This session will address one program’s findings regarding the impact of arts on critical thinking skills and will ask, “What does an art program need to do to teach critical thinking skills?”

We will share the Guggenheim’s research into its Learning Through Art program’s impact on literacy and critical thinking skills.  We will then “unpack” this research by engaging participants in a discussion of what an arts education program must do to build these skills.  Together, we will work on a critical-thinking rubric that can be used across programs, while discussing whether we share a common vision for arts education.

Friday 9:15-10:45

Conference Strand: Education/Policy Reform

Educators: will understand how the arts can support critical thinking, and what art teaching that supports critical thinking looks like.

Artists: will understand what art teaching that supports critical thinking looks like, and the relationship between how artists think critically and what skills need to be made explicit for students.

Organizational Administrators: will be able to articulate what art education that teaches critical thinking looks like, and whether this is a goal of their program; they will have the foundation of a shared evaluation tool.

Educational Administrators: will understand how the arts can support critical thinking, and what art teaching that supports critical thinking looks like.

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Rebecca Shulman Herz supervises the Learning Through Art program of the Guggenheim Museum. She supervised the implementation of a U.S. Department of Education grant concluding in Summer 2006; the research produced by this grant has shown that Learning Through Art significantly strengthens students’ critical thinking and literacy skills. She is currently working on a book on looking at and making art in the elementary school classroom, and is the editor of the Summer 2007 issue of the Journal of Museum Education, which focuses on critical thinking.