# Using Processing in Secondary School Art and Design Classes

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/using-processing-in-secondary-school-art-and-design-classes/14848>\
**Category:** Teaching\
**Created:** [October 21, 2019, 8:13am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/using-processing-in-secondary-school-art-and-design-classes/14848 "2019-10-21T08:13:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Jane](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Jane)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 8:13am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/using-processing-in-secondary-school-art-and-design-classes/14848/1 "2019-10-21T08:13:55Z")

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Does anyone use processing in art and design classes in school?

Does anyone know of any #research in this area?

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**Author:** ![jeremydouglass](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/jeremydouglass/32/20_2.png) [@jeremydouglass](https://discourse.processing.org/u/jeremydouglass)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 4:50am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/using-processing-in-secondary-school-art-and-design-classes/14848/2 "2019-10-25T04:50:19Z")

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Do you mean design research, or education research? Lots of books with exercises that provide frameworks for lessons and units – [https://processing.org/books/](https://processing.org/books/)

But for research articles from an education / pedagogy perspective, probably relevant:

[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=processing.org+“arts+education”](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=processing.org+%22arts+education%22)  
[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=processing.org+“art+education”](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=processing.org+%22art+education%22)

- Artut, Selçuk Hüseyin. “Incorporation of computational creativity in arts education: Creative coding as an art course.” _SHS Web of Conferences_ . Vol. 37. EDP Sciences, 2017.
- Ashlock, Julie M. _Teaching Critical Thinking in the Digital Era through Visual Art: A Higher Education Perspective_ . Diss. Argosy University/Phoenix, 2018.
- Freire, Manuelle. _A case study of curricula design and teaching strategies for educating tomorrow’s new media artists_ . Diss. Concordia University, 2009.
- Forbes, Angus G. “Pedagogical Experiments in Creative Coding.” _Teaching Computational Creativity_ (2017): 273.
- Heatwole, Joanna. “Media Education’s New Code.” _Afterimage_ 34.6 (2007): 3.
- Kafai, Yasmin B., and Kylie A. Peppler. “Youth, technology, and DIY: Developing participatory competencies in creative media production.” _Review of research in education_ 35.1 (2011): 89-119.
- Knochel, Aaron D., and Ryan M. Patton. “If art education then critical digital making: Computational thinking and creative code.” _Studies in Art Education_ 57.1 (2015): 21-38.
- Price, Colin B. “From kandinsky to java (the use of 20th century abstract art in learning programming).” _Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences_ 6.4 (2007): 35-50.
- Takemura, Yasuhiro, et al. “Analyzing the Motivation of the Students in the Art Faculty for Learning Programming.” _Seventh IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2007)_ . IEEE, 2007.

…and also possibly relevant:

- Bart, Austin Cory, et al. “Preparing, Visualizing, and Using Real-world Data in Introductory Courses.” _Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education_ . ACM, 2018.
- Hedberg, James. “DIY Science Sims.” (2018).
- Lee, Jae Min, and Byung Hoon Lee. “A Study on Practical Use of Processing Program for Interactive Technology Education: Focusing on Library Usage and Practice Examples.” _Journal of Korea Multimedia Society_ 22.6 (2019): 738-747.
- Richardson, Eliza. “Teaching First-Year Undergraduates and K-12 Teachers Visualization Skills Through Coding.” _AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts_ . 2018.
- Schweitzer, Dino, Jeff Boleng, and Paul Graham. “Teaching introductory computer graphics with the processing language.” _Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges_ 26.2 (2010): 73-79.

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**Author:** ![Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Jane](https://discourse.processing.org/u/Jane)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/using-processing-in-secondary-school-art-and-design-classes/14848/3 "2019-10-27T18:38:18Z")

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Many thanks for the help with this.

I am trawling through the google scholar list.

I am particularly looking for using processing in classrooms with pupils aged 11 to 16.

Most of the books I can find and research is aimed at/set in Higher Education and for computing students.

The research related to younger learners seems to be more generic around general creativity (e.g. Kafai…) or is in informal settings.

I suspect this is because this is a new area of interest?

We are running a course for secondary art and design teachers on introducing processing in art and design examimation courses.

I am introducing these teachers to research on teaching programming in general to learners of this age e.g. Use, Modify, Create (Lee et al), PRIMM (Sentance et al), Code Reading (Lister etc al)… but I am trying to find any research done in school classrooms  
on teaching processing to pupils of this age group in Art and Design (rather than computing classrooms) any ideas…

Cheers

Jane

![Outlook-cid_image0.png](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/uploads/processingfoundation1/original/2X/c/c2907289e98d266bc2758fd4758f8f6f97e5201f.png)

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**Author:** ![bryanrtboy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/bryanrtboy/32/6831_2.png) [@bryanrtboy](https://discourse.processing.org/u/bryanrtboy)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/using-processing-in-secondary-school-art-and-design-classes/14848/4 "2019-10-27T21:37:38Z")

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I assume that you have found the [CS4All](https://blueprint.cs4all.nyc/) program in NYC. Even though it’s labeled CS, they are using processing and the lessons I have seen are focused on producing visuals. Presumably the assumption is that visual rewards keep the students engaged.

I teach in a University level art program and I have proposed that some of our foundation courses could be taught using Processing, like 2D Foundations and Color Theory. I have not researched if other art schools are doing that, but would love to know where your research takes you.

Right now, we are taking the route of having an additional course called ‘Creative Coding’, and considering making that a requirement for all art students.