BERGI97238

Visual Imagery for Environmental Concept Formation

Paper presented at the

Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education –

Researching Education in New Times - 30 Nov - 4 Dec 1997, Brisbane, Australia.

Iris Bergmann

School of Education

Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia

Abstract

This paper discusses how the exploration of environmental issues with creative photographic work develops the image-creators' conceptual understanding of these issues. For this study, nineteen participants worked individually on an environmental topic of their choice with photographic images over a period of ten weeks. They used their own photographs as a resource base for further image-manipulation procedures in a variety of experimental ways. The participants were interviewed at the beginning and on completion of their aesthetic work.

The aesthetic involvement led to the development of a new perspective on and relationship with the topic, to a realisation of and coming to grips with the complexity and ambiguity of environmental issues, to a questioning, strengthening and/or clarifying of the initial position. It allowed to address the emotional factor of the impact of environmental conditions on the psychological well-being. A positive, constructive dimension in the aesthetic domain evolved which spread over to the conceptual domain. This was remarkable since the participants initially conceptualised environmental issues as issues of pollution, destruction, degradation and death. It was found that the construction of photographic narratives can be deployed as an agent for change towards ecological sustainability at least in the cognitive domain.

Introduction

The author's experiences as a photography course coordinator between 1988 and 1993 at an Institute for Ecological Education in Germany (Ökologiestation Bremen) were the starting point for this investigation. The participants of the seminars explored environmental issues by taking photographic images about particular environmental topics and then further manipulating these images. The involvement in the aesthetic processes led to intriguing changes in the thinking of most participants that called for a structured investigation of the what and how of these developments. These changes occurred at the level of conceptual thinking.

This investigation focuses on the relevance of thinking in concepts in the environmental context and on the role of the visual mode for conceptual thinking with reference to the photographic image. The main section of this paper is the presentation of the results including images (pp.6-18), which is followed by a discussion and conclusion, portraying the links between cognitive and aesthetic processes with photography.

Conceptual Thinking as Environmental Thinking

It is generally acknowledged that the complex nature of environmental issues, the interwovenness of society, culture, the environment, politics, science, technology and the economy require an understanding of the "bigger picture". Thus, Peirce's call for a "logic of relationships" has gained momentum:

"In the 1860's Peirce was saying that Western culture had about another hundred years to go before it would fall apart. It would fall apart because it was based on an exhausted logic of classes developed by Aristotle. What we need to survive, said Peirce, is a logic of relationships, not classes. Such a logic could provide us with the basic architecture with which to build a new richer understanding of living." (Ryan, 1993, p.144)

The literature in the field of environmental studies also emphasises the need to acquire understanding of overriding concepts recognising the environment as a complex entity. This entails concepts of interrelatedness and interdependency, of culturally dependent values and ethics, sustainability, stewardship and the acknowledgment of the importance of the affective domain (e.g. Crochunis, 1996; Meadows, 1989; Rapoport, 1993; Suzuki, 1996). The mere transmission and acquisition of knowledge is not of primary concern since it does not necessarily enhance understanding, sensitivity, attitudes, values or action with regard to the environment (e.g. Iozzi, 1989; Murphy, Watson & Moore, 1991; O'Riordan, 1976, pp.220-221; Cantrill, 1992; Szagun & Mesenholl, 1993).

Iozzi (1989) draws attention to a link between concepts of ethics, values and attitudes on the one hand and the affective domain on the other hand. The values-oriented approaches to environmental education are positively related to the improvement of the affective domain (Iozzi, 1989, p.4). Furthermore, some longitudinal studies show that knowledge gains do not seem to remain statistically significant whereas environmental attitudes and values, once acquired, appear to be long lasting and affective gains remain significantly high (Iozzi, 1989, p.6). Chou and Roth's research (1995) also re-identifies the affective domain as an integral part of the educational process:

"Environmental ethics that emphasize (a) responsibility, (b) clarified value judgment, and (c) attitudes toward the environment play a very important role in environmental education. This finding reiterates the importance of the affective domain and suggests that such learning should be strengthened." (Chou & Roth, 1995, pp.42-43)

Conceptually based learning is consistent with the complexity of the issues at stake and the nature of the process of knowledge acquisition. Categorisation research defines what it means to think in concepts and provides strong arguments for teaching and learning at the conceptual level in the environmental education context. One of the key assumptions is that concepts are formed in relation to each other and within themselves (Bourne, Dominowski & Loftus, 1979; Neisser, 1987). "To characterise knowledge about a concept we must include a complex web of relations involving that concept and the other concepts that depend on it" (Medin & Wattenmaker, in Neisser, 1987, pp.33-34). Conceptual learning is learning about relationships which is particularly relevant for thinking about the environment. Pella (in Townsend, 1982, pp.19-20) identifies five primary relationships of concepts: relations to people, relations to things, relations to other concepts, relations within conceptual systems and relations to processes.

Each object, organism or event is categorised on several levels and concepts are constantly reassessed, modified and made to fit new circumstances and (e.g. Neisser, 1987; Piaget, in Furth, 1969; Rumelhart & Ortony, 1977). Culturally given cognitive models and scientific concepts can overlap and intertwine. Depending on what is required at the time and by the context, the cogniser can shift from one category to another or apply various categories at the same time. Neisser (1987, p.21) emphasises that

"there is nothing illogical about having several different sets of categories in the same domain. The real world is rich enough in structure to support any number of cognitive models. People who point to Mars and say 'look at that reddish star' would be wrong if they were trying to use the categories of astronomy, but they are right with respect to the folk concept of star. Both concepts are based on cognitive models, both models are consistent with a subset of objective facts, and both have their uses."

A further argument for the practice of learning at the conceptual level in the environmental context is that people can only consider a limited amount of information at a given time. Miller (1956), whose essential work is still referred to, found that, depending upon the type of data, humans can retain seven, plus or minus two, independent chunks of information. The acquisition of more bits of information can be accomplished by subsuming them under "chunks". In order to organise and learn more and more information, people subsume many subordinate concepts under a few "super" concepts. Thus, the

"study about the environment becomes not the repeated experience of memorization of unrelated facts, but the constant search for the relationships between new information and a continuously developing concept base.' (Townsend, 1982, p.6)

From the perspective of categorisation research, it is considered to be more effective and useful to mediate knowledge in the form of concepts. Conceptually based learning is less likely to be forgotten than learning based on isolated facts and principles and concepts represent the basic and defining building blocks of a field of knowledge (e.g. Townsend, 1982, pp.17-18).

There is a lack of studies identifying conceptualisations about the environment held by the general population. However, it is important to identify commonly held environmental concepts because they influence how people make sense of their environment and how they learn, that is, how they assimilate new knowledge (Novak, in Brody, 1991, p.26). Drawing on the writer's experience, it seems that there is a tendency for people to regard environmental issues conceptually as pollution issues per se. Interwoven within this view is a feeling of disempowerment of the individual. Cullis (1996) illustrates this with her statement to the 39th WEF International Conference on Education and the Environment, in which she reflects on the overlapping domains of science, technology, and society as mirrored in twentieth-century writings and pictures:

"And yet on closer look it appears that twentieth century English, French and German writing mirrors a society which is torn. [Not] at ease with itself. Cut off at the roots. Compromised. Disconnected. Torn between a desire for the power of technology, and a sense that it causes a disconnection from meaning, from those things that make life worth living. Although few writers embrace technology as a topic per se, almost all embrace the disintegration or compromise it has brought. There are few happy endings in twentieth century European literature. Instead one finds a sense of powerlessness: technology and the materialistic economy it supports have ceased to be controllable by the humans they were originally created to serve." (Cullis, 1996)

These strong feelings and conceptualisations of environmental issues find their climactic expression in the speech of David Suzuki's daughter at the Earth Summit in Rio, 1992: "Since time immemorial, parents have sacrificed for their children. This is the first generation of parents who have asked their children to sacrifice for them" (Radio interview with David Suzuki, ABC Classic-FM, Australia, 27th August 1996).

Such pessimistic conceptualisations appear to prevail in contemporary thinking. It seems that there operates a process of "context-independent information retrieval" (Barsalou, 1982) with the concept "environment" evoking obligatorily pollution issues and issues of destruction as context-independent information. This is not to say that these conceptualisations are without foundation - they are accepted in critical ecopolitical analysis (e.g. Hicks, 1993, p.81). However, the cognitive dominance of such views may have adverse affects on the mood, functioning and well-being of people or even of a society:

"Images of the future play a crucial role in the development of human life and culture. Contemporary society cannot be explained simply as the result of the push of the past, it is also deeply influenced by the pull of the future offering new and exciting possibilities."

"... certain images of the future can develop an unusual potency and act as a societal time-bomb ..."

Hicks (1993, p.78; emphasis in original) argues for the importance of developing "positive guiding images of the future which can give both direction and the confidence that things can be radically different". This argument is supported by many writers in the field of future studies (e.g. Slaughter, 1991) and characterises challenges for environmental education. Interestingly, Alaimo and Doran (in Iozzi, 1989, p.5) found that with the acquisition of greater knowledge, students also acquired a more pessimistic view about the environment and environmental quality. It seems urgent to develop strategies that address conceptual understanding involving both the cognitive and the affective domains.

The Role of Visual Thinking

The discussion has so far assumed that environmental concepts refer to abstractions represented as theorems in linguistic statements. However, it has been questioned whether language is the only and adequate mode for constructing and representing environmental concepts. Bickerton (1990, p.253) states that "perhaps language is, after all, terminally dysfunctional" and leads to dysfunctional representations of reality. Also Gough (1991, p.35) suggests that language limits our creative and critical imaginations.

Research into visual thinking (e.g. Arnheim, 1966, 1969; Goldschmidt, 1994; John-Steiner, 1986) suggests that the visual mode plays a seminal role in concept formation. Arnheim (1969) proposes that thinking in images is thinking in concepts and relationships. He suggests that the visual mode is at the base of concept formation: "In the perception of shape lie the beginnings of concept formation" (Arnheim, 1969, p.27). Visual imagery is the primary mode of productive thought, and visual perception lays the groundwork of concept formation:

Visual perception, far from being a mere collector of information about particular qualities, objects, and events, turned out to be concerned with the grasping of generalities. By furnishing images of kinds of qualities, kinds of objects, kinds of events, visual perception lays the groundwork of concept formation. The mind, reaching far beyond the stimuli received by the eyes directly and momentarily, operates with the vast range of imagery available through memory and organizes a total lifetime's experience into a system of visual concepts. The thought mechanisms by which the mind manipulates these concepts operate in direct perception, but also in the interaction between direct perception and stored experience, as well as in the imagination of the artist, the scientist, and indeed any person handling problems "in his head". (Arnheim, 1969, p.294)

The literature in cognitive psychology and neuroscience (e.g. Beech, 1980; Kosslyn & Koenig, 1992; Kosslyn & Pomerantz, 1977; Paivio, 1975; Pylyshyn, 1981) supports that concept formation is enhanced through visual mental imagery and visual recording. In summary, it appears that the visual mode of thought is superior to the verbal mode for recall and learning, and for mental concept representation and formation. Among the reasons for this are that the visual mode appears to be close to the kinaesthetic mode, it may be analogous to real life phenomena and it is considered to be idiosyncratic, varied and flexible, allowing for an exploratory and playful combination of ideas. It is also suggested that the visual mode provides us with qualitatively different kinds of information compared with the verbal mode, because it is strongly linked to the kinaesthetic mode, and the different forms of representation lead to different associative patterns and conceptualisations compared with the verbal mode (e.g. Aylwin, 1977, 1981; Goldschmidt, 1994; John-Steiner, 1986). All these features are particularly relevant for thinking in the environmental context and thus, the cultivation of the visual mode is expected to enrich environmental concept formation.

A Word or Two on Photography

An interesting phenomenon in the context of this study is that most references in cognitive psychology, neuroscience and other related fields imply that visual thinking and the memorised images in the mind of the thinker, perceiver and cogniser are photographic in nature. A further interesting phenomenon is that the particular qualities of the visual mode and its link to the kinaesthetic mode is reflected in photography's association with kinaesthesis, both on the level of image-taking (Gibson, 1979) as well as image-perceiving (e.g. Malouf, in Henson, 1988). This links environmental photography to outdoor education and other exploratory teaching methods, which are found to be effective ways of improving environmental attitudes and values (Iozzi, 1989). It would therefore seem fair to say that photography is an ideal tool for the facilitation of concept formation in the environmental context.

A discussion of the ontological status and the epistemological potential of photographic images is neglected here. Suffice to say that photographic images are not merely visualisations of the outer surface of things. They can be used to represent statements of the inner as well as the outer world (e.g. Carothers & Roberts, 1989; Köhler, 1989). Photographic statements as conceptualisations of the image-creator represent individual ideas, interpretations and perceptions, that is, constructs or "mini-theories". Meaning construction can be accomplished by deploying narrative photographic strategies such as "photomontage", "conceptual photography", and "constructed" or "staged photography" (e.g. Jeffrey, 1981; Köhler, 1989; Newhall, 1994; Wescher, 1987) involving processes like staging and photographing of scenes, cutting, pasting, projecting and (re-) assembling photographic images and slide projections.

Finally, Coleman (1980, p.15) draws attention to the ubiquity of the photographic image. He suggests that around fifty percent of decisions, both collective and individual, made in contemporary society are in some way based on the photographic image. The photographic image shapes our historical, sociological, spiritual and science-based identity. Its influence is more likely to increase rather than decrease and therefore, its potential for cognition in the environmental context needs to be mapped and fully exhausted. Moholy-Nagy (in Jeffrey, 1981, p.111) predicted in 1932: "The illiterates of the future will be the people who know nothing of photography rather than those who are ignorant of the art of writing."

Methodology

Nineteen participants volunteered to take part in this study. They were students of two photography classes of the Faculty of Arts at Southern Cross University. The age ranged from twenty to forty-five years. Thirteen of the participants were visual arts students, six were studying media communication, coastal management, social welfare and arts history. The participants worked individually on an environmental topic of their choice with photographic images over a period of approximately ten weeks. They took colour photographs on their chosen topic and used these as a resource base for further image making processes in a variety of experimental ways.

The purpose of this study was to explore the potential for cognitive development through the aesthetic experience of creative photography. It was not the intention to interpret the images per se. Rather, the images serve as illustrations for the cognitive developments and the links between the aesthetic and the cognitive processes.

Design of this study was interpretative within a realist framework. Data collection and analysis were conducted applying qualitative methods. Two semistandardised interview schedules were developed. The participants were interviewed at the beginning of their photographic work and after completion of their final images. The responses were analysed using content analysis (Berg, 1989). With the final work, the participants provided written summaries explaining concept and technique. These were used for testing reliability and validity of the interview responses. At the time of writing this paper, the writer is conducting a face-validity and construct-validity test (Lather, 1986).

Results

Three conceptual themes and six categories of conceptual development emerged which are presented in the first three sections. The third section "Conceptual Developments" includes a more detailed description of six cases with images. The following two sections relate to the role of the photographic medium and the interplay between aesthetic and cognitive processes. When directly citing participants, pseudonyms and/or code-numbers are referenced. The code-number endowed with an "a" (e.g. a01) refers to a post-interview, a blank number (e.g. 01) to a pre-interview. The term "image" refers to the mentally created image as well as to the participants' photographic products. Wherever there could be doubt about its meaning, attributes are used for clarification. At times, the written summaries of the participants are cited where they serve clarification.

Environmental Conceptualisations

A characteristic of this group of participants is a high concern for the environment, for example: "Of course environmental issues have a place up high in everybody's life, unless you are a complete moron" (02); they are "too much [of concern to myself], I think sometimes" (Victor [18]); the environment is a "big thing, number one" (17), it is "fundamental" (10), the "most important thing" (07). The participants identified environmental issues as having cultural, social-cultural, ecological, political, psychological and aesthetic dimensions with relevance for the individual, society and the global community. Even in cases where the link to a dimension beyond the environmental one is not obvious in the description of the topics or in the images, the complex associations given with responses showed that the conceptualisations of the topic went beyond purely environmental considerations.

Not every participant had clearly nominated a topic at the beginning of the work - for many, the image-creating procedure was at the same time a process of defining the topic (see particularly Andrea below). The chosen topics related to a general abstract concern of "People's Relationship to and their State of Being within the Environment" (seven participants), and to local environmental issues such as "Pollution and Waste" (six participants) and "Rural, Residential and Industrial Development" (eight participants), whereby one participant completed an image under each topic group.

Three underlying conceptual themes came to light:

1. The participants expressed a bleak view on the state of the environment and constructs related to destruction, pollution, degradation and death were prevalent.

2. Many participants included a psychological dimension, which related to their own state of being within the environment and the impact of the ecological conditions upon them.

3. The creative photographic work seemed to induce positive, or "reconstructive" conceptualisations.

Such notion of optimism and reconstruction, and the inclusion of a psychological dimension, seemed to be reinforced during the work on their photographic projects to a greater extent than other negative conceptualisations. This development is significant since it evolved from initial conceptions of environmental issues as issues of degradation, pollution, alienation and death.

Conceptual Themes

Thinking about environmental issues, all participants instantly associated themes of destruction, pollution, degradation and death. They predominantly expressed a bleak and dark outlook on the current environmental situation (e.g. "animals dying from the oil slick" [06]), on future perspectives (e.g. "the earth is becoming pollution itself" [a11]) and on their personal state of being within it (e.g. "it is soul destroying" [07]; "to see development overtake along the coastline is heartbreaking" [15]; "makes you feel so sad, but what do you do about it?" [06]). The scale of the problems is sensed as being overwhelming:

Maude (11): ... you always feel really helpless. You can buy the garbage bins and make compost so you don't cause waste at the dump. You can put your stuff in the recycling bins. But if you look at it in a greater scale, you are one person in this area in Australia in the world, it is quite depressing.

In three cases (Helen, Maude and Zoe), such a pessimistic conceptualisation was reinforced after completion of their work.

Despite or rather because of the dominance of these negative views, a notion of optimism and reconstruction emerged: many participants explicitly expressed that they wished to concentrate on positive and constructive images. They related to an optimism which was, however, not pure or innocent. It had grown out of an awareness of a state of affairs, which they saw as desolate:

Andrea (01): ... I think I go towards the happy aspects in the environment. Because we might - I have seen so much that the environment is getting taken over by man-made things and everything. But I think I would like to concentrate on the beautiful aspects of the environment that are still here. ...

Catherine (a03): ... There are different issues facing us every day. ... we can get really upset about it and I always do. [However:] There is still hope that things can become better... .

The positive dimension found expression in four different ways: 1. the wish to show natural beauty which is still there (Andrea, Francis, Zoe); 2. the aim to convey a message of hope (Catherine); 3. the intention to create constructive images (Athena); and 4. the inclusion of a humorous note (Melissa). The important point is that the urge to create positive and constructive images was linked to the creation of photographic images. On completion of their work, two participants (Catherine and Melissa) emphasised positive conceptualisations even stronger. Four more participants (Elizabeth, Helen, Therese and Victor) developed a positive perspective out of their initial pessimistic views in due course of their work.

Conceptual Developments

Ten participants stated that they had not learnt anything about their topic. However, a comparison of their accounts before and after completion of the project indicated a conceptual development or shift in each case. Six categories of conceptual developments emerged of which one or two apply to each participant:

1. a shift towards positive conceptualisation (four participants,

2. a culmination of the initial conceptualisation (four participants),

3. a construction of multiple perspectives (five participants),

4. a clarification of feelings (two participants),

5. a consolidation of a personal position (four participants) and

6. a reinforcement of negative conceptualisations (three participants).

Shift Towards Positive Conceptualisation

Initial negative conceptualisations impacted on the participants so that, for example, Elizabeth felt sad and "overwhelmed" (a04) and Helen conceived them as "soul destroying" (07). But through the aesthetic work, Elizabeth discovered a possible positive future perspective: "Maybe it is good to see that this all just becomes part of the forest one day ..." (04). Helen discovered a way of "putting lots of negatives together and creating a positive", this reconstruction coming after her initial creation of images that were "depressing" (a07). Melissa developed the notion of "destruction" (12) into the notion of the existence of "choices and values" (a12), and then, finally, into the notion of "coexistence" (a12). Therese realised that "colour is life" (a16).

Examples: Elizabeth, Helen, Therese

Elizabeth (04): "Motorcars in the Bush" (Figure 1)

Elizabeth shifted the focus of her topic "Motorcars" from air pollution to "Motorcars in the Bush" (Figure 1). Her final image is a collage of many glossy cars coming from the left side of the image, changing into old rusty ones, finally being taking over by the bush, which is regenerating itself. There is a convincing cohesion within the image and its myriads of components through the gradual change in colour from left to right, from clear metallic colours to rusty and earth-like tones moving into the blue-green of the forest and the brightness of the sky shining through on the right. A further technical clue is the very fine cut and paste work Elizabeth pursued around car parts, branches and leaves.

It is the aesthetic strength and perfection of the presentation, which triggered for Elizabeth a distinct development in her thinking about the topic. Before Elizabeth embarked on her project, she maintained a strong stance against motor vehicles. Then, the aesthetic work shattered her initial firm position and caused disorientation:

Elizabeth (a04): ... So, there are all different opinions. ... I actually don't even think I know exactly if it is a good or bad thing. I think it really is a bad thing to have these cars lying dead in the bush, but they are there and they don't look like they are going to move. Maybe it is good to see that this all just becomes part of the forest one day and it will be okay maybe.

... I think my thinking about it was a bit confused and I had - let me think - my first thought was this is a bad thing, then it made me sort of - think about it, and then I don't know, I am unsure now. I was - I mean, like it happened the opposite way. I sort of had a clear idea of how I thought about it, but now I don't. Maybe it is okay for them to be there, maybe it is not okay.

Her questioning of her former position is remarkable because she displayed a strong commitment to environmental beliefs in her day-to-day life and decision-making. For example, she had decided not to obtain a driver's licence, not to own a car and instead use public transport, in spite of her "living in the bush". Although she might have become unsure about what to think, she had begun to "think a lot more about it" (a04) and she conceptualised a positive, "reconstructive", future vision:

Elizabeth (a04): Maybe it is good to see that this all just becomes part of the forest one day and it will be okay maybe.

Figure 1 (Elizabeth)

Helen (07): 1. "Residential (Figure 2) and Rural Development"

2. "Fences" (Figure 3)

Helen focussed on residential (Figure 2) and rural development. Both images are identical in form. Their main aesthetic feature is the two clearly distinct planes of foreground and background. The background shows conventional suburban houses with captions from real estate brochures in one image (Figure 2) and monotonous rows of tree plantations in the other image. In both cases, the foreground is defined by tree trunks with carefully cut out spaces in between giving views to the underlying background, the Australian suburb and monoculture plantation. Both images are framed with the "LJ Hooker [real estate] red and gold".

Helen stated that she was very unhappy with the end products - not with the images as such - as far as telling a story, the images "work", but: "It is a bit depressing. Because it is true, what is happening, everywhere. That is all." (a07). In contrast, she "quite like[d] this one" (Figure 3), a third image, which is a montage of "all these ugly fences". She had constructed something new, something that leaves the notion of depression and ugliness behind. In this montage, the "ugly fences" appear as a "hand-made house", a transformation of the "suburban ugliness":

Helen(a07): It is photographs of all these awful fences. They are made of concrete and stuff. When you put them together like that it actually looks like something that is hand-made.

... it ends up looking like a strange kind of hand-made house or something. But it is actually made out of these things. In a way it still relates to the topic because houses that are made of - it reminds me of African houses that have got painted decorations on them and stuff. And they are actually hand-made with mud and painted . ... It reminds me of that and yet this image is actually made out of bricks and basalt blocks and this kind of horrible moulded cement ... which is awful. It is a kind of irony, I guess. It relates to it in that way. I like it more than the other two because it is more subtle in that way.

The new construction of the fence image had emerged from the previous ones, but the different aesthetic approach created something which gave rise to positive associations - "many negatives make a positive", as another participant suggested in the context of his work (Patrick [14]).

Figure 2 (Helen)

Figure 3 (Helen)

Therese (16): "Colour is Life" (Figure 4)

Therese's intention was to create an image about pollution, like nuclear pollution and its impact on children and their environment. Her idea was to use colour as a medium, alienated colour, to show "that there has been an impact of some kind" (16). Therese shifted her focus increasingly towards the colour aspect. Consequently, she noticed that different environments had different "tonal ranges". Finally, she began to "isolate bits of colour" (a16). She assembled small colour squares into an abstract image including as many colour tones as possible. Finally, she adopted the idea of "colour is live".

Figure 4 (Therese)

Culmination of Initial Conceptualisation

Some participants arrived at a culmination of their initial conceptualisation by way of an amalgamation of their thoughts into an image (Andrea, Catherine, Ernest and Thomas). Therese's conceptualisation underwent a process of reduction or atomisation, which also led her to a head, and brought about a shift to a positive conceptual dimension. The categorisation of "culmination of initial conceptualisation" does not suggest that the final tenet is reached. It is considered to be a temporary point which is expected to lead on to new discoveries in the conceptual domain.

Examples: Andrea, Catherine

Andrea (01): "Inflicting Pain upon the Environment" (Figure 5)

At the time of her pre-interview, Andrea was very vague regarding her topic choice.

Interestingly, she presented an image idea, which seemed to contradict her initial theme of depicting the "happy and beautiful aspects of the environment". In contrast to her verbalisations, she generated mental images of pain and violence. After further probing about the topic, she continued that "anything that happens to the environment, in the end is going to happen to us. If we destroy the environment, well then -" (01). This formulation seemed to correspond with her image ideas and as it came to light on completion of her project, this became the theme of her work.

Andrea submitted one large work (Figure 5, 70x100cm as compared to commonly submitted A4 and A3 formats). A kaleidoscope-like construction catches the eye. An outstanding feature is the assemblage of hands, legs and arms in red-pink, appearing in the fleshy red of a cooked lobster, with water drops pearling down, underlaid with organic and inorganic structures in pastel tones, repeated three times. This segment grows into a feminine figure with wings which she saw as a "the picture of pollution. I just thought she could be the centre figure that can fly away if we kill the environment. It is on the verge of flying away."

The central distorted figure represents a soul and spirit figure of the environment. It has endured extensive pain and anguish. The wings represent its ability to disappear, as we see the environment dying off. (Andrea, Summary)

It is the power of "the reds in the environment, but it is another blood-red, it is more an unnatural pink-red" [that] merges [it] all together" (a01). Andrea referred to it as alienated colour, "because I wanted it to look like - ... - that is not the colour of the environment. Sort of very unnatural, there is something happening here" (a01). A reference to alienation was carried over to the pictorial elements, which "are test-tubes. They are unnatural substances." Humans are treated in the same way. They are represented by hands, feet, legs, navel, framed and decorated with nails, chains and iron ball, coloured in the same pink-red. Andrea regarded the hand as

the body part interacting with the environment in a negative way. I chose the hands as I feel they can be our most destructive weapons. ... The hand clutches at its surroundings, pollutes the water and brings malnourishment (the liquid in the test tubes). (Andrea, Summary)

The pictures of the foot "with the ball and chain and the arm chained down ... are to remind us that we are a part of the environment and cannot be disconnected" (Andrea, Summary). The all-penetrating red signifies the "human communication and interaction with the environment, and the connection" (a01).

Andrea pointed to her aesthetic strategy as being narrative, "to put a story with it - sort of more - a tale like a fairy tale" (a01). With this "fairy tale", she crystallised and amalgamated her initial vague conceptualisations and brought them to a head. Her tentative and vague formulation of her topic as "anything that is going to happen to the environment, in the end is going to happen to us" (01) became the topic itself. It was linked to conceptualisations about human involvement with the environment and the possible outcome for both humans and the natural environment.

Figure 5 (Andrea)

Catherine: "The Tip - Trash and Treasure" (Figure 6)

Catherine summarised her topic as "recycling" and "one person's junk is another person's treasure". She emphasised that she wanted to say things positively, and that "there is still hope that things can become better" (03). She took photographs of the tip but ended up with photographs she was most unhappy with. "When I got the photos back I said: 'Oh yuck, look at these, look at these, look at these, yuck, yuck!'" (a03). But then she discovered unforeseen relationships of colour and composition between art works and her images:

Catherine (a03): ... There was a photo of a toilet seat and I said it looked like a Duchamp or something like that, this is not a toilet seat. And then I pointed out that the leads, the electrical leads looked like Jackson Pollock and we just kept going "wow". And then I went home and went through all my art history books ...

She presented nine images as montages. Photographs of the tip show panorama views, machinery, close-ups of mattresses, metal in the form of bars, pipes, tyres, foam material, piles of glass and broken glass, cardboard, leads, plastic. These photographs are montaged with quotations from well known paintings (e.g. Figure 6, quoting "La Dance" by Henri Matisse, 1910). The images were combined utilising relationships of colour and composition between the images of the trash and the quoted elements of the art works.

She referred to "'abstract beauty resulting from the relationship between colour and form'. So that is what I think it bore down to in the end, relationships like that" (a03). The discoveries of relationships between colour and composition (referred to by her as "form") enabled her to find a positive way of expression, to work "positively instead of negatively" (a03). This development was for Catherine all the more relevant since "working positively" is antagonistic to her conceptualisation of environmental issues that led her to "[getting] so down by everything that you are doing. ... we can get really upset about it and I always do" (a03). Creating the image meant to her:

Catherine (a03): A real big personal difference: instead of being, working negatively to working positively. I have not said anything here positive or hopeful about the environment, but I have worked in a method that if a viewer saw it, they would not necessarily feel negative like "oh no, environmental issue like recycling, I know, yeah, we have to do that." They see it now uplifted by the nature of the images and the message is there anyway. That is a positive thing because we are always confronted with environmental social issues and a lot of it is negative. ... Because we have always got to do something. There are different issues facing us every day. ... But then you can try to be positive about it and do something a little bit more uplifting.

Figure 6 (Catherine)

Reinforcement of Negative Conceptualisations

Another form of such culmination of the initial conceptualisation was the reinforcement of a negative dimension (Helen, Maude and Zoe). It is treated as a separate category of development in conceptualisation because of its distinct character. Maude's topic "Mother Nature Dying", for example, rather unspecified in the beginning, culminated in the concept of the earth "becoming pollution itself" and that "we are drowning ourselves" (a11). In contrast to developments towards positive, constructive conceptualisations (e.g. Catherine and Helen), Maude's conceptualisation culminated in an end-of-the-world vision.

Maude (a11): What I am saying is that by doing this to the environment we are drowning ourselves. We are drowning as a society, you know, as race, as what we are. We are killing ourselves, basically. And this is meant to be the world, the earth. That is actually photos of oil like this, not just put around there. The earth is becoming pollution itself really.

Construction of Multiple Perspectives

A construction of another perspective on the topic includes a shift towards a psychological dimension (Athena); the consideration of motorcars as waste instead of merely air polluters (Elizabeth); the realisation of testing of nuclear weapons as an environmental problem and not just a political issue (Kylie); the discovery of pollution on-site and relatedness between some elements (Maggy); and the answers to the search for the "Australianness" (Patrick).

Example: Athena

Athena (02): 1. "Macadamia Plantation" (Figure 7)

2. "Me Polluting Myself"

3. "Me in an Urban and a Rural Environment" (Figures 8,9)

Athena's first image (Figure 7) deals with obvious and concrete environmental issues such as pollution and degradation due to agricultural developments. With her second image, she shifts the focus onto herself, still dealing with pollution, environmental and self-pollution: "... that is me polluting myself. I felt like that, too. Sometimes I smoke so many fags during the day" (a02). Her last two images concentrate on herself thus focusing on an abstract psychological dimension in relation to the environment which is reflected in the aesthetic presentation. Instead of stark contrasts and opaqueness as in the previous one, they show softness and transparency. The intriguing transparent effect is achieved through slide projections onto herself staged in front of a white screen. Each image is composed of four individual images montaged into one frame whereby the vertical pairs are assembled like playing cards facing opposite directions. They have a dramatised poetic quality expressing differing moods as Athena explained:

Athena(a02): ... This one for me is like how I operate in an urban setting [Figure 8] and this is how I operate in a rural setting [Figure 9]. And actually, they are both the same. But they are different. They happen at different times and for different reasons. ...

... I have made a more personal statement of myself in urban and rural environment by colour and posture. In the urban image the colour has a raw flayed look a bit like skin that has been peeled away from the bone were as the rural image gives the impression of being softer and cooler. The postures in both sets are similar, showing comfort and belonging, hiding from when all gets too much and the needing to get our and slip into the other for a time. (Athena, Summary)

Athena (a02): ... But yet, the - because of the posture, it is the same but for different reasons. ... These ones are kind of like getting out [Figure 9]. This one is being burdened by something and this one is upset or, you know, like downcast somehow [Figure 8].

Figure 7 (Athena)

Figures 8, 9 (Athena)

Clarification of Feelings

While there was a high degree of awareness of environmental issues, seven participants mentioned that they would not have chosen an environmental issue as a topic for their photographic work (Andrea, Athena, Elizabeth, Helen, Maggy, Melissa, and Norma). A change in this position was experienced by Norma who found that through her aesthetic work she had discovered that these issues provided a stimulation for future artwork. This realisation may be related to the clarification of her feelings about the topic which she experienced through her aesthetic work. Also for Maie, the clarification of her feelings seemed an essential development. She realised "how these issues are important to me" (a10), it "clarified for me how I felt, enforced, how I felt" (a10).

Consolidation of a Personal Position

From those who consolidated their position (Athena, Francis, Sidney and Victor), Athena shifted more to a psychological dimension in her later works, which is reflected in the different aesthetic approach to her first image. Francis, Sidney and Victor, who did not change their aesthetic presentations, stated that their convictions had been "strengthened" (a06) or that they had not discovered a new dimension. Sidney emphasised his experience of the enhancement of awareness.

The Role of the Photographic Medium

No parallels emerged between any variables such as knowledge, concern or interest for environmental issues, photography and visual arts; gender or age; the ways in which the participants went about solving the aesthetic problems; the nature of the initial conceptualisations; the nature of developments in conceptual thinking; or the modes of mental representation. However, a conceptual link between medium, content and form emerged to an unanticipated degree. The ways in which the participants conceptualised the meaning of the photographic medium for themselves paralleled the aesthetic presentation of the topic (= form) and/or the nature of the developments in thinking about the same (= content). Remarkable are three cases (Maude, Therese and Thomas) where the participants used the same expressions when describing their understanding of the medium before, and their conceptualisations about their topic after completion of their work.

Thomas, for example, Thomas thought of himself as a "snapshot photographer" (17). "Photography is a bit of a worry", he said, because "you have this sort of square eye that I don't like about it. You can only see so much ... and you don't see the whole picture. You can't really experience ... . It's just like, it is a sort of representation or something but it's not real" (17). He used the expression of photography being "confining" due to the given frame. The parallel with his development of understanding is evident when he stated: "And just the idea of being trapped in certain ways, that was the idea of these fences and container and how society contains you anyway" (a17). Here are the fences and containers an image for the "containment" of society and the environment, which is equivalent to Thomas's understanding of photography as a confining medium of expression due to the "square eye".

Interplay between the Aesthetic and Cognitive Processes

For the participants, taking photographic images meant to be able "to capture the vulnerability of life" (02), to "[document] what is around you" and thus "reinforce" it, "reinforce life" (09), "the spiritual haze, ... taking what is left" (19), to "recall things in life" (07). Photography "is always a delight" (03), a tool to explain and a record of time (05). Creating photographic images about an environmental topic brings "more of a sense of reality" to the issues because one is dealing with "visual things" (a06). The images "add another dimension to [the environmental issue]" (Maie [a10]).

At the same time, working with images allows to involve the emotional dimension and to form a relationship with the topic. The own imagination is activated and the images make visible the previously unimaginable which was restricted by the conventions of the verbal. Images are perceived as less volatile than the word, as more direct, concrete and confronting. They are seen as carrying a wealth of information and as bearing the possibility to create multiple versions of reality and to reconstruct perspectives in a positive way.

It is a characteristic of the image-creating process that outcomes were always unexpected for the participant, that the images took over and the participant went "with the flow" of the image-manipulating process. Furthermore, the kinaesthetic mode seemed to mediate between the visual and the verbal modes and the actual events and objects photographed. For example, Andrea's acting within the environment and the staging of scenes in mud, that is the involvement of her sense of movement and of bodily experience, were essential for her to come to terms with her topic.

Andrea (a01): ... - we were at the National Park and we started painting our hands and it got really exciting. It looked really good in the frame. Like in the dead of the environment we sort of put this big red hand in it, that started to get exciting, when we were shooting.

The image-taking procedure was linked to moving about in the environment, which allowed for direct involvement and experience of the environment. This formed the basis for her photographic work.

There was an active interplay between the thinking about the topic, the image-creation process and the growing and completed image itself. The aesthetic processes guided the mental processes; the aesthetic transformation of a topic stimulated its reconceptualisation. At the same time, the visual work referred back to the environmental topics and acted as a connecting agent between participants, topics and thought constructs. Most importantly, the visual work connects the participants with what they have experienced and confronts them with their creations and what these embody, namely their conceptualisations. An important aspect of the aesthetic process seems to be the transformation of abstract thinking into a concrete form.

Norma (a13): If you work through [the environmental topic] in words, it just becomes like a newspaper broadcast. Whereas in images it actually becomes more personal and more feeling is created in it. The destruction is actually a visual thing. But when you hear about it in the newspaper or over the radio it is a verbal, word thing. But putting it in images makes it a little bit more real and you can actually see the contrast between metal and flesh and it gives it realism.

Maie (a10): Once you make an image, it is there, you know. When you talk, the words last as long as you say them. ... [Images] can be contemplated over a long period of time.

Maude (11): [Putting thoughts into photographic images] is more, ... it is concrete. It is not that you think about it and it just goes away. It is something concrete, it is there. You can think about it and you can see a head actually down there on paper. It is quite confronting ...

Discussion

A high degree of environmental concern and politicised views was evident among the participants, which is in accordance with the profile of the community of which this group of participants was a part. The participants' conceptualisations about the environment were strongly context-independent (Barsalou, 1982) as conceptualisations of degradation, destruction, alienation, pollution and death, "Doomsday-kind-of"-views (04). These were followed by feelings of disempowerment. As Thomas said: "You try and you are just beating against a wall" (a17). Negativistic views seem to dominate contemporary thinking about the environment (see also Cullis, 1996; Hicks, 1993; Slaughter, 1991) generally, and thus may have been underestimated as driving forces in society.

However, the aesthetic presentation impinged on the conceptual domain so that these conceptualisations underwent, in some cases, deconstruction, and visions were then reconstructed optimistically (see Figures 1, 3, 4, 6). It seems that many participants wished to create positive images as a counter-reaction to a shattered-world view. The task of creating images about an environmental theme was taken up by many as a task of creating positive, constructive images of beauty and hope. This meant at the same time a deconstruction of the pessimistic paradigm. The close link between aesthetic and cognitive processes may suggest that this counter-reaction was evoked by the aesthetic task, since on completion of the project, the constructive impetus emerged even more strongly.

These narrative reconstructions represented a step towards the creation of ecologically sustainable future visions as suggested by Gough (1990, 1991). Aesthetic work can create a change of mood which can lead to positive empowerment. This is an important educational objective, particularly when concerned with the environment. Hicks's statement (1993, p.73) applies to young people in the same way as it applies to mature age students:

"Helping pupils identify both their probably (sic) and preferable futures is an essential element of preparation of adult life. Teaching only about problems can alienate young people. Learning about possible alternatives and proposed solutions is much more likely to motivate them."

Emotions were involved as an important factor in the processes of concept formation for the participants of the current study. There seemed to be a need for all participants to address emotional concerns in the environmental context. Sooner or later, all participants included a psychological dimension which dealt with the impact of the environmental conditions on their emotional states. Furthermore, through their aesthetic work, two participants (Maie, Norma) realised how important environmental issues were to them. Norma's accounts indicated that, through involvement in the photographic project, she had integrated environmental issues into her aesthetic thinking as part of her conceptual make-up. The emotional factor may have taken effect because of the personalised nature of the aesthetic process (e.g. John-Steiner, 1986; Vygotsky, 1971).

The development of the affective domain in the environmental context was identified as an important dimension (e.g. Chou & Roth, 1995, pp.42-43). Therefore, the emergence of "clarification of feelings" as a category of conceptual development has particular relevance. The findings of the present study indicate that the emotional factor requires much more attention on an educational, psychological and sociological level - not only as a dimension that guides responsibility, value judgment and attitude toward the environment, as suggested by, among others, Chou and Roth, but also as a factor that is dependent on and shaped by environmental conditions, which impact on the psychological well-being of individuals and society.

Besides negative conceptualisations, concepts related to ecologically sustainable narratives like interrelatedness, interdependencies, acknowledgment of multiple perspective, and concepts which oppose a view of the earth as purely instrumental were present in the participants' thinking. For the participants, issues of concern about the environment were related, for example, to issues of loss of wholeness and connectedness (e.g. Andrea, Maude), and to how they felt within a degraded, alienated and polluted environment (e.g. Helen, Norma, Zoe). They sought sustainable conditions, not only in a utilitarian sense. For example, Thomas suggested involving the river more in the life of the "townsfolk" by establishing walkways along the river instead of hiding from it. Helen regretted the loss of a life close to nature.

The photographic work made it possible to further construct such ecologically sustainable conceptualisations. The participants visualised links, brought elements together that initially might not have been seen as being related, they combined and merged them into one. They became literally involved in a constructive process. Visual narratives were potentially anti-dualistic and interwove facts and fiction: Norma, for example, dealt with the transcendence of dualisms between humans and machines. Athena's (Figures 8, 9) and Victor's double exposures merged organic and inorganic existence. Andrea's application of an "unnatural blood-red" signified the interconnectedness between humans and the environment (Figure 5).

Working with images does not permit a clear naming, classifying and separating, which are, in any case, counterproductive strategies in the process of creating ecologically sustainable narratives (Gough, 1990, 1991). Rather, the aesthetic involvement promotes the construction of multiple dimensions, complexities and ambiguities as a first step in coming to grips with environmental complexities and ambiguities. Cognitive interaction with visual narratives does not force the human agent to be satisfied with simple, one-dimensional cause-effect representations of issues that are rather complex. As Athena said:

Athena (a02): ... But when you talk about it, it is like "there are the facts and that is how it is", whereas visual things allow people to carry on with their own imagination and how it is for them and their own questions.

For Zoe, taking photographs of "things that I liked, things that appealed to me ... was a way of bringing them all together" (a19). This, however, did not only refer to the spatial dimension, but also to temporal relationships. Comparing past, present and future is regarded an essential ingredient of understanding in the environmental context (e.g. Fien, 1991; Mikelskis, 1988). Zoe referred to "looking at the damage of the past by using images of the present" (Zoe, Summary). For Helen, photographs made her realise that she now lived in a different time (07), and Ernest was able to anticipate future developments (a05): "Looking down what possibilities could happen by putting high-rises there ... ." Similarly, contrasting possible future developments with images of the present seemed an important factor that contributed to Maie's conceptual development.

Imagery with its richness of information has an important place in forming concepts. As Ernest stated: "[Images] make you sit back and think." Each photographic image potentially represented a construct that contained many chunks, each of which in turn contained many bits of information (Miller, 1956). Here the definition of imagery in cognitive psychology as analogue processing has particular relevance. A vast amount of information can be processed at the same time and concepts of great complexity can be explored ("A picture is worth a thousand words"). What amount of verbal information would have been necessary to shatter Elizabeth's initial position, if it had been at all possible to do so?

The question arises whether the virtual image would bring us closer to creative solutions, to ecologically more complete, radical conceptualisations? Would these be able to create the ultimate "cyborg" (Gough, 1993), the ultimate ecologically sustainable narrative? As Davis (1995, p.318) quotes an artist: "Working with a computer is the closest thing to pure thought." However, concept formation with images based on virtual reality could also prove to be counterproductive. A fundamental difference between photography and computer generated images is that the photograph maintains the "original" image whereas the digital image is "completely fluid, open to endless alteration, deletion, and recombination" (Davis, 1995, p.318). Davis continues:

"The effect of this manipulation is monumental: all remaining links between the image and the world of optical and physical fact are severed. Despite all the abstractions inherent in the photographic process, it remains true that photographs represent optical fact - and thus the world - in reasonably consistent and understandable ways. ... But, however qualified and complex it might be, photography has an essential "truth function" - a connection to direct visual experience - that is eliminated by the digital process." (Davis, 1995, pp.318-319)

The photographic image, as a trace of something which really existed and which was generated in a process of involvement with the environment, is in contrast to a digital image in virtual reality. Photographs are "directly stencilled" off manifestations of objects and events of their exploration (Köhler, 1989). Therefore, the process of manipulating these images was not subject to arbitrariness. Sidney stressed this point:

Sidney (a15): They are real photographs, they are part of our current environment and in lots of ways a direct result. The smoke stack is a current, the lunar landscape is a direct result of industrial action.

This link to the objects and events was further established by the participants moving about in the environment (compare Gibson, 1979). They experienced themselves being in the environment, with light, smells, their feelings and their movements all part of a direct involvement. For example, Andrea's experience with the kinaesthetic dimension - her hands in mud, the test-tubes and her staging of the scenes - undoubtedly enriched her experience and made it possible for her to move beyond her vagueness to construct a story and bring her ideas into a concrete and manageable form that had meaning for her. Also Zoe stated:

Zoe (a19): ... I have gone out and taken [the images] and they are my involvement with the environment, I guess, with them I am taking parts ... .

In summary, the photographic work was an active, self-guided, highly personalised process of negotiating a new position towards environmental issues. The aesthetic work guided cognitive processes of constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing environmental conceptualisations. As the image-creators manipulated the pictorial elements, their mental constructs were involved and seemed to be manipulated simultaneously. Developments in the aesthetic domain guided developments in the cognitive domain. The aesthetic work allowed the participants to work through their existing conceptualisations. It helped to shape, clarify and focus their thinking, their feelings and their personal positions. In general, the participants developed more verbally elaborate, refined, detailed and focused conceptualisations about their topics. They engaged in a search for a new aesthetic order and balance, which was linked to the creation of a story which at the same time meant a reconceptualisation of their thinking about the topic they had dealt with.

A limitation of this study, which concerns its external validity (Merriam, 1988, pp.173-177), is that all participants held strong environmental world views before they embarked on their project. The question arises: Would such aesthetic experience also support the formation of ecologically sustainable conceptualisations for those with less ecologically oriented mindsets? The finding of the importance of the aesthetic process and its influence on the cognitive domain would seem to support such generalisation. Furthermore, the previous experiences of the author as course coordinator support the position that such work can foster the process of concept formation in those without strong environmental world views, also in an ecologically sustainable way. In particular, the accounts of those participants of the previously conducted seminars who were not committed to environmental world views or who were not specifically interested in environmental issues triggered the research interest for the current study. Nonetheless, it is recommended to address this question in future research.

Likewise, the generalisability of results from this sample of university students attending a photography unit is supported to some degree. Six of the nineteen students were not visual art students. Similarly, the participants of the previously conducted seminars came from a variety of professional backgrounds. Although certain expertise in visual arts and with the medium is of advantage, a conceptual development occurs without it. It seems more a question of a willingness and preparedness to immerse oneself in the process and take up the aesthetic and conceptual challenge. Despite those limitations affecting external validity, and even with the possibility that different groups of people with certain characteristics may exhibit different conceptual foci, it is not expected that the principal finding will be challenged.

The above discussion does not necessarily imply that the aesthetic experience incites us to action. As one participant said: "It doesn't motivate me to strike and action" (a08). However, as Vygotsky (1971, p.253) argues, the aesthetic process is involved in the "organisation of future behavior". The aesthetic process and product reshape experience itself and open up new perspectives. As the same participant continued: "Yes, I think, personally enhanced awareness" (a08). Here, Gough and Vygotsky meet. Gough, with reference to the narrative from a poststructuralist perspective, conceives the creation of ecologically sustainable narratives as a reshaping of future possibilities, with guidance towards ecologically sustainable mental structures and behaviour. The narrative is characterised as an agent for change, which is reflected in the answer that Catherine gave herself to her existential question:

Catherine (a03): ... "how can we make artwork when the world is in such a state?" And that was kind of the turning point. ... and it went from "how we can make work" to "we can do it, we can get positives from negatives" ...

Conclusion

This study addressed Researching Education in New Times on three levels. Firstly, it portrayed aesthetic experience with photography as a relevant strategy for environmental concept formation. Several categories of conceptual development emerged, which reflect a search for meaning in relation to our interaction with the environment, a constructing, deconstructing and re-constructing of environmental conceptualisations. It is a way of coming to grips with the complexities and ambiguities characterising particularly environmental issues. Secondly, this study explored visual imagery as a cognitive function for concept formation, which rises in importance because of the growing emphasis on visual information transfer through electronic media. It was found that learning with visual media requires a deepened not only technical but also conceptual understanding of the medium itself, in order to be able to deploy it most effectively for cognitive development. Thirdly, environmental issues were identified as issues that impact on the learner's cognitive processing. This points to environmental conditions as factors that affect the psychological well-being and functioning of the individual and a society. It seems that also we as Westerners need sustainable environments for our mental well-being and identity more than has been acknowledged.

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