School Change From the Inside Out [Home Page] [Objectives ] [ Coursework & Grading ] [ Professors ] [ Week by Week ]

Topic: "What the Arts Teach Left Brain Learners"

Objective:

Students will build a repertoire of critical thinking strategies in an intensive WebQuest which will link critical thinking activities for their students to creativity and creative production.

Accomplished Practice #4 (continued):  Assessment                    You can also use this left brain/right brain site:

Survey:  This survey is a self-inventory for teachers in the classroom.  If you are a pre-service                teacher, please complete the survey as a preview of good classroom practice.               Take the Survey Again

Video:    H.O.T. Schools: Arts, Academics, and Democracy                Go to the WebBoard and complete the weekly media reaction writing (see requirements page for definition) This video examines a fascinating elementary school in West Hartford, CN and its innovative approach to education.  (H.O.T. stands for Higher Order Thinking.)  This in-depth look at the school, told mostly through the words of the students and their dynamic principal reveals how an arts-integrated curriculum can help build and exhilarating school experience that energizes students, teachers, and parents alike.  The school has transformed itself from an ordinary elementary school to an institution that combines arts, academics, student participation and democracy with extraordinary results.

Internet Links:  DO ARTISTS USE CRITICAL THINKING STRATEGIES?  LET'S            EXPLORE THIS QUESTION. Critical Thinking Skills are reviewed online at this linked WWW site with a list of the thirty-five dimensions of critical thinking:

Critical Thinking Skills (see above) Thirty-five dimensions of critical thought are divided into: affective strategies cognitive strategies--macro-abilities cognitive strategies--micro-abilities.

Take note especially of the AFFECTIVE strategies.  In your opinion, which of these skills will most likely be demonstrated in the life and work of artists?

Lessons: In Dr. Peter Facione's article Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts, he points           out that the following statements represents a person who rejects a critical thinking approach           to problem solving:

"I prefer jobs where the supervisor says exactly what to do and exactly how to do it."

"No matter how complex the problem, you can bet there will be a simple solution."

"I don't waste time looking things up."

"I hate when teachers discuss problems instead of just giving the answers."

"If my belief is truly sincere, evidence to the contrary is irrelevant."

"Selling an idea is like selling cars, you say whatever works."

DIRECTIONS:  Consider the musical, literary, philosophical, and fine arts treasures of the world.  Would these treasures have been created if their creators had embraced the kinds of problem solving (anti-critical thinking) attitudes the statements above illustrate?  To explore this question, apply one or more of these statements to an artistic endeavor.

ASSIGNMENT:  Write an IF/THEN analysis by applying appropriate statements above to at least two artists and to their creations. For each, show how the attitude that the statement reflects would be a "kiss of death" to that artist's creation.

EXAMPLE: If Socrates' student Plato had said, "I hate it when teachers discuss problems instead of just giving the answers," then the philosophical treasures that demonstrate this method such as Plato's Apology, the Republic, and the Symposium would not have been written.

E-mail your work:  jhoneych@fgcu.edu

Evaluation:  Save your file.  You might choose to include work from this lesson in your portfolio.

Return to Top

SCFTIO Homepage This page was last modified December 01, 1998 jhoneych@fgcu.edu