Abstract:

The main goal of this study is to understand the application of project methodology of Visual Education in two 8th grade classes of a Portuguese High School. Its purpose is the comprehension of project methodology as an engine to enhance creativity but also as a teaching process. To this end, Visual Education is perceived as a systematized subject while implementing a methodology than can be analyzed, assessed and measured. Based on the Bruno Munari’s theory, it was created a mapping of Work Units for Visual Education classes that allowed, on one hand, that projects developed by students could be staged and, on the other hand, that would imply successive performing tasks, so they can be allowed to start from point A (the problem) and get to a point B (the solution). So, the analysis of this whole process is the subject of this research. Realizing its impact on students’ performance (or the quality of their production) and the comprehension of its pedagogical impact in the classroom (working method) are the two main aspects of this research. This article aims to analyze this process in a defined context, while trying to understand the preferences/learning styles of students. The project methodology has proven to be an educational tool used for systematizing, but it’s so often neglected in Art Education, which tries to give a context to the problems (projects) given and involves students. There are also indicators that allow us to think that it is a tool that develops critical thinking and creativity for most students. However, there are also some indicators that show the difficulty of some students to adapt to the existence of a systematic and linear method.

Keywords:

Design Methodology, Arts Education, 3rd cycle of Basic Education, Bruno Munari, Educational Methodologies, Learning Syles, Learning Preferences, Final Product.