DEFINITION
Visual thinking is a simple but powerful research-based strategy that encourages participation by using artistic images to improve critical thinking and communication skills.

PURPOSE AND BENEFITS

• Visual thinking encourages students to explore images in depth, rather than looking for and seeing only the obvious. 

• It encourages students to access their own background and knowledge. 

• Students are encouraged to be observant and to use evidence to justify their comments. 

• Visual thinking is a critical-thinking process in which students share their own ideas. 

• It provides an inquiry-based teaching strategy of exploration and discovery. 

• It can be used in all grades and with all academic levels.

ECE–GRADE 1

• Students’ listening comprehension improves. 

• Their critical thinking skills improves. 

• Visual thinking fosters vocabulary development. 

• It encourages questioning and comprehension skills.

GRADES 2 AND UP

• Visual thinking helps students expand and improve their quality of thinking. 

• It promotes active thinking and working with ideas.

PROCEDURE

• Select an interesting piece of art (for example, a photograph or painting, a page from a children’s book of literature, etc.). Note: Do not use abstract art. 

• Direct students to look closely at the art form. 

  • Tell the class to be silent. 

  • Allow 1 to 2 minutes for students to observe the picture. 

• Ask the following after each response, clarifying, linking comments, or summarizing responses as appropriate: 

  • What’s going on? 

  • What makes you think this? (Encourage students to justify their responses.) 

  • What more can we find? (Probe students to look deeper, go beyond the obvious, discover more possibilities, offer more divergent responses, etc.) 

• The discussion should continue until all students have shared everything they can about the picture. 

EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS FOR VISUAL THINKING STRATEGIES (VTS)
Teachers pose three open-ended questions based on a work of art, photograph, painting, illustration, etc.

• What’s going on in this picture? 

• What do you see that makes you say that? 

• What more can we find?

Students are asked to do the following:

• Look carefully at a work of art. 

• Talk about what they observe. 

• Back up their ideas with evidence. Listen to and consider the views of others. 

• Discuss many possible interpretations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON VISUAL THINKING STRATEGIES
Visual Thinking Strategies Home
The official website for Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) includes a wealth of information concerning VTS including a video on the home page that gives an overview of VTS, its benefits, classroom application, and links to common core objectives including those related to critical thinking, evidence based learning, and inquiry.
Thinking Through Art

Observe students engaged in close observation and thought to discuss a work of art. Notice the ways in which the teacher restates and reinforces responses and asks questions to foster critical thinking and extend student thought and discovery

Special Libraries Association Education Division: Interview with Tamara Moats, Speaker on Visual Thinking Strategy by Werts, E. at http://units.sla.org/division/ded/education_libraries.html.

Classroom video examples of VTS: http://vtshome.org. Eureka Strategies: http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/think_aloud.pdf