Explore how to integrate works of art into your classroom with inquiry-based teaching methods originally developed for in-gallery museum education.
3.2 Activities as Inquiry
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En provenance du cours de The Museum of Modern Art
Art & Inquiry: Museum Teaching Strategies For Your Classroom
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Module 3: Activities as Inquiry
This section explores interactive methods that promote an open-ended, two-way exchange of ideas and engage a specific set of skills including close-looking, peer-to-peer learning, creative thinking, and problem-solving.
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Lisa MazzolaAssistant Director, School and Teacher Programs
Department of Education
This week we're going to explore different types of activities that you
can do with your students
in addition to using questions and conversation to engage with works of art.
These techniques are also forms of inquiry
that have all the same benefits, they just allow for other types of learners
to be engaged.
Not all students feel comfortable talking in a large group.
Some of them might feel less comfortable sharing their thoughts or their ideas verbally
with their fellow students
but welcome the chance to write or draw about a work of art. To address the needs of
these types of students
you can develop multimodal activities that engage other learning styles.
When you engage students and other types of learning in addition to dialogue,
you're now making room for responses you might not get through conversation alone
Activities are just another way to foster close looking
introduce ideas and develop critical thinking skills. They also offer another
way for students to connect and contribute individually
and also in groups, depending on how they are structured. Activities are also fun and
spark creativity and imagination,
which is just as important to student learning.
Activities: Foster close looking
Connect experiences with artworks to other learning
Introduce key concepts Ignite imagination and creativity
I like to use writing as a tool because it allows students to be creative
and also allows them to practice a critical skill that they need in school
and in life. Here is an example of a writing activity with high schools students in
MoMA's galleries.
I’m going to challenge you to write a six-word memoir
with a beginning, middle and end, and I want you to write it from the perspective
of the bus driver. I want you to brainstorm a little a list of words
as a group,
then organize them in a way to best tell his story.
You can see that he’s like stuck in a memory or stuck in time
and the cinder blocks show that and I think the same routine every day
shows like, I chose- It’s like a daily thing so it works.
Yeah, you can tell there’s nothing new, nothing interesting going on…
Yeah we should add “everyday."
Stress too. Yeah he doesn't seem happy.
Yeah he seems like
he’s had a long day.
Maybe bored since it’s a daily thing
you might get bored doing every single day
the same exact thing it gets boring.
So what’d you guys come up with so far?
We’re just brainstorming words.
Yeah, ok.
So we have time, tableau, routine, boredom,
being a bus driver.
I would suggest looking at the sculpture again because you're writing a lot about
perspective on the bus driver, but we're also asking you to write about this
sculpture.
So what are some other things that you see?
Oh, ok. White.
Write it down.
You can figure out how to put the words together
when you’re editing
aand through your conversation, but I think the beginning you really want to
brainstorming as you would if you were
just writing for yourself. So what are some descriptive words that you would use?
Hmm.
I think also
worn out.
Worn-out, cramped, beaten-up.
So worn-out, cramped…
You know I would suggest maybe
standing up and looking at the sculpture, and then sitting back down.
Because there might be something else you see when you’re up close
that would help add another word or two.
Worn out. Sloppy.
Have you ever seen a tool shed? Probably not.
It’s where you put hooks in it- (Yes.) and you hang like a hammer… Ok, well that’s what it looks like to me.
What if he works himself way too hard with
all the life and the tools
that it starts to get worn down
and he’s just decided to hang something up-
his life up,
and it's just there.
He's tired
and
decides to give up, hang in the towel.
Throw in the towel. Create a bucket list.
What?!
He decided to hang it up, like he wants to just get- he’s tired of it, doesn’t want to use it right now,
and he can always come back to it later if he just
gives it a rest for right now
and he’s contemplating whether or not to do that,
and I think that’s what that board really means there.
And then with him sitting in such a manner
it actually helps you fill in that empty blank of
why that “holey” wall is there.
So the hook is really symbolic in the story.
I mean, there's no actual hook
but
you could imagine it.
So finish it up, one more minute then we’re going to come back together and share and I’ll
ask you to put your
six word memoir on the floor so that we could see what you wrote.
Then I'm going to ask each group to share, read the memoir aloud
and then talk a little bit about the process.
There are many ways to incorporate writing.
You could have your students: generate a list of words to describe an object
and then have them pick words from the list to form sentences that outline
their thinking,
write a review who work of art, write a wall label for work of art.
For younger kids,
I often find it helpful to develop activities that really spark their
imagination
and do not require advanced writing skills. These types of activities
engage your senses by inviting them into the work of art. You can start off by
having them look closely
and talk about what they see. Next I will prompt them to imagine what it would be
like
to be physically in the environment depicted in the work of art.
I want you guys to look at this painting, quietly.
Ok, so we’re just going to look for a second. Now close your eyes
and I want you to try and imagine that you’re there. So close your eyes.
Quietly, so everyone can get their imagination we’re going to do it quietly.
we’re going to do it quietly.
Okay,
now open your eyes.
Did anyone hear any sounds when they were in the place? What did you hear?
I can hear the wind blowing and the-
You can hear the wind blowing. And the lion.
Maybe the lion making a sound like a roar.
Ok what else? I heard like a “whoosh.”
You heard like a “whoosh” sound? Can you make the sound?
And then I heard someone else say, “What is that sound?”
And then you heard a voice of someone saying, “What is that?”
Mine was - Yeah, what was yours? Mine was hearing a roar and then hearing someone scream!
Ooooooh. And then the lion starts eating him. Okay!
You can add on to or
combine this type of activity with a writing extension
by asking your students to write a first person narrative or dialogue
from the perspective of one of the characters
included in the work of art. You can also ask them to write a postcard to a
friend about this place that they're visiting.
You can also use a thought bubble exercise to help guide your students.
Another option is to combine a sensory experience
with drawing by asking your students to make a drawing what happened before
or after the events that are occurring in the work of art that
you're looking at.
These types of sensory activities are very useful alone or combined with
writing or drawing for both younger and older students.
Teaching tip: always test out the activity plan to use with your students.
It's important to make sure that your directions are clear and that it is
developmentally appropriate.
Drawing is another great way to get your students engaged.
There are many different types of drawing activities that you can use depending on
what your goals are.
You can design drawing activities that help students record details of an artwork.
The goal with this type of activity is to gather visual information
and not to create a perfect finished drawing. You can also develop drawing exercises
that are ways for students to analyze
the form of three-dimensional objects, which are often very visually complex.
I like to use drawing in many different ways for close looking,
deep analysis and also to give students time to engage their imagination
and creativity.
This painting is called Three Musicians,
it’s by Pablo Picasso, and similar to
Sleeping Gypsy and I and the Village that you just looked at,
he’s kind of playing with this idea of real and imaginary, okay?
And he’s depicting for us
these characters which are sort of loosely modeled after himself and some of his friends
in this very festive kind of music making
kind of environment, right?
And I thought it was really interesting after talking about I and the Village where its this person showing us
this place that he’s from but he’s kind of inserted all these different kinds of things
and different kinds of
people that have sort of changed the reality of what it is.
So I thought what we could do today
is give you guys an option to make a little
visual story, a little visual portrait of you and two of your friends
and just kind of showing us what you guys
would be doing. So what I’m going to do is pass out some pencils to you.
We’re in a baseball field and there’s tiny football field and ...
and also there’s also a golf course.
Wow, so could someone play all those things
at the same time? If they uh, if they have a couple of arms and legs.
Maybe draw that person playing.
That's pretty cool.
Do you like sports?
all
I really like some of the stories I'm hearing
as you guys are drawing.
These are just a few examples of activities,
but there are many other ways that you can engage your students. You can even do
a movement exercise
such as having your students take on the pose or gesture of figures in a work of art.
These are also a great ways to get students looking closely and
contributing their ideas.
Another option is to have your students create a soundscape
based on what they see in a work of art. I am sure there are types of activities that you
are already using your teaching that could be adapted for connections
to works of art.
Whatever activities you choose it's important to make sure
that the instructions are clear, that it is developmentally appropriate for your
students,
and that it's aligned with your teaching goals. When done effectively,
good activities meet your goals, encourage close looking,
provide alternative entry points and deepen student understanding.
I hope you're inspired to think about how you can incorporate
activities into your teaching. Next week I will guide you through a variety
of online resources that include different types of activities.
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