Recognizing and integrating Visual Culture studies into secondary school Visual Art pedagogy

The subject of Visual Arts in Ontario secondary schools is important to the visual education of students. The increase of accessibility to images, artistic and popular, through media and the Internet, results in a need to create pedagogy that goes beyond what is available in the present curricula, in order to generate an active dialogue of integration and understanding around the dominant Visual Culture. In the context of Visual Arts Education, studying the meanings of images and journeys towards them will aid in creating a more thorough understanding of the objects that are introduced in the classroom. Tangible new developments in Visual Arts curriculum in Ontario can and should be brought forward to establish effective teaching models for the present generations of students. This thesis establishes pedagogically appropriate definitions, examples and teaching strategies informed by the present Ontario Visual Arts Curriculum, theories of semiotics, generative learning theory and the Western Art History Canon.