Originally appearing in the April 2008 issue of NAEA News, the authors respond to an article by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland

Originally appearing in: From Periphery to Center: Art Museum Education in the 21st Century, edited by Pat Villenueve. Reprinted with permission from The National Art Education Association, Reston, VA. Copyright 2007.

Pages 430-444. In Art Beyond Sight: A Resource Guide to Art, Creativity and Visual Impairment. 2003. Edited by Elizabeth Salzhauer Axel and Nina Sobol Levent. Copublished by Art Education for the Blind, Inc. (AEB) and AFB Press of the American Foundation for the Blind. NY.

Contains descriptions of selected studies relevant to VTS, from 1988 to 2003. Descriptions include treatment, assessment tools, descriptions of subjects, findings, and project director/site coordinator.

San Antonio Independent School District students who completed VTS lessons significantly outperformed students who did not receive VTS, in aesthetic and critical-thinking growth. Students with VTS transferred critical-thinking skills to individual art-viewing experiences independently, and transferred those skills fostered by VTS discussions to individual viewing of non-art objects. Results of this study convinced the San Antonio Independent School District to implement VTS system-wide. (San Antonio, Texas; 2000-2002)

Housen discusses how she measures aesthetic response and gives examples of viewer responses from Stages I and II. Student growth, in particular, how to foster it, leads to a discussion of the VTS method. This is followed by a brief description of Byron, Minnesota research findings. Originally published in Arts and Learning Research, vol. 17, #1. 2000-2001.

VUE co-founder Abigail Housen gives an account of how she began her study of Aesthetic Development, how she came up with her research methodology, and the overall findings of her 20 years of research. Housen also briefly discusses how she applied what she learned to creating the Visual Thinking Strategies curriculum.  1999.

Results show VTS causes critical-thinking growth and transfer of critical thinking to other contexts and content. A five-year study with Byron School District, Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, and VUE looked for evidence that VTS develops critical thinking, its transfer, and tested the effect of VTS in stimulating aesthetic growth. Results show that over time VTS accelerates growth and enables students' critical thinking in other areas. (Byron, Minnesota; 1993)

Cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen presents her study of museum visitors at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, using three different methods of collecting data: demographic; attitudinal; and developmental. This article discusses her research methodology, study findings, and gives a comparative analysis of the methods used.