A study on constructive students’ learning experience through visual images of Project Yi-Jin students’ artwork

Traditional arts education in Hong Kong is largely teacher-centered and product-oriented. Recently, constructivism is one of the main learning approaches in visual arts education in Hong Kong. It is a theory that equates learning with creating meaning from experience. With the education reform implemented in the last decade, many community colleges have been established gradually for providing continuing education for F.5 school leavers. Among them, Project Yi Jin is one of the major groups. This paper will focus on the study of the constructive learning experiences of continuing education students – the case study of Project Yi-Jin students’ artwork through created visual images. The value of the study is twofold. Since limited research has been conducted in this area before, it is worthwhile to explore the values and characteristics of their artwork for future research. In general perspective, it can provide evidence for substantiating the theory of constructivism in visual arts education. I base my findings on Hall’s culture theory focusing on the elements of production, representation, identity in analysis. Through the study the paper will explore how the images are manipulated as a means of visual culture through description, analysis and reflection.