Reflecting against inquiry goal: 'To develop reflective capabilities in visual art students'.

I can't believe how quickly a term has just flown by. I haven't worked on this goal as much as I would have liked to, as during the lockdown to an extent it was just about making learning work for the situation we were in, inquiry to an extent got pushed to the side.

However, what I have discovered is that my students can reflect well on their work, the important thing is a well-worded template or prompt that asks students to justify their work. If they are saying that their work was successful, they need to say why this was.

They also need to have a good understanding of our learning objectives - in short, where are we headed. When students understood what I wanted them to be doing (big picture wise) their reflections were deeper and more meaningful. For some students who think a bit more deeply it actually helped to have an authentic text to draw upon in their reflections. I recently experimented with giving students a text 'what makes a good artwork'. This was an interesting exercise but a bit rushed as this was at the end of time we were pushing to get artworks finished in time. Also I would need to search for a range of texts potentially so that this task was more accessible for different levels. 

Professional discussions - Knowledge Building

In the past few weeks, I have participated in an online knowledge building group, focused on knowledge building within the NZ context. We've been looking at some of the big questions, like why knowledge building, how to support and develop it in New Zealand, and how to develop critical literacy.

It has been so energising to discuss pedagogical issues I care deeply about with likeminded colleagues. The discussion has been really expansive. In fact, we've decided to keep an ongoing discussion open about knowledge building. I invite you to join us if you are interested in learning about knowledge building or conversing with colleagues about the big ideas and problems of practice within knowledge building. Email me and I can let you know how to get connected.

Computational thinking?

I have to admit that I am struggling to figure out how I can connect computational thinking to the Visual Arts and Art History and how I can meaningfully fit this into an already full teaching inquiry.

I had a professional development session that left me cold on computational thinking, and perhaps I started off on the wrong foot, but it didn't seem to me to encourage creativity or the higher level thinking skills that I am working to develop with my classes.

When I compare computational thinking, to a progressive inquiry-based pedagogy like knowledge building, it just seems a bit reductive.

Maybe I've missed something?

Can my colleagues in the creative fields win me over to computational thinking? I just can't currently see how it will fit with my pedagogical philosophy and the kind of thinking I am trying to foster within my classes.