Edina Digital Age Learning

Mary Lewis from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts led a workshop with staff on Visual Thinking Strategies . She began part 2 of the session having us view a clip from 60 Minutes with Harvard professor, John Stilgoe . Stilgoe pointed out many interesting design components. For example, have you ever noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo? Or that if all car manufacturers just put the gas cap on the same side, lines at gas pumps would be much shorter because everyone would line up in a more efficient manner. Lewis then told us about "The Stages of Looking." Stage 1: Beginning viewers are looking at the story Emotion plays a big part of it, and they use their own life experience to relate to the image. "What is it about the picture that made you think of that?" Stage 2: Constructivist People apply what they think is "right," and build a framework. "IS THIS ART?" Stage 3: Classifying By classifying the artwork, this stage attempts to critically catego...

Today I had the pleasure of sitting in with staff from South View Middle School as they explored Visual Thinking Strategies with from Mary Lewis from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The curriculum is based on Visual Understanding in Education , developed by Abigail Housen and Philip Yenawine. These strategies were developed for beginning viewers. Basic Visual Thinking Strategies Asking the questions 1. Begin by asking the question, "What is going on in this picture?" Staff noted that the process allowed them to "slow down" and think, rather than being told what to think. The pictures Lewis chose told a story, and this allows for more reflection. The classes where kids are really struggling is where kids really struggle to focus. She has found that if she says, "take 10 seconds" If students struggle, ask them "What do you see?" 2. The second question is "What do you see that makes you say that?" What is the clue? "I'm going...