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A Teacher Asks: Why the Renwick?
Vaija Wagle, former teacher at Washington International School.
Welcome to the Renwick Gallery. I am Vaija Wagle. I have been a classroom teacher for the last 40 years. For 20 of those years, ideas from Project Zero , a research institute at Harvard Graduate School of Education influenced teaching and learning in my classroom. Upon retiring from the classroom, I took on the challenge of writing teacher resources for the Renwick Gallery.
As a teacher, my initial concern was that the Renwick Gallery would not be a teacher’s intuitive choice. Teachers have limited time and the artwork at the Renwick Gallery were not connected to any curriculum content. However, I soon recognized that the artwork at the Renwick Gallery presented a unique teaching opportunity.
Finding the Key
The artworks begged understanding. Using thinking patterns to understand and appreciate the artworks could offer students vital lessons to learn about critical thinking. If thinking about their thinking (metacognition) could be part of this experience, then the students might, in addition, transfer these thinking patterns across subject areas and to the world beyond.
If a visit to the Renwick, either through reproductions in the classroom or in-person, offered an opportunity to learn about using critical thinking skills and metacognition, teachers like me might find it quite valuable. With this in mind, I set to work on the units now available in the Resources section. They use a variety of trans-disciplinary thinking patterns to appreciate and understand the Renwick’s artworks such as:
- Uncovering Hidden Stories
- Taking Multiple Perspectives
- Getting to the Heart of the Matter
- Gleaning Context from Objects
- Making Connections
Learn more about Field Trips and School Tours at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The Units’ Philosophical Core
At Project Zero , I was profoundly drawn to the idea of making cultivating understanding through critical thinking as the goal of learning. This idea promised to benefit students’ learning in the classroom, but also for life long learning beyond the classroom.
You’ll notice that the units I created:
- Constructing an understanding of big conceptual ideas : Big conceptual ideas describe physical and social patterns that govern the world, how things work or why they are the way they are. They provide an enduring and universal lens through which to view subject matter but also the world around.
- Engage active student thinking . While knowledge may be dished out and delivered, understanding can only be cultivated through critical thinking, and through the units, students are guided to use a variety of thinking patterns to construct the desired understandings.
The units are designed for a variety of age groups; elementary to middle school students or middle to high school students.
Each unit takes between 60 and 90 minutes and can be accomplished during a visit to the museum or by displaying high definition photographs of the artworks available on the website.
Each unit uses a particular thinking pattern to look closely at a select artwork, and form informed and relevant interpretations.
There are metacognitive breaks along the way to help students become cognizant of the thinking pattern they are using to engage with the artworks.
A closing moment of reflection is built in to allow the students to revisit the experience and think about what they gained both in terms of ideas the artwork generated and patterns of thinking used.
Examples of how the various thinking patterns can be used to successfully teach curriculum content are also provided.
Practical Testing
As a teacher, I know that there is nothing better than a chance to actually teach the units and receive feedback. So, I took multiple opportunities to test the units in the gallery and at workshops across the city and gather feedback from participating students and teachers. I also reflected on what worked and what didn’t.
My highlight was when we presented the unit on Hidden Stories (the importance of seeking side and hidden stories to better understand the main story) to a high school art class at St. Alban’s School. Having visited the classroom some days before, my host teacher wrote to me and said that the students had returned from their art class and informed their teachers in the history and literature classes that they ought to be looking for side and hidden stories!! This, to me, is the ideal outcome. With all this feedback I set to revise the units.
Thinking Through Craft resources were funded by a generous gift from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust.
Arts Academy
in the Woods
How Art Education Fosters Critical Thinking and Why It Matters
These days, the ability to grasp the logical connection between ideas is a necessary skill.
Unless you’re a hermit living in a cave, there is so much information coming at all of us at any given moment.
Being able to discern which information is of worth – and which is not based in reality – requires critical thinking.
So What Exactly Is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is often synonymous with reflective and independent thinking. It means knowing how to take in the data and then come to a reasonable conclusion.
Those who engage in critical thinking are constantly questioning ideas and assumptions rather than just accepting what’s being peddled to the masses.
Critical thinkers want to know that the incoming information is representative of the bigger picture. If they determine that it’s not, they’ll take the necessary measures to get that additional information.
Critical Thinking Versus Being Critical
Critical thinking is not the same thing as being argumentative or critical/judgmental of other people. Sure, critical thinking can expose errors or poor reasoning.
But it’s also crucial for cooperative reasoning and then moving toward constructive tasks. Because acquiring more knowledge improves and strengthens one’s theories and arguments. And this subsequently leads to enhanced work processes.
How Art Improves Critical Thinking
Because critical thinking tends to incorporate logical and rational thinking and veers from instinct, many people see it as a hinderance to creativity.
After all, creativity requires breaking the rules, right? (Well, yes and no .)
Still, critical thinking truly requires out-of-the-box thinking. Rather than just taking popular approaches and swallowing them whole, critical thinkers challenge the consensus. This means they often have to pursue less popular thoughts or approaches.
So if you think about, critical thinking is an absolutely necessary component of creativity. Without it, how can the creative person continue to evaluate and improve upon his or her ideas?
It’s this very process of observation and study that teaches students of the arts to more intensely observe and analyze the world. And it gives them the skills that build the foundation of critical thinking.
But Why Does It Matter?
You might think that if your path leads you to work in research, law, education, management, finance or medicine, then you’ll absolutely need this skill. And you’re right.
But no matter what you choose to do with your life, the ability to think clearly and rationally is important.
Knowing how to receive information, clearly consider it and then use it to systematically solve problems is an asset for any career. Especially in light of this new knowledge economy. To be successful in such an economy requires one to able to handle changes quickly and effectively.
There is an increased demand for workers to be able to analyze a lot of information from diverse sources, then integrate it in order to find solutions. Critical thinking promotes these skills.
It also enhances language and presentation skills. The simple act of learning to think in a more systematic and logical fashion can also improve the way one expresses ideas.
Furthermore, in having to analyze the structure of different information sources, critical thinking also improves one’s ability to comprehend.
And as we mentioned above, critical thinking actually promotes creativity. Coming up with creative solutions is more than just having new ideas. There has to be an understanding that the new ideas are useful and relevant to the required task. Critical thinking plays an important role in this.
That’s right. Critical thinking is even important for this. It’s nearly impossible to structure a meaningful life without the ability to justify and reflect on our own values and decisions. And critical thinking provides the tools for this process.
So yeah, it’s safe to say that critical thinking definitely matters.
Learning Critical Thinking with an Arts Integration Education
Arts integration education merges the important skill of critical thinking achieved through art education and blends it in with academics.
There’s no disputing the importance of STEM. The above mentioned knowledge economy requires students to understand facets of science, technology, engineering and math.
With arts integration though, there’s the added importance of art – hence the term STEAM. Arts integration isn’t looking to bypass STEM. It strives instead to create an integrated program that includes all of those, while teaching the application of skills learned through the arts – such as critical thinking.
Arts integration helps students see the world from multiple angles, and to take a design-thinking approach in finding solutions.
Teaching young people to be careful and deliberate observers can go miles toward expanding their worldview. And this, in turn, can create a stronger democracy.
Do You Want to Explore An Arts Integration Education?
So take a look at what our students have to say . And/or request a tour of our school and see what we have to offer.
Then get ready to put those critical thinking skills toward a higher purpose.
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IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Teaching Critical Thinking through Art. What You Will Learn: How to use Artful Thinking Routines to strengthen thinking. How to facilitate meaningful conversations in your classroom using art for both artful learning and artful teaching.
Learn how to integrate works of art using Artful Thinking routines, effective strategies from Project Zero at Harvard University, in this interactive online course for teachers of all levels and subjects.
Featuring a variety of demonstration videos and interactive tools, this five-unit course prepares teachers to incorporate works of art into classroom practices with Artful Thinking routines—critical thinking strategies developed by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Learn to facilitate open-ended discussions of works of art using Visual Thinking Strategies, a method proven to develop students’ critical thinking skills and promote social and emotional learning. You and your students will experience the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as a place of learning, inspiration, and community.
Each unit uses a particular thinking pattern to look closely at a select artwork, and form informed and relevant interpretations. There are metacognitive breaks along the way to help students become cognizant of the thinking pattern they are using to engage with the artworks.
Based on the National Gallery of Art’s popular Art Around the Corner professional development program for teachers in Washington, D.C., this five-unit online course provides everything you need to begin creating a culture of critical thinking and collaboration for any classroom, subject, or level.
This video introduces the National Gallery of Art's first online course, Teaching Critical Thinking through Art with the National Gallery of Art, available on the edX platform. Based on...
How Art Improves Critical Thinking Because critical thinking tends to incorporate logical and rational thinking and veers from instinct, many people see it as a hinderance to creativity. After all, creativity requires breaking the rules, right?