VTS in the News

NAEA News
Why Do We Teach Art in the Schools?
April, 2008; Vol. 50, No. 2
Peggy Burchenal, Abigail Housen, Kate Rawlinson and Philip Yenawine respond to an article by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland in this issue of NAEA News, the publication by the National Art Education Association.
Click here to read the whole article.

Miami Herald
There's an Art to Learning
March 2, 2008
Kate Rawlinson, director of the Artful Citizenship Project at the Wolfsonian-FIU discusses the use of VTS in the program.
Click here to read the whole article.

ParentMap.com
Art from the Start:
An Innovative Program Comes to Area Schools
February 1, 2008
Linda Morgan explores the growing interest in VTS in the Seattle area, and talks to regional director Yoon Kang-O'Higgins.
Click here to download the whole article.

West Orange Chronicle
Visual Teaching Brought to Life for Teachers
December 13, 2007
Tony Edelstein profiles the very first VTS program in New Jersey, at the Redwood School in West Orange.
Click here to download the whole article.

West Orange Outlook
VTS Program Introduced at Redwood Elementary
December 2007
The Redwood Elementary program is featured in the December edition of the West Orange Outlook.
Click here to download the whole article.

Minnesota Public Radio
The Art of Medicine
May 9, 2007
Dr. Jon Hallberg, Professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School and family practice physician, argues that the humanities are essential for teaching new doctors how to best perform their craft—including using VTS with first-year medical students.
Listen to the entire story here.

Michigan Radio Arts & Culture
Developing Cognitive Skills Through Art
by Gretchen Millich
March 16, 2007
"In some schools around Michigan, teachers are using a program called 'Visual Thinking Strategies' to help students develop their cognitive skills. Students are shown works of art and encouraged to talk about what they think the artist is trying to convey. In one Michigan community, administrators are so pleased with the success of the program at one school; they're expanding it to other schools in the district."
Listen to the entire story here.

Boston Globe
The Art of Learning
Globe Editorial
March 13, 2007
"In 2003, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum set out to understand more about what schoolchildren can learn from museums....During the study, staff members began emphasizing a tool called Visual Thinking Strategies...."
Click here to read the entire editorial.
Click here to read reactions to the editorial.

New York Times
Arts, Briefly: Adding Up Art
by Randy Kennedy
March 10, 2007
"A three-year study by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has found that grade-school students who spend time looking at and talking about art perform better in several areas of critical thinking than students without such art experience...."
Click here to read the entire article.

Provincetown Banner
The Art of Critical Thinking
by Sue Harrison
March 9, 2006
See article
Background on VTS and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Inc. (PAAM):
VTS is a core component of PAAM's educational programming for children and Youth. Lynn Stanley, Curator of Education, explains, “It has informed my thinking in all aspects of our educational programming, from image selection for various viewers, to developing approaches to engage visitors (children, youth, adults), to designing specific activities and programs that support children,  k-12”
Veterans Memorial Elementary School (VMES) started participating in PAAM’s student curating program (the focus of the article) in 1992.  In January 2003 as part of a grant writing initiative, Stanley asked VMES teachers to describe their experiences with the curating program.  5 out of 6 VMES teachers expressed their feelings of discomfort around leading discussions about works of art—before, during and after museum visits—without the proper training/background to do so.
In response PAAM began the process ofintegrating VTS into the school.  Since the Spring 2005 PAAM has been offering VTS classroom sessions and teacher training.

Contemporanea (en español)
Revista grancanaria de cultura
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, número 1
febrero 2006
Estrategias de Pensamieto Visual
Franck González
Recientemente se celebraron en el CAAM dos cursos taller dirigidos a profesores y a educadores de museos impartidos por Philip Yenawine...See entire article 

Provincetown Banner
Educational program uses art to teach critical thinking
by Pru Sowers
October 6, 2005
The emphasis in elementary school is usually on using your head, not your eyes. But according to some local art educators, eyes are a critical tool in developing the brain, particularly in young children.
That’s the premise behind an innovative educational program that uses art to develop a variety of communications and critical thinking skills in elementary age children...See entire article

NUVO
Eyes-on-canvas
by David Hoppe
September 14, 2005
“In most cases, meaning is a chord, not a note,” says Linda Duke, head of the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s education department. Duke is talking about how we experience works of art. She is also explaining a new museum program called Thinking Through Art, a collaborative program with the State Department of Education and the Eiteljorg Museum, that is aimed at students and teachers in Indiana schools... See entire article

KERA, Public TV and Radio for North Texas
Commentary: Everyday Life Enhanced Through Art
by Joan Davidow, KERA 90.1 commentator
June 28, 2005
Looking at contemporary art makes most people feel uncomfortable; they don't have the tools to understand what they're looking at and feel intimidated and unsure; and no one likes to feel that way.
But there's a disarmingly simple way to teach people how to look at art - an approach that guides all viewers - from kids to seniors, first timers to seasoned collectors - to permit themselves to learn about, think, and talk about contemporary art, to respect each other's different points of view, and to take this open thinking process into their everyday lives...See entire commentary

The Cape Cod Voice
The Beautiful Benefits of looking hard, listening hard, and putting it into words
May 5-18, 2005
by Ellen LeBow
On a balmy spring day, Lynn Stanley clips a poster of a painting by William H. Johnson on a board in front of 17 kindergarten and 1st graders at the Provincetown Elementary School.
The stylized image, titled "Soapbox Racing" (1939-40), depicts three young African-Americans taking a ride on a homemade vehicle, while in the background a few boys shoot hoop.
"What do you see in this picture?" Stanley asks.
Hands shoot up as quick as croci.
The students are practicing Visual Thinking Strategies, a program developed by a non-profit research organization called Visual Understanding in Education...Download entire article (pdf)

Family Medicine
Visual Thinking Strategies: A New Role for Art in Medical Education
by Jo Marie Reilly, MD; Jeffrey Ring, PhD; Linda Duke
April 2005
The use of humanities in medical education has become increasingly popular. Art, dramatic plays, poetry, narrative essays, and music all strive to facilitate awareness of the art of medicine, increasing compassion and empathy. Medical schools and residency programs increasingly incorporate various works from the humanities as tools to stimulate dialogue, discussion, and awareness among their medical learners, particularly in areas of doctoring, the experience of illness, and end-of-life issues...See entire article

San Francisco Chronicle
Artistic impressions
Program at elementary schools empowers kids in 'visual thinking'
by Kathleen Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, February 13, 2004
As soon as the image appeared on the screen -- three children swinging around a pole in front of a pile of rubble and a damaged building with gaping holes exposing wallpapered walls -- several fifth-graders shot their hands into the air.
Teacher Sebastian Robins patiently reminded his class about the first step in their arts education class...See entire article

The River Reporter, Liberty, NY
Art and literacy: What do you see in this picture?
by Richard A. Ross
November 13 , 2004
Much has been written in response to the question of why Johnny (or Jane) can’t read. Newspapers abound with statistics citing low reading scores and poor writing skills. Many question how students can graduate from our high schools seemingly lacking much basic knowledge and critical thinking skills...See entire article

WNYC, New York Public Radio
Studio 360
Cutting Arts Education
Produced by Tara Geer
May 10, 2003
Visual Thinking Strategies is an innovative method for teaching art that students and teachers love. It's designed to flourish in poorly funded schools, but it isn't immune to the cutbacks...Click here, then click on the segment "Cutting Arts Education."

Studio Potter
Volume 29, Number 2, June, 2001, pp. 95 - 98.
Dominic's Egg
by Lisa Blackburn
This is an essay describing the use of clay and other media in learning visual thinking, imagination, and creativity. The setting is the Detroit Institute of Arts Education Program. See article.

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