Inquiry and Making Art Visual Thinking and Storytelling

If a problem has the flexibility of personal space to engage students from elementary to post-secondary levels, there is an elegance to the design.

An elegant problem lends itself to many kinds of solutions by many types of problem solvers.

Therefore, the problem or assignment must provide the opportunity tor fluency of responses.

An elegant problem provides the opportunity for many choices of responses and solutions.

With length and width variability, variations in depth are earmarked by the ability to elaborate or provide original solutions to the problem.

Producing the environment for novel and inventive solutions characterizes a well-composed problem. If the assignment encourages flexibility, fluency, elaboration, and originality-it has met the four characteristics of creative thought.

Using Artistic Strategies: Gathering Ideas Sketching Note making Visual script Story board Transformation Clustering

Metaphor Analogy KWL charts Lists Mapping Tree chart

Encouraging Visual Storytelling Listen thoughtfully to the stories your students share with you and the stories they share with each other.

Document the stories you hear in the classroom.

Categorize thematically the kinds of stories you hear in your classroom. (Do they relate to travel, family, sports, pets, etc.?)

Practice your dialogue skills to demonstrat e genuine interest and regard for the art of storytelling.

Build a learning environment that cultivates respect for both visual and verbal storytelling.

Search for specific artists whose personal stories will be of interest to your students.

Create opportunities for self- reflection.

Design units of study that will provide opportunities for your students based upon their own personal experiences.