A conceptual framework of critical thinking for teaching visual culture in a senior high class

Critical thinking plays an essential role in contemporary art education. It is the key element in the critical inquiry pedagogy in the context of teaching visual culture in art education. Since 2000, critical thinking has emerged as goal statements and main content of the art curriculum guides or curriculum frameworks for the senior high schools many Eastern and Western countries and regions. In Hong Kong, critical thinking is not only one of key generic skills that the Education Bureau officially suggests and promoted in the visual arts curricula of senior high school. It is also one of the assessment criteria suggested by the Hong Kong Assessment and Examinations Authority for the arts public examination of the senior high. The Visual Arts Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4-6) also suggests that teachers encourage students to engage in critical thinking when analyzing and interpreting art and culture. However, although the Guide highlights the importance of critical thinking in the art curriculum, it does not suggest a framework for teachers’ reference. In light of the beliefs of many contemporary art educators regarding visual culture in art education that art teachers should include, emphasize and promote critical thinking in the art curriculum of the senior high class in order to respond to the rapidly changing society and the needs of the contemporary world, the aim of this paper was to propose a conceptual framework of critical thinking based on critical social theory for teaching visual culture to senior high students. The proposed framework included three core domains, namely (1) Education as a Social Practice, (2) Educational Discourse and (3) Criticism in the Comprehensive Learning Environment. The paper argued that the critical social framework would not only facilitate students’ critical thinking, but also develop their socio-cultural response skills. visual Arts teachers at the senior-high class may also benefit from the proposed framework since they could use it to guide them in designing, implementing and evaluating both their teaching and their students’ learning of visual culture in their classrooms.
批判性思考在當代藝術教育中起著至關重要的作用。它是藝術教育裡視覺文化教學中批判性、探究性教學法的關鍵要素。自2000年以來，批判性思考可以從許多東西方國家和地區出版的官方高級中學藝術課程指南或課程框架的教育哲學、目標陳述和主要內容中看到。在香港，批判性思考不僅是教育局正式建議在高中視覺藝術課程中教授和推廣的關鍵共通能力之一，也是香港考試及評核局所建議的高中視覺藝術科公開考試的評估標準之一《視覺藝術課程和評估指引》(中4-6)還建議教師在分析和解釋藝術和文化時鼓勵學生進行批判性思考。然而，儘管《指引》強調了批判性思考在藝術課程中的重要性，但它沒有為教師提供參考的框架。鑒於許多當代藝術教育家對藝術教育中視覺文化的看法，藝術教師應該在高級中學藝術課程中納入、強調和推廣批判性思考，以應對瞬息萬變的社會。針對當代世界的需要，本文旨在提出一個基於批判性社會理論的批判性思考概念框架，為高中生傳授視覺文化。擬議的框架包括三個核心領域，即︰(1) 教育作為社會實踐 (2) 教育話語和 (3) 綜合學習環境中的批評。本文認為，批判性社會框架不僅將促進學生的批判性思考，而且還將發展他們的社會文化反應技能。高級中學視覺藝術教師也可以從建議的架構中受益，因為他們可以利用這個框架來指導他們設計、實施和評估他們的教學和學生在課堂上學習視覺文化。Copyright © 2020 國立臺灣藝術教育館.