Collaborative cognition: Co-creating children’s artwork in an educational context

This paper presents an empirical analysis which addresses discursive and extra-discursive practices. A range of data which examines the co–creation of art in English primary schools is used to explore the use of ethnography within a critical realist framework. Case studies are presented to systematically analyse the different contextual layers which shaped the creation of children’s artwork. These are analysed multi-dimensionally presenting i) a photograph of a piece of artwork created during the lesson and ethnographic notes about the aims and scope of the class; ii) analysis of classroom interaction between children which shaped the creation of the artwork and iii) video stills and ethnographic notes to analyse the ways in which space and materials, shaped interaction and the creation of a material object – the artwork. Attention to meso, micro and extra-discursive contexts demonstrates how ethnographic methods might be used to examine interaction between discursive and extra-discursive practices