Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines, was published by harvard education press in october 20. Abigail housen and philip yenawine developed visual thinking strategies vts. Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines 20. Visual thinking strategies for improved comprehension. 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.
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. Housen identi fied aesthetic stages that mark the development of skills helping to define visual lit eracy. All of the education programs at the eric carle museum of picture book art are built on the premise that picture books. A lively blend of theory and practice, this book shows how vts has sparked creative. Visual thinking strategy vts castellani art museum. Visual thinking strategies and english learners tesol blog. Use vts with artworks that are narrative and open to multiple interpretations. The application of housen, arnheim, piaget and others constitute the genesis. He is on the board of art matters, a foundation supporting contemporary artists. It confirms what advocates of noninstitutionalized learning believe. 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. 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. Using visual thinking strategies to conduct picturing america programs.
We trialled a specific methodology for looking at artworks called visual thinking strategies with the students. Vts is targeted at developing creativity and thinking skills. Our approach eric carle museum of picture book art. Publications by abigail housen visual thinking strategies. About vts last year, we began by working on a longterm project with central model senior school, dublin 1 a band 1, deis school. 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 strategies by lesley gustafson issuu. He writes about art and has many books including six for children. 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. 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. 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.
He was an early member of visualaids and one of the initiators of day without. It uses a learnercentered method to examine and find meaning in visual art through a sequence of carefully selected fine art images. The thinking eye works with visual thinking strategies vts as a method to both study and develop visual thinking skills. Visual thinking strategies vts was first developed at harvard university through the work of cognitive psychologist abigail housen. Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines 9781612506098. 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. Today, vts is a wellknown program used in museums both locally and internationally, as well as in schools, colleges and universities. Vts was created by yenawine and developmental psychologist abigail housen to develop thinking, communication skills, and visual literacy. Visual thinking strategies in the composition classroom. In visual thinking strategies, author philip yenawine explains the strategies involved in teaching with art.
He cocreated visual thinking strategies vts with abigail housen. D from harvard in 1983 and has pioneered aesthetic development research for over 30 years. Peggy burchenal, abigail housen, kate rawlinson, and philip yenawine. Housen also briefly discusses how she applied what she learned to creating the visual thinking strategies curriculumwww.
Visual thinking strategies from the museum to the library. Through the appreciative use of these competencies, he is able to comprehend and enjoy the master. The visual thinking strategies vts method was created by abigail housen, a cognitive psychologist in the harvard graduate school of education. 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. He worked with cognitive psychologist abigail housen to create a new and effective means of engaging people with images. For the past two decades, the overall discourse regarding visual thinking strategies vts has been the subject of rather thorny debate. 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. Visual thinking strategies vts, a learnercentered instructional method used to examine and find meaning in visual art. Visual thinking strategies streaming video king county. Perspective on teaching whats going on in this picture. Using visual thinking strategies to conduct picturing.
Visual thinking strategies is an educational curriculum and teaching method which enables students to develop. He is cofounding director of the watershed collective, a non profit educational organization that develops online resources for teachers. Through the creative use of these competencies, he is able to communicate with others. Key art terms for beginners, and has written six childrens books about art. Here is how philip yenawine describes it in his latest book visual thinking strategies. Frank serafini offers a variety of approaches to reading and analyzing visual. This section introduces three of the primary data collection methods used in abigail housen s research.
Visual thinking strategies harvard education publishing. Visual thinking strategies is a curriculum developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine, designed to foster critical thinking skills through interaction with visual art. Visual thinking strategies video terra foundation for. Visual thinking strategies using art to deepen learning across school. 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.
View abigail housen s business profile as cognitive psychologist at visual thinking strategies. Allowing people to learn for themselves is the most effective means of education. 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. Learning to think and communicate through art housen, abigail on. 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. 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. 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.
Vts uses art to teach visual literacy, thinking, and communication skillslistening and expressing oneself. Housen and yenawine began testing vts as a way to strengthen general learning. He reveals how the vts curriculum was developed, and demonstrates how teachers are using art to increase a variety of skills. Vts encourages close looking and critical thinking. 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. Housen identified aesthetic stages that mark the development of skills helping to define visual literacy. Visual thinking strategies vts uses art to teach thinking, communication skills, and visual literacy to young people. About visual thinking strategies university college cork. Abigail housen is the cofounder of visual understanding in education and the.
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. Vts was originally implemented in urban and rural schools with students that struggle to learn. He is cofounding director with nicholas gardner of the watershed collaborative, a nonprofit educational organisation that develops online resources for teachers. Uses a studentcentered method to examine and find meaning in visual art. An introduction to visual thinking strategies carle museum. Yenawine describes what vts is in his latest book, visual thinking strategies. Books and chapters precede published writings by both vts cofounders abigail housen and philip yenawine, followed by articles written by others in our.
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. 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. Visual thinking strategies vts challenges the standard model of teaching by encouraging a reflectionandresponse style of learning. Seizing the common core with visual thinking strategies in the visual arts classroom. Overview of aesthetic development visual thinking strategies. He is cofounder of visual thinking strategies vts and the vts curriculum with cognitive psychologist abigail housen. 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 start by using your own resources exactly what any of us needs to do when we encounter art that strikes us as strange. Visual thinking strategies vts is an elementary school curriculum developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine. He cocreated visual thinking strategies with abigail housen. 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. 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. Abigail housen abigail housen is the cofounder of visual understanding in education and the coauthor of the vts curriculum. 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. This method is called visual thinking strategies vts and it was developed by cognitive psychologist abigail housen and philip yenawine. Vts is implemented in schools, universities, and cultural institutions worldwide. Find contacts direct phone number, email address, work history, and more. He writes about art and has published many books including six for children.
Abigail housen and philip yenawine developed visual thinking strategies vts in the late 1980s. Originally appearing in the april 2008 issue of naea news, the authors. Visual thinking strategies with co founder philip yenawine. 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. Visual thinking strategies visual thinking strategies vts is an elementary school curriculum developed by abigail housen and philip yenawine. Visual thinking strategies vts offers teaching librarians a unique opportunity to integrate a work of art directly into their instruction. The visual thinking strategies approach 51 objects, symbols, natural or manmade, that he encounters in his environment. Housen also briefly discusses how she applied what she learned to creating the visual thinking strategies curriculum. Philip yenawine was director of education at the museum of modern art from 1983.
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