EDUCATION / Arts in Education

Many people believe that art education is important, but few can say exactly why. Here, at last, are the results of the first in-depth research on the "habits of mind" that are instilled by studying art habits the authors argue have positive impacts on student learning across the curriculum. Studio Thinking provides art teachers with a research-based language for describing what they intend to teach and what students learn. This language will help advocates explain arts education to policymakers, help art teachers develop and refine their teaching practices, and help educators in other disciplines learn from existing practices in arts education.

Studio Thinking 3 is a new edition of a now-classic text, a research-based account of teaching and learning in high school studio arts classes. It poses a framework that identifies eight habits of mind taught in visual arts and four studio structures by which they are taught. This edition includes new material about how the framework has been used since the original study, with new perspectives from artist-teachers who currently apply the Studio Thinking Framework in their own practice. It also reviews how contemporary organizations, educators, and researchers outside the arts have utilized the framework, highlighting its flexibility to inform teaching and learning. The authors have added a new chapter on assessment to introduce the practical and thoughtful ways that teachers are using Studio Thinking to assess and evaluate students’ work, working processes, and thinking in the arts. Praise for Previous Editions of Studio Thinking― “Winner and Hetland have set out to show what it means to take education in the arts seriously, in its own right.” —The New York Times “This book is very educational and would be helpful to art teachers in promoting quality teaching in their classrooms.” —School Arts Magazine “Studio Thinking is a major contribution to the field.” —Arts & Learning Review “The research in Studio Thinking is groundbreaking and important because it is anchored in the actual practice of teaching artists …The ideas in Studio Thinking continue to provide a vehicle with which to navigate and understand the complex work in which we are all engaged.” —Teaching Artists Journal

Students of all ages can learn to think like artists! Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education changed the conversation about quality arts education. Now, a decade later, this new publication shows how the eight Studio Habits of Mind and four Studio Structures can be used successfully with younger students in a range of socioeconomic contexts and school environments. Book Features: Habit-by-habit definitions, classroom examples, and related visual artist exemplars emphasizing contemporary artists. Full color mini-posters teachers can hang in their classrooms to illustrate each of the eight Studio Habits of Mind. Sample templates for students to use as they plan, reflect upon, and talk about works of art. Innovative approaches to assessment and strategies for implementation. Photos throughout the book of Studio Thinking signage and activities, students making art, and student artworks. Suggestions for using Studio Thinking for arts education advocacy. COMPANION VOLUME— Studio Thinking 2: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education, Second Edition Lois Hetland, Ellen Winner, Shirley Veenema, and Kimberly M. Sheridan

Learning in and through the visual arts can develop complex and subtle aspects of the mind. Reviews in: Journal of aesthetic education. 38(2004)4(Winter. 71-98), available M05-194.

"What’s going on in this picture?" With this one question and a carefully chosen work of art, teachers can start their students down a path toward deeper learning and other skills now encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method has been successfully implemented in schools, districts, and cultural institutions nationwide, including bilingual schools in California, West Orange Public Schools in New Jersey, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It provides for open-ended yet highly structured discussions of visual art, and significantly increases students’ critical thinking, language, and literacy skills along the way. Philip Yenawine, former education director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and cocreator of the VTS curriculum, writes engagingly about his years of experience with elementary school students in the classroom. He reveals how VTS was developed and demonstrates how teachers are using art—as well as poems, primary documents, and other visual artifacts—to increase a variety of skills, including writing, listening, and speaking, across a range of subjects. The book shows how VTS can be easily and effectively integrated into elementary classroom lessons in just ten hours of a school year to create learner-centered environments where students at all levels are involved in rich, absorbing discussions.