Facilitating Critical and Aesthetic Inquiry

This section of Carroll discussed many strategies for promoting student inquiry.  I like the way this book is set up.  The information is given in pleasing chunks and the resource pages are so full of potential. 

“Engaging Students With Art Objects” discussed using a variety of strategies to “facilitate sensory involvement and personal response, preparing for the development of skills and concepts.” (p.140)  These strategies include: visual analysis, sound and movement, perceptive-evaluative sequences, dramatics, creative writing and games.  All of these strategies allow students to engage in multi-modal experiences and build on the ideas they are interested in.

“Orchestrating Conversations About Art” gave suggestions for facilitating meaningful student discussions, including a variety of question types to use to” increase student thinking about observations, concepts and generalizations.”(p.  144)  Informational, leading and synthesizing questions build upon each other to draw student discussions through a spectrum that starts with observation and moves to interpretation.

“Storytelling and Puzzle Problems” continued to enforce the power of story.   Stories about the lives of artists can facilitate discussion, but Carroll encourages us to discuss the validity of well known “true” stories about art and artists. 

“Using Interpretive Strategies to Find Meaning” talked about the parts that make up works of art and the relationships of those parts to each other.  From thematic unity and intertextuality to Barrett’s principles of interpretation and examinations of metaphor and emotive writings, many strategies are discussed.

“Promoting Critical Thinking Through Problem-based Inquiry” discussed one of my favorite things in art education:  the searching and finding process of thinking critically about an elegant problem.  Students can develop so many skills while in the midst of solving aesthetic problems.

“Facilitating Student-Curated Exhibitions” explored the many opportunities for thinking and decision making inherent in setting up an exhibition of any size.  It reminded me of the process of setting up our Artist Teachers show last semester.  We collaborated and made decisions and it was an empowering and pleasurable experience.

“Using Models for Writing About Art” recommended strategies for helping students read and write critically about art.

A new article in Art Education, March 2013, “Skills and Dispositions for Creative Problem Solving During the Artmaking Process” by Eliza Pitri, went deeper into the “Problem Based Inquiry” ideas Carroll discussed.   Pitri wanted to discover what being a creative problem solver meant, what it “looked like” in the classroom and what “skills and dispositions” are related to the problem solving process. 

She found these skills to include logical thinking and analysis along with illogical thinking like predictions and fantasy.  Other important skills were found to be: problem finding, investigation, planning, commitment, imagination and flexibility.  Pitri found that “when allowed to make-and explain- their own choices, students develop invaluable creative problem-solving skills.  Opportunities for such critical thinking abound in the art classroom.”