APM Welcome, APM North West Network Conference, Synergies Across Sectors
Scaffolding "Studio Thinking" Strategies in the Urban High School Art Program
1. 2013 IAEA Conference Presentation
Scaffolding Studio Thinking Strategies in the Urban High School Art Program
Elizabeth Drake & DiDi Grimm
Lincoln Park High School
3. Studio Habits of Mind
Identify & describe 8 important
types of cognitive activities that
artists engage in when making
& reflecting on works of art.
6. 2. Engage & Persist:
Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or
of personal importance, to develop focus and other mental states
conducive to working and persevering at art tasks. Perseverance!
7. 3. Envision:
Learning to picture mentally what
cannot be directly observed and imagine
possible next steps in making a piece.
9. 5. Observe:
Learning to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary "looking"
requires, and thereby see things that otherwise might not be seen.
10. 6. Reflect:
Question & Explain
Learning to think and
talk with others about
an aspect of one’s work
or working process.
11. Evaluate
Learning to judge one’s own work and working process and the
work of others in relation to standards of the field.
12. 7. Stretch & Explore:
Learning to reach beyond one's capacities, to explore playfully
without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to
learn from mistakes and accidents.
13. 8. Understand the Art World:
Domain & Communities
Learning about art history and current practice.
14. Studio Thinking is Critical Thinking
All artists, students and professionals, raise
questions, think, reason, solve problems and
reflect on artwork and processes.
Artists comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize,
and evaluate problems using learned art skills
and content knowledge.
15. Learning the Studio Habits
1. Students review habits
2. Engage in activities to learn
the studio habits
3. See habits aligned to project
guidelines & rubrics
4. Reflect on habits during and
after art-making experiences
5. Discuss habits during pair &
share critique
6. Reflect on studio habit
prompts during selfassessment
16. Art I: Introducing the Studio Habits
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Present Studio Thinking PowerPoint
Display habits and common Studio
Thinking prompts in classroom
Map each habit in small groups
Display and discuss small group maps
with whole class
Advanced Students: Review the Habits
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List all art activities that align with
each studio habit
Small group discussion of habits
Large class discussion of habits
17. Aligning the Habits to Project & Course Guidelines: Summer AP & IB Art Portfolio
18. Aligning the Habits to Project & Course Guidelines: Art Electives
Project Guidelines
Sketchbook Investigation
32. Aligning Art Standards to Studio Thinking & Common Core
Studio Thinking Habits of Mind, developed by researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero, Lois Hetland and Ellen Winner
Common Core Alignment to Studio Thinking, Louise Music, Executive Director, Department of Integrated Learning, Alameda County Office of Education
Edited to align to LPHS Units of study, National Visual Arts Standards & 21st C Skills and Studio Thinking Framework with Common Core
Please email if you are interested in LPHS Studio Thinking instruments:
Elizabeth Drake eadrake@cps.edu
DiDi Grimm dagrimm@cps.edu
Thank you to our CPS colleagues, the CTC @ NEIU and Every Art Every Child for support!
Please visit www.everyarteverychild.com for more information on Studio Thinking.