Secondary school eighth grade visual arts lesson museum workshop (The case of İstanbul modern museum)

It is seen that the improvements in education in recent years bring along modern educational practices. With the analysis of modern education systems, it is understood that these practices apply to constructivist approach and they are student-centered. These practices incorporate students directly in the education process and give them the chance to learn by doing, leading them to think and question, and give them a criticial point of view. Furthermore, these practices make students learn to be respectful to different lifestyles and cultures, and understand their own history. Within this scope, the aim of this study is to create awareness and consciousness by including museum practices in Visual Arts lesson. This study, in which qualitative research approach was adopted, was carried out during the spring term of 2017-2018 school year with the 8th grade students of a secondary school whose socio-economic status are average. The participants of this study are 19 students who took part in museum practices. The data collection tools of this study are information forms, documents of lesson practices at school and museum practices, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion records, and documents of literature. The data of the study has been analysed by the method of descriptive analysis, and inductive logic method has been followed. Within the scope of the findings of the study, it can be concluded that there are five main themes which are ''Understanding the Artist'', ''Art Works and Their Features'', ''Interpreting Art'', ''Acting Together'' and ''Extra-scholastic Education''. Key words: Visual arts education, Visual arts lesson, Museum, Museum education.