This unit will draw on the preceding content to challenge students to consider the role of the curator in modern society. How does the identity of the curator affect the objects and artifacts chosen and exhibited? Should identity be a factor when curating exhibitions? Have we made any progress on the 1969 call to hire more diverse curators and art historians in museums? Is there still a need for single race shows in the current era? What was the intent behind shows such as “Black Male” and how did these collections influence public opinion?
As I complete my second year at Wilbur Cross, I have been revising my curriculum and re-structuring my class to increase student engagement and better align with our district’s goals of promoting 21st Century Competencies. I am exploring methodologies like Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB), Project Based Learning (PBL) and Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) as the foundations for my classroom structure as I believe they offer more opportunities for authentic learning and engagement.
The unit that follows is designed as a PBL unit meant to address Anchor Standard 6 in the National Core Art Standards:
Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
“How does the presenting and sharing of objects, artifacts, and artworks influence and shape ideas, beliefs, and experiences?”36
The unit places high school students in my Exploring Visual Design class in the role of art curator and asks them to actively engage in curating their own exhibit designed to communicate or inform their viewers on a particular social issue. The problem posed will be that the Yale University Art Gallery is noticing a decline in their admission rates. Upon further study, they notice that very few community members visit the gallery. Students will visit the gallery to view work on display. They will then be asked to consider the factors that might dissuade the community from visiting and to try to combat those factors by curating an exhibit designed to draw people in. Drawing on exhibits such as Thelma Golden’s Black Male, David Driskell’s Two Centuries of Black American Art, Peter Bradley’s The Deluxe Show, and others, students will understand the influence a curator has to connect with and speak to a community based on the objects included in the exhibit. In true PBL fashion, students will have the opportunity to ‘ask the expert’ by meeting and questioning a working curator. They will identify themes that might form a connection with the New Haven community and research artists that showcase that theme. The final product will be virtual group exhibits shared with the Yale Art Gallery and the larger New Haven community.
Why Project Based Learning?
The goal of contemporary classrooms has moved beyond acquiring facts and skills to empowering students to apply what they’ve learned in school to the complex problems they will face in the real world. Motivating students to move beyond being passive receptors of information into active participants in their own education is central to this goal of applying and transferring knowledge. Fundamentally, PBL “is an inquiry-based method that organizes the curriculum around ill-defined problems that reflect real-life situations”37. According to John W. Thomas, “Project Based Learning designs, because of their emphasis on student autonomy, collaborative learning, and assessments based on authentic performances are seen to maximize students' orientation toward learning and mastery”38. PBLs are grounded in the inquiry process, beginning with an essential question then leading into students developing their own questions to move them towards a solution to the stated problem. The simple question ‘what do I need to know to solve this problem’ leads to students taking ownership of their learning not just for the sake of learning facts but as a means to applying the knowledge in an authentic way. The PBL method has been proven to support higher order thinking skills as “learning that occurs in the context of problem solving is more likely to be retained and applied”39. Additionally, “such learning is also seen as being more flexible than the inert knowledge that is acquired as a result of more traditional didactic teaching methods”40.
Not only does Project Based Learning support student engagement, it also addresses issues of equity in education. The traditional approach to acquiring new skills in school is what’s known as the ‘climb the ladder’ approach in which teachers must “cover lots of content before allowing students to use that content in authentic situations”41. This approach tends to have the greatest negative impact on lower performing students. Under this approach some students, typically the lower achieving students, “will never get beyond the first rung of the coverage ladder, with its isolated and uninteresting approach to content; they will therefore have minimal opportunities to engage in and actually use what they are learning in a meaningful way”42. Research shows that “the prevalence of low-level tasks contributes to students' lack of understanding of content and process and poor attitudes toward learning and schooling,”43. By flipping the sequence from content first to essential questions first, students are given a hook to understand how this knowledge can be applied to authentic real-life situations. This authenticity combined with the group work structure provides the scaffolding and motivation to allow all learners to “(1) acquire important information and skills, (2) make meaning of that content, and (3) effectively transfer their learning to new situations both within school and beyond it”44.
Although Project Based Learning has great potential as an instructional approach, it must be structured and scaffolded properly to achieve its intended results. Having tried PBLs in the classroom before, I know that students do not magically become motivated overnight just because you ask one interesting question. Teachers must create the right classroom culture of open communication, collaboration and curiosity for students to sustain motivation throughout the challenging tasks that PBLs present. Students who are used to teacher centered direct instruction models may balk at the more demanding and sustained thinking required for PBL work. Additionally, although they often request and enjoy the ability to work in groups, “students may not have the skills to benefit from collaborative work”45. To help properly scaffold this unit, I plan to begin the year by teaching Visual Thinking Strategies, an approach developed by Abigail Housen and Philip Yenawine that uses looking at art to build visual literacy, thinking and communication skills. Similar to PBL, Visual Thinking Strategies are rooted in inquiry and ask students to build meaning in a work of art just based on what they observe. By using these strategies throughout the year, students will have the opportunity to develop artistic language and practice the collaborative work and discussions that will be necessary to be successful during the PBL unit.
Teaching through the pandemic has really made me consider what my essential learning objectives are and how I can best structure my class to give students multiple ways to demonstrate learning. Knowing that my ultimate goal is to ensure that my students can communicate, collaborate and walk away with an understanding of the role that art plays in society has led me to these teaching methods and this unit as our culminating activity. Although in the past, I created opportunities for my students to acquire and demonstrate knowledge, by focusing more on art skills and techniques than on open ended projects I stifled creativity and the chance to apply these higher order thinking skills and make meaning from their learning. This unit and the preceding Visual Thinking Strategies lessons will allow us to dive into the essential questions ‘what is art’, ‘what is the purpose of art’, ‘how do artists communicate’, and ‘what role do museums play in society’ for a richer understanding of the impact of art and artists on their lives.