Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 1

Intervention Paper:

Visual Thinking Strategies

Emily Pfaff

University of Missouri
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 2

Introduction

The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) curriculum and teaching method

uses art to help students think critically, listen attentively, communicate, and

collaborate. VTS has been proven to enhance reading, writing,

comprehension, creative and analytical skills among students of all ages.

(Landorf, 2006, p. 28) Cognitive Psychologist Abigail Housen and Phillip

Yenawine director of education for MOMA developed VTS, to teach people

how to understand and draw their own conclusion on what is happening in a

work of art. Often in schools teachers tell students the facts about a piece of

art including the meaning behind the piece. When this happens, the teacher

is sharing with the student their experience with the piece. By doing this

students are unable to come to their own understanding of the artwork. VTS

teaches visual literacy.

Visual literacy involves the ability to understand, produce, and use

culturally significant images, objects, and visible actions. These skills can

be learned in ways analogous to textual literacy. With training and

practice, people can develop the ability to recognize, interpret, and employ

the distinct syntax and semantics of different visual forms. The process of

becoming visually literate continues through a lifetime of learning new and

more sophisticated ways to produce, analyze, and use images. (Felten,

2008, p.60)
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 3

In a VTS discussion, a viewer is asked three verbatim questions: What

is going on in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that? And

What more can we find? (Housen,2001; Housen &Yenawine, n.d; Yenawine,

1998) (Franco & Unrath, 2015, p.27) The facilitator of the discussion will ask

a group of people these three questions. Each time a question is answered

the facilitator will paraphrase the response in a neutral manner. All viewers

should get the same response from the facilitator. At the end of the

discussion the facilitator will not tell the viewer if they were right or wrong.

Theorist

VTS takes into account Piagets developmental stages and Lev

Vygotsky Social Constructivism. Social Constructivism is the view that

knowledge is not poured into learners brains. But that knowledge is

constructed through social interaction. (Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. 2015 p. 127)

Through a VTS discussion Students form their own knowledge about a piece

of art through interactions with their peers. The facilitator Scaffolds the

discussions. Through these theories Housen developed the Aesthetic Stages.

Stage one Accounted- Viewers in this stage interpret art through story.

Viewers create a story about the piece through their own personal

experiences, and emotions.

Stage two Constructive- Viewers in this stage construct meaning of a

piece of work based on their perceptions, knowledge of the world

around them, and what they consider is good art. In this stage
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 4

viewers begin to remove personal emotions from the viewing.

Stage three Classifying- The viewer classifies the work based off of the

arts history i.e., year made, region made, etc. By doing this the viewer

beliefs they will be able to interpret the true meaning behind the piece.
Stage four Interpretive- Viewers in this stage look deeply at the piece

of art examining the smallest aspects of the work. Critical skills are

put in the service of feelings and intuitions as these viewers let

underlying meanings of the work what is symbolizes- emerge. Each

new encounter with a work of art presents a chance for new

comparisons, insights, and experiences. (Bresler & Ellis, 2001, p. 4)

Stage five Re-Creative- Viewers in this stage have a lot of experience

viewing and reflecting on pieces of art. They are able to review a

familiar piece of art and interpret it differently then in a previous

viewing. Observers in this stage know the artworks history along with

the meaning it had to people in the past. From this point viewers are

able to combine personal with universal views. (Bresler & Ellis, 2001)

Piaget believed that stages of cognitive development occur in

predicable sequence from child to child because each sage is necessary for

the formation of the next stage. (Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. 2015, p. 118) Just

like Piagets stages viewers move through Aesthetic Stages, the majority of

people are viewing Art in Stage Two. Every Function in the childs cultural

development appears twice: First, on the social level, and later, on the

individual level; first between people (interpsychological), and then inside

the child (intrapsychological) (Vygotsky,1978, p.57). That is, social

Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 5

interaction with a more competent person in a shared activity drives

cognitive growth. (Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. 2015, p. 123) Through VTS

students are able to collaborate with their peers in a discussion to

understand the art, and thus moving their viewing to a higher aesthetic

stage.

Methodology

Abaigail Housen conducted a longitudinal study on VTS in Bryon,

Minnesota where it was found that VTS accelerates aesthetic growth along

with finding evidence that VTS causes the growth of critical thinking and

enables its transfer to other contexts and content. (Housen, 2001, p.

100,101)

For the study, two neighboring schools were chosen with similar

demographics. Data was collected from pre and post test that were given in

different subjects at both schools. Coding was use to code the ADI (Aesthetic

Development interview) and MOI (Material Object Interview). The study also

used questionnaires, writing samples, teachers logs, teacher trainer and site

coordinator notes, videotapes, student exit interviews, Art and Museum

Biographies, and Demographic questionnaire. (Housen, 2001)

The following data from the study indicate the p value of each

hypothesis. It is important to to note the p value is significant in the

acceptance or rejection of the data presented. i.e. if p < .05 then we tend to
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 6

accept the results of the study and if it is p > .05 then we tend to reject the

results of the study.

The study found that with VTS critical thinking would show a transfer

across social context. Both schools showed an increase but, the school using

VTS showed a larger increase then the school not using VTS. (Year I: F=

1.647; df = 1,60; p <.2043; Year V: F=15.234; df =1,60; p<.0002). (Housen,

2001, p.109) The VTS school started off the year with a higher Context

transfer score then the school not using VTS. To make this study more

valuable it would be effective to repeat the study again; this time

implementing VTS in a school that starts off with a lower Context Transfer

score then the control school. By seeing the comparison between the studies

it would remove the variable of the schools starting at different context

transfer scores.

The Study found that critical thinking would transfer from context to

content. The scores were found by combing the mean critical thinking scores

of each age group of the experimental group to that of the control group.

The mean critical thinking score of the experimental group at the end of

Study Year V was more than twice that of the control group (F= 6.409; df

=1,84; p<.01). Housen, 2001, p. 110 It was also discovered that VTS does

increase a change in the students Aesthetic stage. We see that that by the

end of Study Year V, the experimental group has a much higher distribution

than the control group. This difference is strongly significant (t=4.70, df=86,
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 7

p<.0001). (Housen, 2001, p. 112)

According to this study VTS affected context transfer, critical thinking

and growth in aesthetic stages. To make the study more valuable the study

should be repeated in more areas. During Housens study it was found that

one school did not have a consistent art teacher while the other school had

an award wining art teacher. The school teaching VTS showed that half way

through the year an older grade level stopped teaching VTS half way through

the year. The study should be repeated in two comparison schools thats

teachers are similar. It is also important that both school are monitored

closely to make sure that instruction is similar.

Mary J. Franco and Kathleen Unrath, a professor at MU, conducted a

qualitative study over how visual art experiences could support elementary-

aged boy literacy learning. The overarching research question that guided

this exploration was: What happens when Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS)

art discussions and related art making are infused into a remedial writing

program for K-5 boys? (Franco & Unrath, 2015, p.27)

Each week Franco and Unrath would meet with the group of boys.

During instruction the lesson would begin with a VTS discussion followed by a

short art making experience concluding with a writing task. Data was

collected through video, the students writing and art making. The videos

were transcribed and then coded. Franco and Unrath found that boys in this

intervention group were eager to meet and share their ideas during the VTS
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 8

discussion. Even the boys who were often more quiet were eager to share

their thoughts. VTS enabled their imaginations to get going and thus gave

them ideas for creating which led the students to be eager when writing

about the given topic.

Attitudes, beliefs, and emotions (Harris, Schmidt, and Graham, 1997,

para. 5) Greatly impact students writing achievement. For those who

struggle, negative self-efficacy beliefs, low task engagement, and failure to

persist present major obstacles. Interestingly, these were the same affective

behavioral categories in which we saw the greatest gains for our K-5 boys.

Self Determination Theory (SDT) offered insight into why this may have

occurred. (Franco & Unrath, 2015. p.29) The boys qualified for writing

intervention. Through VTS the boys felt as if they were in a special club. They

were given images that sparked their imagination where there was no right

or wrong answer to their thoughts. This helped to build self confidence. They

learned how to respond to others opinions in a positive way further building

their confidence with one another. (Franco & Unrath, 2015)

Franco & Unraths (2015) study found:

That purposeful and substantive visual art experiences can (and did)

support the literacy learning of K-5 boys. With emphasis on visual

literacy in an environment that embraced the boys authenticity and with

a pedagogy attuned to their interests and needs, our participants grew

in all six language arts enumerated by the International Reading

Association and the National Council of Teachers of English (1996): reading,

Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 9

writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and visually representing. (Franco

& Unrath, 2015, p.31)

Franco and Unraths article show the excitement the boys and the

teachers had with the VTS discussion. The journal article states that the boys

showed growth in all six language arts skills. To further support Franco and

Unraths article I would have like to read the data behind the growth. By

providing this data it would help to support the argument of why VTS is

needed in schools.

When looking at the research behind VTS I was able to find 62 peer

reviewed articles in scholarly journals on EBSCO host, an academic search

engine. When looking closer at these articles only a small portion of them

pertained to Visual Thinking Strategies. After reviewing this small collection

of work very few of articles contained the data to support what the author

was saying about the findings. Abigail Housen one of the developers of VTS

has been researching the effects of the program for the past thirty years.

Due to the above information listed there is a very small quantity of research

that has been done over VTS. Housens study in Bryon, Minnesota was

conducted at two schools with similar demographics. She found that VTS had

positive effects on students who participated in VTS. (Housen, 2001) To

validate the findings, Housen would need to conduct the same study in

multiple schools. How would the data change when comparing two low

socioeconomic schools, two high socioeconomic schools, two west coast

schools or two east coast schools? To keep the variables similar, it would be
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 10

important when conducting further research two schools are compared in

different regions. From this point Housen would be able to see how the

studys results changed or did not change from region to region, solidifying

the results of VTS.

Housens Study started off as high quality but at the conclusion of the

study it became a quasi-experiment. The treatment group and control group

started off as comparable. At the conclusion of the study it was discovered

that one school did not have a constant art teacher whereas the other school

had an award winning art teacher. Also during the experiment, a teacher in

the VTS school decided to stop teaching VTS half way through the year.

(Housen, 2001) To make the study high quality, it should be repeated where

both schools are monitored more closely.

The majority of the research conducted over VTS was done by the

creators of the program. Franco and Unrath conducted a study over VTS.

They found that VTS has positive effects on boy learners literacy scores.

(Franco & Unrath, 2015) But, they do not provide the data to support their

claims. Their article was published in, Art Education, a well known art journal.

By not including the growth numbers of the study it takes away part of the

credibility.

Conclusion

Visual Thinking Strategies builds on the works of Piaget, Vygotsky, and

Housens aesthetic stages. Housen longitudinal study on VTS in Bryon,

Minnesota found that VTS accelerates aesthetic growth along with finding
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 11

evidence that VTS causes the growth of critical thinking and enables its

transfer to other contexts and content. (Housen, 2001, p. 100,101) Mary J.

Franco and Kathleen Unrath purpose of study found that VTS can support

elementary aged boys literacy. Participants also grew in all six language

arts. (Franco & Unrath, 2015)

VTS is a significant Art program. Unfortunately, it is not included on the

What Works clearinghouse website. If VTS was included on the website more

school districts would hear about the positive effects that VTS has. VTS was

designed for the classroom teacher. That being said, there is not a lot of

intervention programs designed for the art room. Nor, is a lot of high quality

art research journals

Part of this is due to the fact that Artistic objectives are transformed

through education and often lose their culture identify. As the curriculum

becomes more on objectives easily taught and assessed, exemplars (easily

available through publications) are used over and over by instructors.

Student teachers then use the same exemplars in their own teaching and, in

the process the artifacts become simplified and segmented. (Freedman,

2003, p.18) Thus the majority of art rooms teach off of the elements of art.

The elements are very fact driven and the majority of students succeed with

no issue. Then add into the mix that a lot of art rooms only give pass fail

grades. When you add in these factors you dont see a lot of need for

intervention in the art room.

With the development of the National Art Standards, teaching through

Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 12

big ideas and meaning making, we are on the verge of a giant shift in Art

Education and there is a need for Art Intervention. The old ways of learning

are unable to keep up with our rapidly changing world. (2) New media forms

are making peer-to-peer learning learning easier and more natural. (3) Peer-

to-peer learning is amplified by emerging technologies that shape the

collective of participation with those new media. (Thomas & Brown, 2011,

p.50) We want our students to be part of a collective, but we should not

interfere with the collective. When students learn in a collective they are

learning because they want to and they are deciding what they want to learn

and how. VTS allows for students to be part of a collective. The teacher does

not interfere with the VTS discussion or the student thoughts. There is no

right or wrong, its all about student driven wondering. When students see

each other as resources they figure out how to learn from one another.

(Thomas & Brown, 2011, p.25) When students learn from each other they

build a sense of community.

Furthering the need for VTS intervention Because people with

different background and different interest do not have the same foundations

for interpretation and will experience visual culture in different ways, the

value of visual culture changes from one culture context to another.

(Freedman, 2003, p.38) Its important to teach VTS to students so, they can

develop their own understanding of a piece of art. This is what art should be.

It should invoke different emotions and meanings for different people. If

students are told the meaning to something, then they are unable to
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 13

formulate their own meaning. If students all create the same thing, then

meaning is lost.

Students respond to images on a personal level and relate images to

their existence, unless they are taught to look for other meanings. Students

are taught in school how to analyze text but they are unable to transfer this

skill to analyze art unless we teach them. We can help students to analyze

works of art by allowing them to formulate their own meaning. The

important similarity between images and texts in relation to education is a

general one: we construct their meaning as they in turn work to construct

us. (Freedman, 2003 p. 95)

References

Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. (2015). Child and Adolescent Development in Your Classroom (Second

ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Bresler, L., & Ellis, N. (2001, March). Aesthetic Theory and Human Development. The Journal

of the Arts and Learning Special Interest Group of AERA, 17, 1-12. Retrieved July 2,

2016.
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 14

Felten, P. (2008). Visual literacy. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 40(6), 60-64.

Retrieved from http://proxy.mul.missouri.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com/d ocview/61946813?accountid=14576

Franco, M. J., & Unrath, K. (2015). The art of engaging young men as writers. Art Education,

68(3), 26-31. Retrieved from http://proxy.mul.missouri.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1697497732 ?accountid=14576

Freedman, K. J. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life of

art. New York: Teachers College Press.

Harris, K. R., Schmidt, T., & Graham, S. (1997). Strategies for composition and self-

regulation in the writing process. LD Online. Retrieved from

http://www.ldonline.org/article/6207

Housen, A. (2001, September). Eye of the beholder: Research, theory, and practice.

Retrieved from http://www.vtshome.org/research/articles-other-readings

Housen, A. (2002, May). Aesthetic Thought, Critical Thinking and Transfer. Arts and Learning

Research Journal, 18, 99-132. Retrieved July 3, 2016, from

http://www.vtshome.org/research/articles-other-readings

Housen, A., & Yenawine, P(n.d.). Visual Thinking Strategies: Understanding the basics.

Retrieved from http://vtshome.org/research/articles-other-readins.

Landorf, H. (2006). What's going on in this picture? visual thinking strategies and adult learning.

New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, 20(4), 28-32.

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ocview/1238186172?accountid=14576
Emily Pfaff: Visual Thinking Strategies 15

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination

for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace

Vygotsky, L. S (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Yenawine, P. (1998, Autumn). Visual art and student centered discussions. Theory Into Practice.

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