Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the retrospective effect of elementary visual art in enhancing problem
solving ability in later life. Further, the study also explored the impact of different teaching pedagogies. For
this purpose 150 college students were selected from the National College of Arts Lahore and Islamabad.
The sample was further divided into three groups. Group A (n=50) comprised students who had been
exposed to student-centered visual art, group B (n=50) consisted of students who had received teachercentered visual art and group C (n=50) comprised students who had received no visual art curriculum during
elementary school years. The Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, Wallach & Kogan Creativity Test and
the Problem Solving Ability Test were administered to measure the participants’ problem solving ability.
One-way ANOVA and t-test revealed that visual art received at elementary level did have a positive impact
on the problem solving ability of the students in later life. There were also significant differences in problem
solving abilities of students exposed to different art teaching pedagogies at elementary level. The findings
highlight the importance of visual art for developing a higher level thinking skill that is transferred to later
life. It is hoped that this study would contribute to the advocacy for the inclusion of visual art in the national
curriculum.
