Light and Color: Art and Science Using an Interdisciplinary Approach in Primary Education Teacher Training

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors present an innovative teaching learning format on the subject of light and colors. The derivation and relevance is presented in detail and sufficiently through literature. Reader is also given a good insight into how the teaching-learning unit is structured and what tasks the interdisciplinary students are given. However, Chapter 4 'Results' is not presented clearly and needs a clearer structure and therefore a fundamental revision. A better fit with chapters 1-3 should be established here. If a qualitative content analysis was carried out and a category system created, should this be presented here? The authors should emphasize the scientific yield from the response fragments in this chapter and compare it with the literature used. The authors could be even more critical of the entire study and add 'lessons learned'. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Some sentences through all chapters are very long and hard to follow. A native speaker should correct the paper. 

Author Response

Dear editor and reviewers, we want to thank you for the comments and recommendations you have made, as they will undoubtedly help improve the quality of our work.

Below, we explain how we have introduced each of them, answering in bold below each paragraph.

Thanks again.

REVIEW 1

The authors present an innovative teaching learning format on the subject of light and colors. The derivation and relevance is presented in detail and sufficiently through literature. Reader is also given a good insight into how the teaching-learning unit is structured and what tasks the interdisciplinary students are given.

We thank very much these comments.

However, Chapter 4 'Results' is not presented clearly and needs a clearer structure and therefore a fundamental revision. A better fit with chapters 1-3 should be established here. If a qualitative content analysis was carried out and a category system created, should this be presented here? The authors should emphasize the scientific yield from the response fragments in this chapter and compare it with the literature used. The authors could be even more critical of the entire study and add 'lessons learned'. 

Thank you for the comment that has helped to structure section 4, in two parts, the one related to the experimental part in the laboratory, and in the second part, the design and development of the final product. This categorization of the results section makes it easier to read and understand the work, so we appreciate the reviewer's instructions in this regard.

On the other hand, as well as in the section 4, we have addressed what the reviewer asks of us in relation to learning and substantiation compared with works by other authors in section 5, conclusions. Thus, we have been able to give it a more generalized character.

Some sentences through all chapters are very long and hard to follow. A native speaker should correct the paper. 

In response to this recommendation, the manuscript has been reviewed by a native English speaker.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 The article presents research on light and color from an interdisciplinary approach in primary school teacher education. The study aims to problematize the fact that practical knowledge about light does not necessarily lead to an understanding of the phenomena and to highlight the need to combine factual knowledge with conceptual knowledge, i.e. linking ideas to create meanings. On the other hand, the inclusion of the artistic dimension of light and color in the process allows for an analysis of the learning, motivation, and knowledge construction of future elementary school teachers when approached from two seemingly distant fields. This provides an opportunity to analyze the nature of students' learning and perceptions in an interdisciplinary work environment closer to their future professional context.

The title and the summary are appropriate to the content of the text. The topic of the study is interesting and topical as far as interdisciplinary approaches in education are concerned. The article contains an up-to-date overview of previous research in this field and an argumentative justification for the study. The bibliography adequately covers the relevant literature. The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented. The article could stimulate further research in this area to improve the quality of learning/professional development. However, there are a few comments for some revisions.

The time frame for the duration of the study could be given.

The study mentions that three class sessions will be conducted in VP&E to analyze a contemporary artwork and create a personal work based on this analysis and the findings from the lab sessions. The process, experiments, and outcomes related to the science part of learning in DP&C lessons are well described, but the artistic process in VP&E lessons is not as detailed. It would also be advisable to describe the process of learning and making art objects in VP&E classes in more detail, quote the students' descriptions/explanations of their work and show some photos of their objects.

 

 

Author Response

Dear editor and reviewers, we want to thank you for the comments and recommendations you have made, as they will undoubtedly help improve the quality of our work.

Below, we explain how we have introduced each of them, answering in bold below each paragraph.

Thanks again.

REVIEW 2

The article presents research on light and color from an interdisciplinary approach in primary school teacher education. The study aims to problematize the fact that practical knowledge about light does not necessarily lead to an understanding of the phenomena and to highlight the need to combine factual knowledge with conceptual knowledge, i.e. linking ideas to create meanings. On the other hand, the inclusion of the artistic dimension of light and color in the process allows for an analysis of the learning, motivation, and knowledge construction of future elementary school teachers when approached from two seemingly distant fields. This provides an opportunity to analyze the nature of students' learning and perceptions in an interdisciplinary work environment closer to their future professional context.

We thank very much these comments.

The title and the summary are appropriate to the content of the text. The topic of the study is interesting and topical as far as interdisciplinary approaches in education are concerned. The article contains an up-to-date overview of previous research in this field and an argumentative justification for the study. The bibliography adequately covers the relevant literature. The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented. The article could stimulate further research in this area to improve the quality of learning/professional development.

We really appreciate these comments.

However, there are a few comments for some revisions.  The time frame for the duration of the study could be given.

We have added that the project was develop during the second-year of the degree of Primary Education, along the first semester (from September to January).

The study mentions that three class sessions will be conducted in VP&E to analyze a contemporary artwork and create a personal work based on this analysis and the findings from the lab sessions. The process, experiments, and outcomes related to the science part of learning in DP&C lessons are well described, but the artistic process in VP&E lessons is not as detailed.It would also be advisable to describe the process of learning and making art objects in VP&E classes in more detail, quote the students' descriptions/explanations of their work and show some photos of their objects.

We agree with this assessment. In this work, what we have mainly addressed is the work from the scientific side, although in order to explain it we have presented the information that the reader needs to be able to understand the transdisciplinary of the project. However, it is not our specific objective to address the artistic part. However, we take note for future work, thank you very much. Although we cannot attend to the VP&E part, we have responded to the request to show images of the products built by the students. So we show the constructed object and the work that the students have taken as reference (Figure 3).

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for restructuring chapter 4. In this way it’s clearer und more transparent in the way of presenting.