Teach

“All of us are watchers - of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the freeway - but few of us are observers….  Everyone is looking, not many are seeing."         -Peter M. Leschak

To succeed in our changing society, students must develop higher-level skills, including creativity, problem solving, the ability to communicate in different ways, self-discipline, tolerance and above all critical thinking. They need to be able to observe, decipher, analyze, interpret, and evaluate the information they receive.  Teaching students to do these things in a visually saturated world can begin at any age. What better place to begin than with objects of art and design?

Introducing learners to real objects and images, real evidence of the world around them and of the past, encourages them to think beyond the classroom. As teachers, we can use objects to nudge pupils down avenues of observation and thinking based on the evidence before them, and to apply these skills–a thoughtful and considered approach–in new areas, in other aspects of their learning and understanding.  And doesn’t this after all form the basis of critical thinking?

Enabling discussion of works of art among young people allows for the development not only of their appreciation of art, but also provides an arena to develop skills of observation and interpretation. In museum learning, viewers are called on to look closely, to articulate their responses and to find evidence to support opinions and reasoning. An object can be looked at and discussed on many different levels. The questions we ask of that object or image can be used to steer pupils towards a whole range of conclusions or learning outcomes. During discussions, they listen to the views of others, build on the group discussion, they might debate different views, and change opinions. In short, object-based learning combines most aspects of critical and creative thinking as well as verbal expression. This is something that we strongly believe in here at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum and something that can be keenly observed as classes come through our doors to be taught each day, ranging from an Introductory Biology course taught to Mount Holyoke College students to a local third-grade class studying the Ancient world.