It confirms what advocates of noninstitutionalized learning believe. About vts last year, we began by working on a longterm project with central model senior school, dublin 1 a band 1, deis school. Housen and yenawine began testing vts as a way to strengthen general learning. Visual thinking strategies from the museum to the library. Her research is also the basis of vts, a method of engaging learners in deep experiences looking at art and discussing meanings with peers, a process that, this chapter posits, furthers visual literacy. He writes about art and has many books including six for children. Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines 9781612506098. Books and chapters precede published writings by both vts cofounders abigail housen and philip yenawine, followed by articles written by others in our. View abigail housen s business profile as cognitive psychologist at visual thinking strategies.
Housen also briefly discusses how she applied what she learned to creating the visual thinking strategies curriculumwww. He worked with cognitive psychologist abigail housen to create a new and effective means of engaging people with images. This method is called visual thinking strategies vts and it was developed by cognitive psychologist abigail housen and philip yenawine. He was an early member of visualaids and one of the initiators of day without. He cocreated visual thinking strategies vts with abigail housen. The application of housen, arnheim, piaget and others constitute the genesis. Visual thinking strategies and english learners tesol blog. Designed as a way of teaching viewers to find meaning and pleasure in works of art, these strategies are based on the work of cognitive psychologist abigail housen and veteran museum educator, philip yenawine. Visual thinking strategies harvard education publishing. Overview of aesthetic development visual thinking strategies. Visual thinking strategies vts offers teaching librarians a unique opportunity to integrate a work of art directly into their instruction. Vts uses art to teach visual literacy, thinking, and communication skillslistening and expressing oneself. Through the appreciative use of these competencies, he is able to comprehend and enjoy the master.
Visual thinking strategies vts was first developed at harvard university through the work of cognitive psychologist abigail housen. Here is how philip yenawine describes it in his latest book visual thinking strategies. Allowing people to learn for themselves is the most effective means of education. Visual thinking strategies vts uses art to teach thinking, communication skills, and visual literacy to young people. About visual thinking strategies university college cork. Today, vts is a wellknown program used in museums both locally and internationally, as well as in schools, colleges and universities. Designed by art educator philip yenawine and developmental psychologist abigail housen, vts relies on childrens natural ability to observe, using imagery as the starting point for learning. He is cofounding director with nicholas gardner of the watershed collaborative, a nonprofit educational organisation that develops online resources for teachers. An introduction to visual thinking strategies carle museum. We trialled a specific methodology for looking at artworks called visual thinking strategies with the students. Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines 20. Vts was originally implemented in urban and rural schools with students that struggle to learn.
A lively blend of theory and practice, this book shows how vts has sparked creative. Abigail housen developed rigorous research methods based on her work with vts over several decades, and informed by her studies over a wide range of settings and with diverse populations. Visual thinking strategies is a curriculum developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine, designed to foster critical thinking skills through interaction with visual art. Vts encourages close looking and critical thinking. Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines, was published by harvard education press in october 20. Visual thinking strategies by lesley gustafson issuu. Frank serafini offers a variety of approaches to reading and analyzing visual. One specific approach to teaching, known as visual thinking strategies vts, was codeveloped by abigail housen, a cognitive psychologist, and philip yenawine, an art educator. Using visual thinking strategies to conduct picturing america programs. In a fiveyear study in the bryon, minnesota, school district, housen found that vts developed critical thinking skills that transferred to other settings from group discussions to individual writing, for instance and to other subjects.
Use vts with artworks that are narrative and open to multiple interpretations. Housen identified aesthetic stages that mark the development of skills helping to define visual literacy. D from harvard in 1983 and has pioneered aesthetic development research for over 30 years. Learning to think and communicate through art housen, abigail on. Visual thinking strategies streaming video king county. A specific approach to looking at art, known as visual thinking strategies vts, was co developed by abigail housen, harvard cognitive psychologist, and philip yenawine, director of education at moma between the years of 19881991. Philip yenawine was director of education at the museum of modern art from 1983. In the late 1980s, cognitive psychologist abigail housen and veteran museum educator philip yenawine developed visual thinking strategies vts as an elementary school curriculum as a visual arts program, vts. Visual thinking strategies is an educational curriculum and teaching method which enables students to develop. Perspective on teaching whats going on in this picture.
Visual thinking strategies encourage a personal connection to art from diverse cultures, times, and as a guide in the museum setting, your role as facilitator places. Seizing the common core with visual thinking strategies in the visual arts classroom. Vts is targeted at developing creativity and thinking skills. Visual thinking strategies using art to deepen learning across school. Visual thinking strategies in the composition classroom. This document makes recommendations about how to implement a vts program in your school or district, and includes a description of each grade levelwww visual thinking strategies. All of the education programs at the eric carle museum of picture book art are built on the premise that picture books. The result, after much research, was visual thinking strategies, a method that uses particular questions and techniques to facilitate close observation, critical thinking, and a wide range of communication skills.
Working with housen 20002001, we conducted field research, in conjunction with the development of a curriculum called visual thinking strategies, to see if our choices had the desired impact. The thinking eye works with visual thinking strategies vts as a method to both study and develop visual thinking skills. Housen also briefly discusses how she applied what she learned to creating the visual thinking strategies curriculum. In visual thinking strategies, author philip yenawine explains the strategies involved in teaching with art. Visual thinking strategies vts vts, developed by philip yenawine and abigail housen, is another method of inquiry that allows people to fully explore a work of art. Philip yenawine, former education director of new yorks museum of modern art and cocreator of the curriculum outlined in visual thinking strategies harvard education press, 20, writes engagingly about his years of experience with young students in the classroom. The visual thinking strategies vts method was created by abigail housen, a cognitive psychologist in the harvard graduate school of education. Abigail housen and philip yenawine developed visual thinking strategies vts in the late 1980s. Abigail housen is the cofounder of visual understanding in education and the. Developed by abigail housen and philipyenawine the visual thinking strategies a an approach that encourages critical thinking skills that can be transfered to other texts and applications.
Visual thinking strategies visual thinking strategies vts is an elementary school curriculum developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine. Through the creative use of these competencies, he is able to communicate with others. Housen identi fied aesthetic stages that mark the development of skills helping to define visual lit eracy. Key art terms for beginners, and has written six childrens books about art. This chapter roots these ideas in the theory and research of cognitive psychologist abigail housen, coauthor of visual thinking sttategies vts with museum educator philip yenawine. Vts is a technique developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine that uses art in facilitated discussions to encourage participation, critical thinking, and close looking as well as synthesis of different points of views and complex thinking.
Visual thinking strategy vts castellani art museum. Visual thinking strategies vts is an inquirybased teaching method developed by philip yenawine 20, former education director of new yorks museum of modern art, and abigail housen, a cognitive psychologist in the harvard graduate school of education. Abigail housen and philip yenawine developed visual thinking strategies vts. He is on the board of art matters, a foundation supporting contemporary artists. Visual thinking strategies vts is an elementary school curriculum developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine. Visual thinking strategies was originally created by abigail housen and philip yenawine after they decided that museum tours needed to be more educational and approachable to the masses.
What these visitors needed more was a guiding framework that would assist them with looking at and making sense of art, which led yenawine and housen to develop the visual thinking strategies vts method. For those of you unfamiliar with visual thinking strategies, it is an inquirybased teaching method developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine more than twenty years ago and used in museums and school classrooms across the country. The visual thinking strategies approach 51 objects, symbols, natural or manmade, that he encounters in his environment. It was adapted as a museum education program at moma more than 30 years ago and widely used since then in educational environments including classrooms, museums, and hospitals around the world. Visual thinking strategies vts, a learnercentered instructional method used to examine and find meaning in visual art. While vts is the name of an entire curriculum that grew out of the research of cognitive psychologist abigail housen and the experience of museum educator philip yenawine, the heart of the method is a framework for looking at an isolated image.
For the past two decades, the overall discourse regarding visual thinking strategies vts has been the subject of rather thorny debate. He reveals how the vts curriculum was developed, and demonstrates how teachers are using art to increase a variety of skills. It uses a learnercentered method to examine and find meaning in visual art through a sequence of carefully selected fine art images. Vts is implemented in schools, universities, and cultural institutions worldwide. This section introduces three of the primary data collection methods used in abigail housen s research. Peggy burchenal, abigail housen, kate rawlinson, and philip yenawine. Uses a studentcentered method to examine and find meaning in visual art. Visual thinking strategies in the composition classroom summer hess, justin young, and heidi arbogast english instruction at the k12 and college levels includes practice in multimodal communication and multiliteracies. Visual thinking strategies with co founder philip yenawine. Vts was created by yenawine and developmental psychologist abigail housen to develop thinking, communication skills, and visual literacy. He is cofounder of visual thinking strategies vts and the vts curriculum with cognitive psychologist abigail housen. He cocreated visual thinking strategies with abigail housen. He is cofounding director of the watershed collective, a non profit educational organization that develops online resources for teachers. Visual thinking strategies start by using your own resources exactly what any of us needs to do when we encounter art that strikes us as strange.
Vue cofounder abigail housen gives an account of how she began her study of aesthetic development, how she came up with her research methodology, and the overall findings of her 20 years of research. Abigail housen abigail housen is the cofounder of visual understanding in education and the coauthor of the vts curriculum. Visual thinking strategies vts challenges the standard model of teaching by encouraging a reflectionandresponse style of learning. Originally appearing in the april 2008 issue of naea news, the authors. Our approach eric carle museum of picture book art. Using visual thinking strategies to conduct picturing. The oftencited conversation between philip yenawine and danielle rice at the 1999 national docent symposium published in 2002 productively drew out many of the disagreements about the role of information in museum teaching, especially. Publications by abigail housen visual thinking strategies. Visual thinking strategies for improved comprehension. Visual thinking strategies video terra foundation for.
271 821 1150 199 1469 267 871 184 1120 317 527 1398 273 947 901 355 1112 702 862 986 679 447 336 978 1257 1130 1201 63 989 609 63 578 1259 959 630 1369 722 1458 162 1374 986 278 583 93