Alanna Gaylord's Art Education Portfolio
Summary of Studio Thinking: The Eight Habits of Mind
A Brief Overview of a Common Language Used for Art Teaching and Learning
Description:
Studio Thinking is an approach to Art Education that uses The Eight Studio Habits of Mind to guide students’ learning in the art classroom. The Studio Thinking Framework was developed by the research team, Lois Hetland, Ellen Winner, et al., from Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The three Studio Structures include: students at work, lecture demonstration, and critique. The eight Studio Habits of Mind are: Develop Craft, Engage and Persist, Envision, Express, Observe, Reflect, Stretch and Explore, and Understand Art World. Studio Thinking urges students to have artistic minds, to think like artists, and to create art. By integrating the Eight Habits of Mind in the art classroom, students are encouraged to develop knowledge and understanding about craft, materials, tools, and space; to have a focused and determined attitude; to produce ideas and possibilities outside of what they see; to create works of art that portray an idea, feeling, or meaning; to look more examine their surroundings; to question, explain, and evaluate one’s own work and the work of others; to stretch and explore beyond one’s capacities; and to understand and relate to the domain and communities of the art world.
Analysis:
Studio Thinking is a strategic analytical tool for art education. The combination of the eight Habits of Mind offers a common language across arts and non-arts classrooms and provides multiple means of assessment for learning across curriculum in arts and interdisciplinary settings, as well as it expands the knowledge in arts classrooms beyond the development of skills and technique.
The studio habit of mind Develop Craft focuses on technique, which teaches students how to use tools, materials, and artistic conventions, as well as, studio practice, which teaches students how to care for tools, materials, and space. Develop Craft is a significant studio habit of mind because it is important for students to work with and understand the properties of different tools and materials to gain an understanding of the range of ways that they can be used in a skilled and mindful way. In this way, students are able to develop a sense of what they are able to do with different tools and materials, and thus become more adept at choosing the right tool and material for the art that they choose to make. In addition, students should also learn about studio practice, which involves students learning about how to store one’s work (i.e., labeling and dating work, spraying work, putting work in portfolios, etc.) as well as learning how to make the best use of the space in the classroom.
Engage and Persist is a studio habit of mind that teaches students how to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and of personal importance and to develop a focused, determined, and persevering attitude about working on and making art. In this disposition, students are taught to break out of ruts and blocks, and to feel encouraged by their learning in order for them to be motivated as they continue to work. The goal for this habit of mind is to provide students with projects that are deeply engaging so they can forget about time and loose themselves in concentration.
The studio habit of mind, Envision, teaches students how to mentally picture what they cannot directly observe and imagine new possibilities for their art. Envisioning involves the acts of producing mental images to imagine what a piece of art will look like and to plan ways to achieve this image. When students observe, they look closely at the outside world, however when they envision, they imagine and produce possibilities in their own minds.
The studio habit of mind, Express, teaches students how to create works of art that convey an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning. Students should make art that exemplifies certain properties, such as emotion, moods, sounds, atmosphere, a sense of movement, or even a personal meaning. In art, students should be taught how to go beyond technical skill to convey a personal meaning in their art.
The studio habit, Observe, teaches students how to perceive visual contexts more intimately instead of simply “looking.” When students look more closely, they should learn to see with new eyes, and should move beyond their habitual manner of seeing in order to notice things that might otherwise be invisible. When students are taught to observe, they are taught to more closely examine the model or source from which they are working; their own artworks as they evolve; art processes modeled and artworks created by the teacher in demonstrations; artworks created by other students; and artworks from contemporary or historical artists.
The studio habit, Reflect, involves the components: to Question and Explain and to Evaluate. In arts classes, students should be asked to become reflective about their art-making; when students question and explain, they are asked to think about and discuss with others about an aspect of one’s work or their processes, decisions, and intentions. When students evaluate, they are asked to judge one’s own work and the work of others in relations to standards of the field. Both components of reflection involve the construction of meaning, self-knowledge, and consideration of quality.
The studio habit, Stretch and Explore, teaches students how to reach beyond one’s capacities, to explore playfully without a predetermined plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes. When students try new things in the art classroom, they extend beyond what they have done before and take risks in order to be creative. When students are encouraged to stretch and explore, students face a level of challenge in the tasks they are asked to complete, which urges them to experiment, to discover, to play around, and to try alternatives. In this way, students learn that mistakes are opportunities and they can lead to new directions.
The final habit of mind, Understand Art World, can be broken down into two components: Domain and Communities. In Domain, students are taught about art history and current practices in art as well as students’ own relationship to the domain of art. When students are taught about the communities of people and institutions that shape the art world, they learn about how they, as developing artists, relate to its various components, and also students learn the importance of working together. In this way, students are able to learn about their own relationship to this broader art community.
Reflection:
The Studio Thinking Framework seems to be an approach to art education that covers all grounds. Studio Thinking is a great approach for teaching art, not only because of the skills, knowledge and understanding that students are ale to take away from it, but it also seems to offer what other art education frameworks such as DBAE, the Enduring Idea, and TAB, attempt to offer, except this is all in one framework. The combination of the Eight Habits of Mind provides the art classroom with a common language across arts and non-arts classrooms, as well as it expands students’ artistic knowledge beyond skills and technique. It seems clear that Studio Thinking was designed specifically to support students’ learning in the art classroom and that it produces exceptional results.