DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Outcome reflection

 

During our discussion about this requirement, Paula Haines brought up that faculty often disagree what it means to think critically. This disputs most likely occurs because each person's area of expertise asks for a different way of thinking or interpreting information. Probably the best way of defining critical thinking is to ask what it isn't rather than what it is. Critical thinking requires that a teacher doesn't feed her students information and then asks them to spit it out verbatim.

In many of my introductory studios, teachers first show the regular process of making something, and then later assign an artwork using those techniques. For example, I'm currently taking 3D modeling which mostly studies creating 3D animations through a computer program called Maya. The first few classes were dry and technical since they involved introducing us to the basics of the program. It's also a difficult medium to learn for someone who typically relies on a tactile processes, such as painting or sculpting in real life. Now that it's the end of the term and I understand the basics of sculpting an object using a computer, my classes uses studio time to complete a final project of their choosing. I'm doing set design for an outdoor tea party. Overall, in order to think critically in a complex way, students first have to build a foundation of information and skills.

Many of my studio courses follow a similar pattern to building skills. For painting I, my professor had students start in black and white, moved to color slowly, created more complex still lifes as the semester went on, and then assigned our final project. We were asked to create a space using a real reference, a photo reference, and two figures. Painting II taught me how to produce a body of work within a select amount of time. In the beginning of the term, we built off of previous skills of painting formal still lifes. At the end of the term, we had to paint 5 paintings of our choosing for a final critic. Last term I was in painting 5.

For most of my upper level studio courses I work on my own at least 12 hours a week and receive some guidance from my professor once a week. I've aquired a studio space for 4 terms. and have bonded with other artists who work in the other spaces beside me. I learn mostly from my peers, their opinions, and how they work. This set up is similar to many artist residencies or studio spaces in the professional work force. While painting mostly requires a lot of stubborness and patience, it also has forced me to abstract visual images in terms of light and color. For the past 2 terms I've written an artist statement about the content and purpose of my work.

Most courses, if not all, should achieve this outcome. If a student only holds a series of facts with no connections to each other, they've learned almost nothing. The best way to teach critical thinking is to make students competent in their area of work before asking them to apply their skills using more complex problems.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.