Visual Thinking Strategies: The Power of Art in Promoting Learning

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Anyone who has ever visited an art museum has likely discovered a painting, photograph, or illustration on display that captured their attention and imagination. The image may spur an emotional response or cause a person to recall something in their own personal life that is relevant to what they are looking at. That is the beauty of art. Its power rests in its ability to elicit some type of feeling or thought process in the observer.

In the scenario described above, an individual’s visual processing of the art piece is the catalyst for the cognitive processing of the image they see. In the 1980s, the connection between visual and cognitive processing was utilized in museum education to engage students in their art analyses. Students were asked open-ended questions that were designed to encourage them to use their critical thinking skills in conversing about the meaning of the art they were viewing. These inquiry-based approaches, referred to as Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), initially focused on helping students develop their knowledge of art within informal educational settings such as museums. Today, VTS is a pedagogical approach that educators are using in traditional classrooms from PreK to twelfth grade and in many disciplines including social studies, science, and mathematics. Lynda Herrera, assistant professor and interim academic program coordinator of the Secondary Education 6-12 Program at George Mason University, recently shared her thoughts on VTS and how it is used in classroom settings.

The VTS approach uses open-ended questions posed to students that are designed to get them to think about what they are observing in a visual.

When implementing the VTS framework, the teacher presents students with a visual representation of something related to the content being taught in class. Students are given a certain amount of time to observe the details of the visual. The teacher then poses several open-ended questions to the students. The questions ask students to describe what they are observing in the visual, assess the significance of the scene or image that is being depicted, and then think about how it pertains to the content covered in class. The questions are structured in a way that encourages students to draw on the existing knowledge they possess in relation to what is taking place in the visual. The students use that knowledge as the basis for their interpretation of the image or picture. This process reinforces the student’s existing knowledge base and makes them more confident in their ability to extrapolate that knowledge to other content or subject areas.

Researchers in education say that VTS can increase a student’s interest in the content being taught.

Educational experts say VTS provides an excellent method for increasing student interest in the content delivered in the lesson. The VTS approach offers a fun and non-pressuring way for students to communicate and express their ideas about the visual that is the focus of the class discussion. Each student develops their own interpretation of what the visuals mean based on the knowledge they possess. They are given the opportunity to share their thoughts and interpretations with their peers. This becomes a beneficial learning experience because students are exposed to opinions that differ from theirs. As students consider whether they agree with some of these differing viewpoints, they can enhance their critical thinking skills.

The Benefits of Integrating Artwork into the Curriculum

When educators integrate a picture, photograph or other artwork related to the subject area into the curriculum, it can serve as a valuable reference point that helps students connect the content they learn to what is being portrayed in the visual. Making this connection will help students develop the skills they need to self-monitor their own academic progress and self-reflect on their progress in achieving their learning objectives. These skills are essential to the practice of self-regulated learning—an evidence-based construct that has facilitated positive academic outcomes for students.

Another benefit of the VTS approach is that it can give students practice in developing a position (such as their interpretation of a painting or picture) that is supported by evidence (in this case, the knowledge of a topic they possess). As a student progresses in their education journey, the ability to craft a compelling and convincing verbal or written argument that defends an assertion they make will be an important part of their academic growth.

To learn more about degree offerings in the Secondary Education 6-12 Program at George Mason University, please visit the program website.