Illuminating creativity with cultural engagement: Colour inspiration in cooperative learning through reflective action

Colour plays an important role in the physical and aesthetic learning environment. A major element in basic design training, colour affects student performance and creativity. Cultural colours, closely connected with stories from time immemorial, are topics that inspire student creativity. As instructor and researcher, I based this study on action research and used in-class, cooperative learning to engage colours and their corresponding stories in unique cultures with freshman students from the Department of Creative Design of National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. Two teaching formats – traditional and creative – were used to understand the difference between active and passive learning and to determine whether colour could be applied within a cultural context. The investigation suggests that introducing cultural issues in colour studies develops both aesthetic and cultural awareness, and creative activities help students apply colours to their lives and future creations.

色彩於實際生活和美感學習環境裡扮演著重要的角色。在基礎設計訓練裡，色彩是可直接影響學生的表現力和創造力的主要元素。特別是文化色彩的獨 特故事脈絡，更可激發學生的創造能力。本研究者即課程教師，嘗試以行動研究為理論基礎，鼓勵國立雲林科技 大學創意生活設計系大一學生，透過課堂上團體分組的合作學習方式，了解 色彩並詮釋色彩所連結的獨特文化故事為創作課題。此課程進行方式結合了 兩個教學形式—傳統和創新—目的是為了瞭解學生的主動和被動學習之間的差 異性，和探究色彩若結合文化議題可否提升學習狀態。本研究發現，當文化 議題導入色彩創意教學，可以引發學生的審美能力和自我文化意識培養；並 且，此創意教學活動成果反應學生配色能力提升，可以務實地應用於實際生 活和未來創作中。