Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education
As many of you know, our own Lois Hetland, Associate Professor of Art Education, is also a Research Associate at Project Zero at Harvard Graduate School of Education. In September 2007 her book (with co-authors Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema, and Kimberly M. Sheridan) was published by Teachers College Press -it can be ordered at: http://www.teacherscollegepress.com/.
The result of in-depth research of the “habits of mind” that are instilled by studying visual art, Studio Thinking provides art teachers with a language for describing what they intend to teach and what students actually learn. This language will help advocates explain arts education to policymakers, help art teachers develop and refine their teaching and assessment practices, and help educators in other disciplines learn from existing practices in arts education.
Students of five visual arts teachers in two Massachusetts high schools were observed and videotaped in the research for the book, including our own MassArt alums Kathleen Marsh, Beth Balliro, and Mickey Telemaque at Boston Arts Academy. The teachers were then interviewed about their intentions, and the authors coded the tapes and transcripts according to the “habits of mind” the teachers sought to convey.
The research revealed many benefits of visual arts classes. “Students who study the arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgment and justify such judgments.” The authors believe art education is most important for its own sake, not for the indirect benefit it may have on general academic performance, math and reading skills, and standardized test scores.
An essay by Lois Hetland and Ellen Winner on the benefits of teaching the arts in schools appeared in the Boston Sunday Globe on September 2nd.
An August 4th New York Times article “Book Tackles Old Debate: Role of Art in School” also discussed the book.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/arts/design/04stud.html
Book Features:
Introduces the Studio Thinking Framework, which goes beneath the surface of visual arts education to discover what underlying cognitive and social skills are imparted to students when the arts are taught well.
Illustrates the Studio Thinking Framework through the voices of teachers, photographs of students at work, and samples of art projects in different media.
Suggests how teachers in all subjects can incorporate critique sessions in their classes to promote public, shared reflection and ongoing formative assessment.
Offers researchers a tool to develop and test hypotheses about precisely which kinds of instruction lead to various desired outcomes
Studio Thinking is available in the MassArt bookstore.