Mead Art MuseumOur Learning Approach

We understand that everyone learns differently, so our tours offer an extensive range of teaching strategies. We facilitate student-driven conversations around artworks using a combination of Harvard Project Zero’s Visible Thinking and Artful Thinking strategies accompanied by various hands-on and multimodal activities, such as movement, improv, drawing, and writing. The Artful Thinking framework encompasses six thinking dispositions to explore works of art: Questioning & Investigating, Observing & Describing, Comparing & Connecting, Finding Complexity, Exploring Viewpoints, and Reasoning. Each disposition uses a Visible Thinking routine that extends and deepens students’ thinking. Students will develop skills in visual analysis, community building, and risk-taking while having fun!

Emphasizing Culturally Responsive Pedagogies

We want students to connect our conversations around art to current events, histories, personal lived experiences, and imagined futures. We understand that not everyone has had welcoming experience/s in art museums, so our educators take care to use language that accounts for multiple experiences and encourages students to bring their whole selves to the conversation. We expect visiting teachers and students to receive the same attention to care. We want to share but admit what we don’t know and, most importantly, foster a brave space where we listen to and learn from each other.

Three To Five Objects On A Tour 

We believe in spending time with objects and doing deeper dives to uncover more! We typically devote ten to fifteen minutes to one artwork, which includes discussion and a short activity. We always aim to include artworks representing multiple media, such as photography, painting, and sculpture. All objects are selected around a common theme.

Building On & Connecting to National + State Frameworks

Our tours and group visits are developed carefully to supplement and expand on classroom curricula and support: National Core Arts Learning Standards, Massachusetts Department of Education Frameworks, and Social Justice Standards from Learning for Justice.