Learning Cultural Literacy through Creative Practices in Schools Cultural and Multimodal Approaches to Meaning-Making

• Main Author: Lähdesmäki, Tuuli (auth)
• Other Authors: Baranova, Jūratė (auth), Ylönen, Susanne C. (auth), Koistinen, Aino-Kaisa (auth), Mäkinen, Katja (auth), Juškiene, Vaiva (auth), Zaleskiene, Irena (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2022
• Subjects: Literacy; Communication studies; Teaching of a specific subject; cultural literacy; children's art; multimodality; learning program; creativity in education; Open Access
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

This open access book discusses how cultural literacy can be taught and learned through creative practices. It approaches cultural literacy as a dialogic social process based on learning and gaining knowledge through emphatic, tolerant, and inclusive interaction. The book focuses on meaning-making in children and young people's visual and multimodal artefacts created by students aged 5-15 as an outcome of the Cultural Literacy Learning Programme implemented in schools in Cyprus, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, and the UK. The lessons in the program address different social and cultural themes, ranging from one's cultural attachments to being part of a community and engaging more broadly in society. The artefacts are explored through data-driven content analysis and self-reflexive and collaborative interpretation and discussed through multimodality and a sociocultural approach to children's visual expression. This interdisciplinary volume draws on cultural studies, communication studies, art education, and educational sciences.