Enhancing Artistic Skills of Gifted Preschoolers through Discipline-Based Art Education

Abstract

The research explored the possibilityof improving artistic skills of gifted preschoolersthrough a Discipline-Based Art Education(DBAE) approach which covers the four (4)art disciplines: Art History, Art Criticism, ArtProduction, and Aesthetics.A single group design was used withsixteen (16) preschool children aged six toseven years old from a coeducational schoolin Quezon City. These participants werepre-tested, exposed to DBAE art sessions,and then post-tested using the TorranceTests of Creative Thinking (TTCT).The study revealed the following:(1) there was a significant change in theartistic skills of gifted preschoolers who hadArt sessions using the DBAE approach,particularly in their Fluency and Originality inreference to their Torrance Tests of CreativeThinking (TTCT) performance; (2) among thefour art disciplines, the children improved inArt Criticism, the area that involves artvocabulary and art categorization throughdescription and analysis, and (3) the DBAE isflexible and adaptable as a method ineducating the gifted.IntroductionArt is an expression of life,