personality in a visual, physical sense, as a concrete form, a summary of the external characteristics of the artist, but also in a psychological sense, when the self-portrait becomes a mediator of communication with the self, a medium of self-investigation. In this way, the self-portrait exists as a means of self-reflection, self-awareness and acceptance of the Self. It contains three primary values: subjective, objective and the archetype. Considering that the self-portrait is not exclusively a means of introspection reserved only for artistic practice, but also includes activities of the entire population, ranging from early childhood to old age, the projective and reflexive features of this motif began to be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. These findings, as well the need for a new role for art teachers arising from the cognitive, emotional and moral needs of children and youth involved in the regular education system in the Republic of Croatia, gave rise to the project The Self-Portrait as a Means of Self-Investigation, Self-Projection and Identification, which was realised in the regular primary educational process, in fifth-grade art classes. The expressive and projective dimensions of children’s drawings, which can indicate the possibility of diagnostic and potentially therapeutic activity within the regular primary education system, were taken as a starting point. The project also sought to examine the impact of rational-cognitive principles of teaching on children’s creativity and expression.

This article introduces the results of a research survey that involved 443 preschool and classroom teachers. The objective of the investigation was to discover teachers’ views on making picture book reading a part of the teaching process, how picture book reading was incorporated, and how a productive visual response to a picture book was designed. The results indicated that the surveyed teachers do consider picture books to be appropriate, not only for very young children, and they had no difficulties selecting an appropriate picture book. Half of the respondents noted that children or students visually expressed their impressions after reading a picture book. The replies also indicated that, as regards picture books within the teaching process, unused potential remains in terms of developing children’s visual and multimodal literacy.

This paper aims to sketch a framework for comparing the efficiency of printed and digital textbooks. Considering the fact that digital textbooks are a relatively new phenomenon, they lack both practical experiences with their use, and research on their efficiency - which is why all results will only be of a preliminary nature. This is also why our paper will focus on an initial definition of not only the theoretical framework for analysing the nature of digital media, but also for analysing printed and digital textbooks. The broadest theoretical framework consists of Lev Vygotsky’s theory on the character of culturally-psychological tools and their influence on the functional organisation of the brain and of Marshall McLuhan’s theory of media, concerning the general fact of the medium (and not its content). The theoretical analysis shows that media (printed and digital) have significant impacts on the functional organisation of the brain, which is based on the brain’s neuroplasticity. The analysis of digital media shows that they possess a set of specific features that, despite all the advantages they have, carry important risks for the organisation and functioning of the brain and for the process of learning. The production of digital textbooks also faces a significant number of challenges that the current production has not yet solved. Empirical research on the process of digital reading and understanding what has been read, indicate all the problems that still exist in digital textbook creation.

CEPS Journal 6 (2016) 4, S. 163-186, The era of visual communication influences the cognitive strategies of the individual. Education, too, must adjust to these changes, which raises questions regarding the use of visualisation in teaching. In the present study, we examine the impact of visualisation on the ability of high school students to memorise text. In the theoretical part of the research, we first clarify the concept of visualisation. We define the concept of active visualisation and visualisation as a means of acquiring and conveying knowledge, and we describe the different kinds of visualisation (appearance-based analogies and form-based analogies), specifically defining appearance-based schemata visualisations (where imagery is articulated in a typical culturally trained manner). In the empirical part of the research, we perform an experiment in which we evaluate the effects of visualisation on students’ ability to memorise a difficult written definition. According to the theoretical findings, we establish two hypotheses. In the first, we assume that the majority of the visualisations that students form will be appearance-based schemata visualisations. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that, in visualisation, people spontaneously use analogies based on imagery and schemas that are typical of their society. In the second hypothesis, we assume that active visualisation will contribute to the students’ ability to memorise text in a statistically significant way. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that the combination of verbal and visual experiences enhances cognitive learning. Both hypotheses were confirmed in the research. As our study only dealt with the impact of the most spontaneous type of appearancebased schemata visualisations, we see further possibilities in researching the influence of visualisations that are more complex formally. (DIPF/Orig.)