ARTIST HABITS OF MIND
Project Zero researchers at Harvard University studied how teaching artists work both in and out of the classroom. They discerned eight habits of mind as essential to what they call the “Studio Thinking Framework.” The artist habits of mind can help teachers consider ways to model expert practice in their disciplines, individualize instruction and use more formative assessment and stimulate reflection and self-assessment. |
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The artist habits of mind resonate with the research carried out by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick who write: “A habit of mind is knowing how to behave intelligently when you don’t know the answer. A habit of mind means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties.” |
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Students are frequently asked to reflect on the quality of their work in the arts when they have had little prior experience doing so. When this is the case, their comments often refer more to personal taste. How can we support them to make more thoughtful reflections, ones that consider the standards or qualities in their work? How can we get them to examine the more thoughtful dimensions of their working process? One way to scaffold students’ attempts at meaningful self-evaluation and reflection is to teach the artist’s habits of mind. Making the ways that an artist thinks and works more apparent can nudge students toward applying them as criteria in their reflections. |
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