(light music)
-: For the past two weeks, my students have been working on
visual literacy as a means of thinking about
ways of teaching critical thinking skills.
-: Thinking about secondary social science.
-: One of the things I try to get across to students
is the powerful opportunity that artwork evokes
in terms of speaking to our humanity.
You know, we think in pictures.
We think in, you know, visual.
We're surrounded by propaganda.
We're surrounded by advertisements.
We're surrounded by all things,
but this type of activity is really intended
to start encouraging students, who are soon to be teachers,
to encourage their own students
to think critically about visual elements.
-: So, the thing that's interesting about artworks like this.
(light music)
-: They've done a lot of reading, thinking about
different types of theories and strategies
for integrating art in secondary social studies.
So the purpose of coming here to the Sheldon
was to begin that process of identifying
a particular research-based strategy,
and then identifying specific artworks
that they can think about teaching within
their own practicum.
'Cause each one of the students that are in my class now,
they are in a practicum,
either high school or middle school.
-: It's a different way to approach it.
So like, a lot of social sciences
has the stigma of just teachers standing up
and lecturing about things.
So it's like a really cool way
to take students' visual approach to learning,
which is how the majority of students learn
is through visual aides, so it's a really different way
to go about it.
And hopefully, you'll like dig deeper
into students' critical thinking.
-: And so, thinking about the context of where they teach,
what are some of the specific works here
that I can hone in on to speak to a larger theme
that I'm trying to get across to the students
that I work with?
-: So for this project, I think specifically
we're looking at how we can integrate this
into our practicum.
And so, right now I'm teaching a freshman civics class.
I think the biggest advantage is the accessibility,
being able to walk across campus
and during a class that we have, view all of these
wonderful pieces of art, and then being able to
take that back and use it in a tangible way
in a classroom.
-: I'm a senior, and this is the first time I've been here.
So it's really cool that my professor
decided to bring us all here today.
Definitely gonna come here more often.
There's beautiful pieces here.
-: In my experience, both as a classroom teacher
and as a teacher educator, those types of experiences
for students are just incredibly powerful.
And so, I want my students to understand
the power of these types of works
and how they can impact their teaching.
(light music)