Art & Inquiry: Museum Teaching Strategies For Your Classroom

This course will introduce ways to integrate works of art into your classroom by using inquiry-based teaching methods commonly used in museum settings. It is designed to give you the tools to create meaningful object-based learning activities that can be integrated into a wide variety of curricula. All the strategies covered emphasize literacy and critical thinking skills that connect across disciplines.

In this module we will discuss and review the different ways that you can facilitate close-looking with your students and engaging in open-ended, inquiry-based conversation around works of art. Don’t wait to start practicing! Grab a friend or a family member and start leading inquiry-based conversation around a work of art, or anything. As you will see in the Google Hangout video, you can use a digital image or any object that you have around that would lend itself to leading an inquiry-based discussion. These practice sessions are not required but the more you practice, the easier and better your classroom performance will be.

This section explores interactive methods that promote an open-ended, two-way exchange of ideas and engage a specific set of skills including close-looking, peer-to-peer learning, creative thinking, and problem-solving.