Join VTS Trainers and Community Members from around the globe for FREE weekly VTS image discussions on Wednesdays at VTS Look Club Online! Register through the Events tab below. To find out more about Remote Learning with VTS and to peek at one of the images we will discuss at Look Club, check out the Image of the Week.

Close
  • Download

    A Conversation on Object-Centered Learning in Art Museums

    Author(s): Philip Yenawine and Danielle Rice

    Article grew out of a demonstration video and discussion that Philip and Danielle Rice, Associate Director for Program at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, presented at the 1999 National Docent Symposium. Both long-time art museum educators who have thought deeply about learning from art objects in the museum setting, Danielle and Philip present their approaches toward museum education, and question each other about their respective theories. Philip's approach, which is based on the research findings of Abigail Housen, has resulted in the development of Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), a question-based learning method. Danielle's approach, based on her many years of art-historical and theoretical learning, and practice teaching in museum galleries, respects the learning processes of museum visitors, but assumes the importance to museum education of strategically-chosen facts about the work of art at hand.

  • Download

    Thoughts on Writing in Museums

    Author(s): Philip Yenawine

    Yenawine makes recommendations for those who write descriptive texts for museums, urging in particular that the writers take into account the fact that most of the readers of such texts are non-specialists in art.

  • Download

    Theory into Practice: The Visual Thinking Strategies

    Author(s): Philip Yenawine

    Veteran museum educator and VUE co-founder Philip Yenawine discusses how the work of several developmental theorists (Piaget, Vygotsky, and Housen) informed his design of museum education programs, eventually leading to the creation of Visual Thinking Strategies. Presented at the conference of “Aesthetic and Art Education: a Transdisciplinary Approach,” Sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Service of Education, September 27-29,1999, Lisbon, Portugal.

  • Download

    Visual Art and Student-Centered Discussions

    Author(s): Philip Yenawine

    VUE co-founder Philip Yenawine examines how student-centered discussions of art can be powerful forums for learning, and how the intricate design of the Visual Thinking Strategies curriculum creates an environment for such learning to take place.

  • Download

    Thoughts on Visual Literacy

    Author(s): Philip Yenawine

    Visual literacy is the ability to find meaning in imagery. It involves a set of skills ranging from simple identification, naming what one sees, to complex interpretation on contextual, metaphoric and philosophical levels. This paper discusses how visual literacy develops, how this development might be fostered, and the relevance of Housen's Stage Theory of Aesthetic Development.