A Curriculum in Subtractive Color Learning for Post-Secondary Education
A Curriculum in Subtractive Color Learning for Post-Secondary Education
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Date
1983
Authors
Kimmel, Kent Nevin
Advisor
Longley, Edward L. Jr
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Abstract
In the 1920's, Johannes Itten developed and taught the
Basic Course at the Bauhaus. As part of the basic course, he
developed a syllabus in subtractive color learning. One of Itten's
former students, Josef Albers, formalized the instruction into a
series of specific color exercises. Although the Itten-Albers
syllabus is the most consistently used color instruction format in
post-secondary education today, there exists no published validation
for contemporary color learning. As its major thrust, this
work is the first to present a critical analysis of the Bauhaus
color syllabus by developing a curriculum in color learning that
provides a sufficient balance of verbal and visual information.
A review of color texts and empirical research was conducted,
and an evaluation of the relevance of the applicable citations was
made and found inadequate for guidance in curriculum development.
Of the available literature, none provides a comprehensive guide for
course development, leaving the curriculum developer-reformer without
guidance for constructing a logical and comprehensive syllabus.
In addition to the review of literature, a questionnaire
was submitted to selected post-secondary institutions to determine
how and by whom color was being presented, and what published and/or
unpublished literature, and what methodologies were being used in
the field. Data indicated the lack of a subtractive color curriculum
guide, and a disparity in the content and quality of color
instruction.
Using the survey data and related literature, a curriculum
in subtractive color instruction was designed which outlined the
relationships of color history, and human color vision and discrimination
to the physical aspects of reflected light color. The
curriculum can be described as a detailed sequence of practical
instructional exercises, each preceded and accompanied by verbal and
visual instructional content, providing the instructor with a guide
for presenting color theories and the student with a method for
learning how to translate those theories into practical examples of
color relatedness.
This work revealed that authors of color texts and research
do not generally present them as curriculums. While the curriculum
of Itten, Albers, and Sargent appear to be the most comprehensive,
each lacks either sufficient verbal or visual content. Limitations
of the completeness and efficiency of this curriculum suggest that
an item analysis of the mid-course written examination be conducted,
that the potential for a final examination be explored, and that
the curriculum be presented in other classes to evaluate the sequencing
of practical exercises.