Intelligent Looking - A critical thinking approach to reading images that develops imagination and creative risk taking

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.  Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside awakens.
Carl Gustav Jung

Using images in the classroom is a powerful way of developing the imagination and accessing imaginative links with what we already know and have seen.  The mind wants to understand images and seeks to make meaning from them through looking and thinking.  While single images encourage a particular form of looking, to do with interpretation and making connections with what we already know, multiple images invite the viewer to make connections between the images and seek patterns across all the visual information. 

In the quote above, Jung hints at the importance of emotional intelligence and not just reason in the process of forming a viewpoint.

When we look at photographs we often do so based on our assumptions about the context of the image.  Our interpretation of meaning is therefore often constructed from our views of the world, our understanding of context, place and different cultures, social, historical and political events.  This is why we often find candid photographs easy to read, but created photographs (where the photographer works as an artist to invent and manipulate an invented world) are more difficult to interpret.  Similarly with the work of artists, we might need to know more about them, their ideas and the social or historical context in which the image was made, to help us understand what meaning we might make of their work, or what they may want us to see or understand.

Do not despise my opinion, when I remind you that it should not be hard for you to stop sometimes and look into the stains of walls, or the ashes of a fire, or clouds, or mud, or like things, in which if you consider them well, you will find really marvellous ideas.  The mind of the painter is stimulated to new discoveries, the composition of battles, of animals and men, various compositions of landscapes and monstrous things, such as devils and similar creations, which may bring you honour, because the mind is stimulated to new inventions by obscure things.

Leonardo da Vinci

Taken from the Codex urbinus latinus (from his treatise on painting – 1270 where he gives advice to painters)

In his book, Art in Mind – How contemporary images shape thought, (2005 University of Chicago Press) Ernst Van Alphen reflects on how art has the power to affect our thinking, changing not only the way we view and interact with the world, but also how we create it.  His reflections on Leonardo da Vinci help us understand his approach to painting not as expressive, intuitive, sensuous or emotional, but an intellectual one.  Others have described this process of seeing as a form of relaxed ‘out of focus’ looking where the mind seeks to identify and make patterns or identify images in the loose collection of marks and stains on a surface.  The brain seeks to make sense of what it sees, linking the imagination with previous experience.  Perhaps a little like the way we relax into looking at a ‘magic eye’ image where we search for the hidden image in the layer that floats in front of the seemingly complex or random pattern.

Reading images is therefore a thinking process that develops visual perception skills through carefully structured learning, to improve visual literacy and understanding.  To do this it will need to access a range of thinking skills including both intellectual reason and enquiry, but also the heart, through emotional intelligence.

The use of images is powerful as a stimulus to the imagination and to the making of creative connections, precisely because images enable each of us to share our thinking.  We also share some conventions in the way we read an image although we all read images is, slightly differently.  Reading images is also powerful as a way of developing critical thinking skills, by modelling this process through the shared looking and discussing of the images with others.

To help us develop these skills and the imagination to stimulate creative responses, we need to encourage ‘intelligent looking’.  To help us with this, we need to develop the skills and attitudes needed.  Engaging activities will develop the attitudes, but to develop the skills we can use thinking, writing and speaking tools and questioning approaches, such as:

·         Dialogic teaching to encourage paired and class talk;

·         5Ws (Who, What, Where, When and Why);

·         We can ask challenging open questions with stems such as ‘In What Way Might …..’;

·         We can analyse images using Rod Taylor’s model for analysis to explore the Content, Process, Form and Mood of an image;

·         We might explore an image to develop creative ideas generated by the imaginative processes indicated by the acronym SCAMPER (developed by Bob Eberle), such as: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Put to other use, Eliminate or Reverse; 

·         We can also structure our questioning using Bloom’s Taxonomy to provide high challenge, thought provoking questions and engender a sense of wonder.  These tools or approaches help us to focus more specifically on the different modes of intelligent looking.

·         NB. See more examples and detailed guidance in Effective Questioning guidance.

The 3 Modes of Intelligent Looking

1. Analytical looking and thinking

evidenced by the structure and process used by the artist/photographer to organise and present the elements that make up the image.  Slow and deep looking.  Access other modes to ensure the analysis is balanced.

2. Critical and contextual looking and thinking together

evidenced by the context in which the images are created, aware of classifications and the use of reason to explore the image, interaction with others to critically develop ideas and responses – metacognitive and aware of the thinking process to help identify meaning and inference.

3. Emotional looking and responding

evidenced by the mood, intuitive and sometimes rapid emotional response to e.g. colour, expression and content.  Links to meaning, interpretation and inference

A PROCESS  FOR  INTELLIGENT  LOOKING  &  CRITICAL  THINKING

1.    Consider your initial emotional response – what does this tell you? 2.    Start a dialogue with the image, articulate philosophical, political, social and formal questions, where you seek to answer or resolve these yourself or with others. 3.    Identify and explore the visual evidence, the content and recognizable people, places and objects - consider the meaning they express. 4.    Make connections - with other images, experiences and learning, or spontaneous unrelated connections - use your previous experience and knowledge. 5.    Express your thinking visually – use diagrams, lists, pictograms, text, notes etc. 6.    Explore the viewpoints of others - consider, discuss and perhaps agree. 7.    Think out loud - verbalize your thinking processes share this with your group. 8.    Consider all imaginative possibilities - there are no right and wrong views - share your explanations with others. 9.    Use enquiry and reason - but be aware of your own and others’ emotional responses. 10. Try to be precise and careful in your judgments, but don’t force an answer / viewpoint. 11. Weigh the views and reasons offered by others. 12. Search for the truth - but worry less about being right. 13. Be aware of your own prejudice and biases - when agreeing ideas and outcomes.

Encourage students to share their perception and understanding of the images or artworks they are viewing.  These processes encourage higher order thinking and develop the interpretation of subtle meaning and intentions within images.  Encourage the verbalizing of thinking.  You can use thinking, writing and speaking frames to model and develop skills. NB. Teachers should model the best use of language and their own thinking processes, when looking at or describing images.

The following table helps to explain some of the reflective, analytical and reasoning self-questioning processes that might be carried out within each of the three modes of Intelligent Looking.

MODE 1 - Analytical looking and thinking

n What kind of image? - eg portrait, landscape, reportage photograph n Composition - How are the parts organised? n Artistic elements - How has the artist used… line, tone, colour etc? n The process - What materials and how was it made? n Reflection on content - What can I see? List and describe? n Slow, careful and systematic looking - the whole picture and close-up areas?  What does it tell me?  What do I find out?

MODE 2 - Critical and contextual looking and thinking together

n What can I find out? - Children and teacher explore and share information about the artist, the period, the situation etc… n What questions do I ask myself and others? - eg 5Ws - find out more n What was the culture and context of the image? – Research more... n What is it about? - Identify ‘Meaning’ for me and others n What do others think? - Discuss and compare ideas on meaning n Aware of their own thinking process n How does it compare with other images? - similar genre, style, type... n Build on the ideas of others and their partial thoughts

MODE 3 - Emotional looking and responding

n What is my immediate response to the image? - my mood and reaction n How does my emotional response change? – is it the colour, style, genre, content?  Why? And what makes this change? n How do I feel about what is happening in the image? n How do I respond? – by thinking out loud, by drawing, by writing, by speaking or making some music…

Activity 1 - Sort and classify Images

■     Rich pictures and challenging images.

■     Emotional sort activity – Images of different lives and times e.g. Library of Congress, Imperial War Museum, Sebastião Salgado, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Charlie White

Source and provide a selection of rich pictures or challenging photographic images.

■     Arrange these into sets of 10-15 images and provide a set for each pair of students.

■     Carry out classification activities and define a focus to each classification e.g. undefined classification, or photographic classifications such as image content, reportage, portrait, social and political history, etc.  Question where the boundaries of classifications exist and discuss issues for the photographer working as an artist or as a social commentator or journalist.  Engage in risky critical thinking, avoiding teaching from the front and acting as expert.  20-30mins. will be needed for the classification activity.

■     Encourage students to apply the principles as a form of checklist for the activities.

Activity 2 – Emotional classification using the principles of Intelligent Looking

To develop emotional intelligence, try also an emotional classification activity using the following 6 categories, or develop your own based on your selection of images. 

Selfishness	Anger	Jealousy
Respect	Pride	Honesty

I would suggest you select emotionally strong images from example websites e.g. Library of Congress, Imperial War Museum, Sebastião Salgado, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Martin Parr, Charlie White, Dorothea Lange, Man Ray, Cindy Sherman.  Encourage students to place the images in the category that epitomizes or best describes their reading of the image or the main person in the image.

■     Extend thinking and use of these images by reviewing the Principles of Intelligent Looking.  Ensure students have considered or exploited all the Principles they consider helpful.

Activity 3 – Make connections and collaborate creatively

Making connections between photographs and collaborate on creating a written response e.g. Create something – poem, short story, description, 60 word story

■     Source a set of powerful images and provide 3 for each group of 3 students.  Carefully group the images beforehand to infer possible links.

■     Students discuss and make connections between the photographs before collaborating on creating a written or graphic response e.g. a poem, 60 word story, sketchbook images, collaborative drawing, storyboard, short film or animation script etc.  This may be based on the connections that link the images, the people in the images or from the way the group sequences the images into a possible narrative.

■     This risky activity takes time and will need careful structuring and management by the teacher to ensure the focus on an outcome is maintained.

■     Step 1 - Think independently - REFLECT - develop ideas and seek meanings through connections

■     Step 2 - Think together to share ideas - COMMUNICATE - share thinking, listen and make new connections and meanings through interpretation

■     Step 3 - Think critically and creatively – PROCESS & COLLABORATE - develop your ideas using what you think and feel, with purpose.

NB - Visual engagement informs the imagination and stimulates thinking. 

·         Scale is important – good reproductions on a scale to fill the field of vision and the mind. 

·         Use the interactive whiteboard and turn off the lights to help focus looking and thinking.

·         Set up opportunities for paired and group talk.

·         Make the purpose of each activity explicit.

·         Help students to think purposefully, by explaining the type of thinking at each stage ie critical, reflective, reasoned, analytical, comparative, classifying, imaginative, investigative, interpretative etc.

·         Complete activities in a suitably metacognitive way by reflecting on the learning and the type of thinking that was used.

Weblinks for sources of photographs you might use:

■     http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html  American Memory at the Library of Congress

■     http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html  Prints and photographs reading room

■     http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00100n  Imperial war museum online collection

■     http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/onland/ Online photographic collections

■     http://www.masters-of-photography.com/ Great photographers

■     http://www.terra.com.br/sebastiaosalgado/  Salgado

■     http://www.amber-online.com/sections/photography/pages/side-photographic-collection  Amber online collection from Newcastle Amber photographic gallery

■     http://www.photonet.org.uk/index.php?latest  The Photographer’s gallery, London

■     http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/photography/index.htmlThe V&A Photography Gallery

■     http://harrysproshop.com/Links/Great_Photographers/great_photographers.html Great photographers examples

Ged Gast  2009