Teaching for Artistic Behavior: A Definition and Historiography

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the art education movement and pedagogy of Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB). The research sets out to define what TAB is and is not, delineating a working definition for the field. The study aims to place the origins of TAB, as well as the rationale behind why TAB was developed, into the historical educational context in which it was formed. Understanding how specific historical education and art education movements influenced the founders of TAB will help future researchers make meaningful contributions to the body of research related to TAB. Additionally, offering the perspectives on the origins and context of TAB to practicing TAB educators might provide them with a clearer picture of how their own practices have been shaped by the past. Interviews with the founders and influencers of TAB will serve to better define TAB in ways that inform contemporary practitioners’ effective implementation. This research also addresses the critiques of TAB and the challenges it faces, as a way to provide current TAB educators with responses to said critiques and challenges.