Stages of Inquiry in Producing Art: Model, Rationale and Application to a Teacher Questioning Strategy

Abstract

Inquiry in Art is proposed as a model of the predominantly cognitive behaviors that are involved in producing visual art. The model behaviors are as follows: set a direction, discover, visually analyze, classify, personalize, hypothesize, reorder, synthesize, and evaluate. These behaviors provide the basic structure for a teacher questioning strategy identified as the Inquiry in Art method. People think, inquire, and create in some common ways. When art is the content, art production is the operation, and an artist is the thinker, some unique aspects of inquiry seem to emerge. That observation led to the questions: Can thinking behaviors that are critical to art production be identified? Can teachers' questions be planned to facilitate conceptualization and other thinking behaviors unique to art production? This paper presents a model called Inquiry in Art that depicts major behaviors involved in art production. A rationale for the behavioral stages in the model is provided which cites commonalities and differences between some interdisciplinary constructs similar to art production behaviors. General recommendations for facilitating these behaviors in art learning situations are exemplified by sample questions. The Model The Inquiry in Art model consists of a hierarchy of thinking behaviors that are common to most persons producing art. These behaviors, explained in the following paragraphs, are: Set a Direction, Discover, Visually Analyze, Classify, Personalize, Hypothesize, Reorder, Synthesize, and Evaluate. Set a direction Action is initiated by some impulsion, inclination to act, a sensed urgency or curiosity. It is sometimes described as a disposition to wonder (Eisner, 1965) or seen as a problem or conflict needing resolution (Dewey, 1910; Getzels and Csikszentihalyi, 1976). Artists have also expressed a need to have some sense

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