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VTS
Visual Thinking Strategies

Course-Workshop
Directed by Phillip Yenawine
From 22nd to 24th April 2008

Visual thinking in the classroom:
Level II

This workshop addresses teachers who are familiar with the VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies) method. VTS is a way of teaching children and youngsters to use their eyes and minds to discover the meaning of complex information, in this case art. During the course-workshop, we provide the opportunity to improve their skills with this method by obtaining practical experience. We also experiment with the application of VTS to writing and other subjects, such as geography (maps), science (graphs) and the creation and analysis of texts.

The VTS method is based on the work of cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen and museum educator Philip Yenawine. Housen has been investigating the nature of aesthetic development and its role in education for over twenty years. Yenawine has organised educational programmes in numerous museums, including the New York MoMA and the Chicago Contemporary Art. The method has been applied in many countries, besides being included as part of the primary education syllabus in the United States.

As a curricular programme, VTS enhances:

  • The personal connection with art of different cultures, eras and places.
  • Confidence in one’s own ability to understand art.
  • Active classroom discussion and problem-solving.
  • The transfer of these skills to other subjects.


22nd April
5.30 pm - 9.00 pm.

  • Introduction and welcome to the course-workshop.
  • VTS demo with 2nd and 3rd year questions.
  • Discussion: How do the new questions affect the discussion? What additional skills do the new questions aim to teach? What happened in the classroom when they were introduced during sessions?.
  • Practice in small groups.
  • Break and coffee.
  • Discussion: What have you learned from today’s practical experience?.
  • Demo and analysis of how to paraphrase at an advanced level.
  • Taking notes: in your own words, describe the additional possibilities of paraphrasing the students’ comments.
  • Discussion: Reflection about the method’s impact on the students’ behaviour. Changes in their language. What do students learn about their own thinking?.
  • Note-taking: How does paraphrasing help students to learn?.


23rd April
5.30 pm - 9.00 pm.

  • Discussion: Has VTS changed how you teach? And how you assess your students? Have you used the method in other lessons? What have you learned from it?.
  • VTS demo using qualified language (high register).
  • Practice sessions in small groups using the new register.
  • Break and coffee.
  • Discussion: What have you learned from these practical sessions? What have you learned from paraphrasing with a higher register?.
  • Discussion: What does it mean for students “to construct their own meanings”?.
  • Note-taking: How can more constructivism be added to the way subjects are taught?.


24th April
5.30 pm - 9.00 pm.

  • Presentation: What growth has been documented as a result of the VTS sessions?.
  • Presentation: Recording of a North American classroom with subtitles. Considerations about the session.
  • Discussion: What have you learned from watching this recording? Did you see the same conduct in your students? And in other classes?.
  • Break and coffee.
  • Discussion: Why does VTS affect the development of both language and thinking?.
  • Essays: did your students write about works of art? When? Before or after the sessions? What did you learn from this?.
  • Discussion: How is VTS related to the growth of your students?.
  • Activity: Describe and discuss the changes found in your students.
  • Note-taking: What changes are to be found in your student’s thinking or writing?
  • Conclusions.


REGISTRATION

Friends of the CAAM who have been registered for more than one month, students and members of the Architects’ Association of the Canary Islands (COAC, by its Spanish acronym): 14 € (Please enclose a photocopy of membership ID card).

General Public: 20€.


METHOD OF PAYMENT

1. From 8th to 11th April, in the CAAM reception desk, Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 am to 6 pm. Address: Los Balcones 11, 35001 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Telephone 902 311 824. www.caam.net.

2. From 15th to 18th April, in the CAAM reception desk, Tuesdays to Fridays from 10 am to 3 pm. Address: Los Balcones 11, 35001 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Telephone 902 311 824. www.caam.net.


Conferences will be taking place in the CAAM Multi-purpose Exhibition Hall. Places are limited.