Token Response is an interactive game that helps students learn about art criticism and aesthetics. It contains eight tokens representing ideas like personal preference, craftsmanship, and originality. Students examine artworks and place tokens by the pieces that best represent each idea. This sparks discussion about what criteria they used and why opinions sometimes differ. The game can be adapted for various ages and artworks, and comes with materials in multiple languages to facilitate discussion and appreciation of art.

1. Token Response
Token Response is an interactive game that helps students learn about art criticism and
aesthetics, created by Dr. Mary Erickson and Dr. Eldon Katter. It contains a set of eight
tokens (30 each) that represent different ideas about art. The tokens represent personal
preference, economic considerations, time expenditure, preference of others, originality,
craftsmanship, judgment, and dislike.
There are many ways to play the game, making it applicable to all age groups. One
example of a way to play the game is to put out several postcards or small prints of
artworks on a table. (In a museum, students could place the tokens on the floor in front
of each artwork.) Have each student examine the works. Pass out one token to each
student and ask them to place their token by the postcard that fits the idea the best in
their opinion (the "heart" token represents the work they personally like the best, the
"dollar bill" token the one they think is worth the most money, etc.)
For younger students you may want to use only one or two tokens but the game is very
adaptable. The game is really a discussion tool, as after the students make their
choices, you lead them in a discussion about their choices and the reasons why they
made them. They discuss ideas about the value of art, originality, and beauty, to name
a few.
It is also fun to examine patterns that occur, such as if many students choose one
artwork as the one they like the best, but another for which they think shows the most
craftsmanship. You can ask them why similarities and differences of opinion occur.
Token Response can be used over and over with any combination of images,
depending on your lesson. The game also comes with reproducible handouts in
Spanish and English and a teacher's guide with ideas for how to use it in the classroom
and on museum field trips.
Through Token Response, students will learn to:
Express their opinions effectively
Evaluate art with different criteria
Differentiate between preference and judgment
Respect differences of opinion about art
Appreciate the value of art
Value their own and others' responses to art
Token Response is available from CRIZMAC Art and Cultural Materials,
www.crizmac.com.