Facilitating Critical and Aesthetic Inquiry

Engaging Students with Art Objects

Teachers who employ active strategies to engage learners with objects facilitate sensory involvement and personal response, preparing for the development of skills and concepts. ~ Karen Lee Carroll

The author tells us that when selecting works of art that one must take into consideration the goals of the lesson, as well as the developmental and skill level of the student.  Appropriately selected art objects and the tools facilitating thought and response lead to engagement and other levels of inquiry.

The following non-verbal strategies are offered as means of heightening engagement:

·        visual analysis  - analyzing and responding to art

·        sound and movement - utilizing kinesthetic learning

·         category, verbal cues, and search strategies - sort, categorize, defend

·        Creative dramatics - locate the drama in art and role play or act out

·        Creative writing - alternate between words and images

·        Game strategies - vary in nature, have benefit

This section of Carroll’s book gave me a tremendous amount to think about. In attempting to digest the information I found myself applying the advice suggested for Emotive Writing (in response to a work of art) - Sustained or frequent exposure to a work such as looking at it daily, perhaps before going to sleep and upon waking, allows the viewer to muse on the work prior to responding. (p154) I read it, went to bed trying to take it all in and then, woke up and reread the whole section. It all makes perfect sense, there’s just so much for me to absorb, so much room for improvement in what I have been doing for the past eleven years. In his book, Five Minds for the Future, Gardner points to research confirming that it takes up to ten years to master a discipline (p3). I’m discouraged think that I’ve spent so much time mastering only a part of my discipline! The good news is that I think I can scaffold onto what I already do, tweak here and there, and sl-o-o-o-w down big time. I’m excited at the prospect of personal growth, both for my students and for myself as we head down the pathway toward greater meaning and greater engagement!

One of the suggestions for using visual analysis was the use of tools to isolate parts of an art work. My particular choice of tool at the moment is technology. Here’s an example of a PowerPoint activity I have recently done with students. The objective of this lesson was learning how to research for key information. The group researched an artist, wrote clues, and then created the PowerPoints which slowly revealed either a portrait of the artist, or a piece of their work. We then used the SmartBoard to share the PowerPoints with the class. Students were engaged and enjoyed the activity. I would like to believe that they retained more of what they learned had they created a traditional research activity. I think this activity could benefit from the aforementioned tweaking to facilitate even greater visual analysis. Hmmm...maybe I've made it farther down that path than I realized!

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