This course is all about activities that stimulate engagement and critical thinking around art. But what makes a good activity? In this video, I'll dive into some of the criteria we've set for ourselves when developing and assessing the effectiveness of art activities. Keep these points in mind, and you'll be on your way to facilitating engaging and memorable experiences with your students. A good activity provides clear instructions and expectations When leading an activity, be sure to set clear expectations for what students are expected to do, and pause to make sure that everyone is on the same page. One way we do this is to simply ask: "Who can repeat back to me what the instructions are?" These routines establish a strong and clear focus for learning, and provide an unambiguous structure for how to interact within the physical and social fabric of the visit. At MoMA, this orientation begins before students even step foot in the galleries. No matter what age or type of learner you're working with, take time to give a preview of the activities and engagements to come. MoMA educators also kick off each activity by introducing the big thematic focus of the tour. The ways in which we introduce activities can also set the tone for how we wish students to engage and behave. For example, if you want to get the students talking out loud, encourage that behavior by asking them to share questions and thoughts from the get go. Speak with energy and lots of body gestures. Your own behavior becomes the model that they will follow. A good activity incorporates one or more approaches and skills, beyond dialogue. Experiential or embodied activities engage multiple modes of expression, beyond language or discourse. Throughout this course, we'll demonstrate activities that may appeal to the different modalities of each individual learner by incorporating all of the senses; by encouraging expression beyond speech or text, and by building upon social as well as conceptual abilities. A good activity builds on the student's own experience and knowledge Our approaches to teaching at MoMA are based on one fundamental theory: that learners construct knowledge by making connections between the artwork and their own lives. For example, if you're teaching about an artwork that depicts a street scene from a faraway place or time, you might want to begin by asking students to compare and contrast with their own experiences of street life. Don't just give information, ask your students questions that will help them relate to the work of art. A good activity relates clearly to the work of art Artworks can be powerful teaching tools, because they exist in the same physical space that we do. They are not specific to any one age group or audience and unlike the written word, invite us to use all of our senses. A good art activity will encourage learners to engage with the artwork directly, and to make interpretations and hypotheses based on sensory evidence. The right activity can highlight the artist's process and intention, while deepening the viewer's understanding of the work. A good activity relates clearly to the overall theme or lesson goal Rather than treating artworks in isolation, create an overarching theme or lesson goal that conceptually ties all of the artworks together. Don't give facts, tell a story that relates to the student's own experience and which they can build upon using their powers of observation. At MoMA, we connect artworks and activities through themes such as Identity, Spaces & Places, Society & Politics or Narrative in Art. A good activity gives your students time to think Thinking requires time, whether you're standing in front of an artwork, or in the classroom. When developing or facilitating an activity, be sure to give ample time for your students to examine multiple perspectives, weigh different theories, debate and come to original conclusions. Sometimes, this means you'll have to make hard choices regarding how much content you can cover during any one activity. Instead of providing a surface-level engagement with ten artworks, try in-depth engagements with three or five artworks. Having said that, there will be exceptions. For example, some learning games may be fast-paced, or will impose time restrictions. In those cases, it's good to plan in follow up time dedicated to reflecting on their takeaways from the activity. A good activity supports multiple outcomes A good activity is one that is open-ended enough to allow for divergent outcomes. Not just the ones we expected or hoped for. Although all students will be following the same instructions, the structure of your activity should be flexible enough to support different ways of thinking and varying modes of expression. Â As an interpretive planner for museums, I know that all exhibitions are organized with a very specific vision in mind. Curators, educators, or designers work for many months, even years on an exhibition and in many ways it's understandable that we'd want visitors to walk away with the same carefully crafted narrative in mind. We might even count it as a failure when our visitor's takeaways do not match up with what was intended. In our own eagerness to impose specific learning outcomes, it can be easy to regress to a 19th century view of learning. But remember that learning is most meaningful when it is based on personal connections and observations. Just because a student does not mimic your set of knowledge doesn't mean they aren't learning. In fact, our goal as educators should be to facilitate a culture of thinking in which students feel empowered to develop original ideas and come to their own conclusions.
