Tomorrow I’ll be running my first official Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) Institute experience at the National Museum of Catalan Art in Barcelona! 🌿
I was immediately drawn to how simple yet powerful it was: a quiet structure that opened up rich dialogue, imagination, and multiple perspectives.
For anyone unfamiliar, VTS is a discussion method that uses art to support observation, curiosity, and shared meaning-making.
In learning settings, it helps participants
slow down,
notice more,
listen to one another,
and build confidence in expressing ideas 🎨
As I’m running on online series about VTS in August, I was recently interviewed about it and would love to share my answers with you.
𝗤: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗩𝗧𝗦, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁?
𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘝𝘛𝘚 𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘕𝘈𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘢, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘝𝘛𝘚 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘐 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝗤: 𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗩𝗧𝗦 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝗤: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗩𝗧𝗦 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹?
𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘵… 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘝𝘛𝘚 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.
I’m looking forward to sharing practical ways for educators to bring stories to life, invite participation, and make learning more participatory (and enjoyable).
PS Below is one of my first VTS experiences at the MNAC. What a stunning building!
#visualthinkingstrategies #vts #dramaineducation #appliedtheatre #artsineducation #museumlearning #facilitation #teachertraining #education #learningthroughart
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