Abstract:
The objectives of this research are (1) to create an art activity model to promote understanding of gender identity and diversity and (2) to develop an art activity model to promote understanding of gender identity and diversity that is suitable for lower secondary students. This work is classified as research and development. Purposive sampling is used to establish 5 groups of samples: (1) 3 specialists in culture of peace, (2) 3 in pedagogical gender diversity experts, (3) 3 in pedagogical art activity experts, (4) 3 lower secondary teachers, and (5) 30 lower secondary students. The methodology for this research includes a structural questionnaire, an exercise to evaluate understanding of gender identity and diversity, participant observation, satisfactory evaluation, quantitative analysis (mean, SD), and qualitative analysis. Art activity model to promote understanding of gender identity and diversity for lower secondary student, namely ERES, was invented and consisted of 4 principles as follows: (1) Empathy promotion, (2) Role acting with puppet, (3) Exchanging opinions and discussion, and (4) Sharing the sentiment of success and accomplishment during students artworks exhibition. ERES model was implemented, and several aspects of understanding of gender identity and diversity were evaluated afterward. The most improved aspect is understanding of gender diversity with x̄ = 3.63, which is categorized as high. Lastly, the satisfactory evaluation indicates that the overall satisfaction is high ( x̄ = 4.10, S.D. = 0.78) and the participants were especially satisfied with tools and media for art activity (x̄ = 4.37, S.D. = 0.59). Some ideas for application of ERES model are (1) applying to the core curriculum, such as creating an educational poster about gender identity and diversity in art and converting to educational activity on sexual well-being, (2) carrying out the activity with students from different grades to enable understanding in gender identity and diversity in larger groups, (3) carrying out the activity with other institutes such as incorporating as one of the activities for young adult camp and clubs, (4) taking the concept of empathy to help understand individual differences in real life scenarios, (5) applying role-playing to empathize with individuals with diverse gender identities, and 6) applying the dialogue activity in real-life scenarios, especially to those different from ourselves, to increase understanding of others