Exploring Visual Arts Pedagogies that Support Critical and Creative Thinking

The complex natures of the visual arts appear to provide an excellent platform to actively engage students in critical and creative thinking - both higher-order cognitive skills. This article presents information about a series of four qualitative ethnographic case studies that were conducted in primary and secondary schools in northern New South Wales, Australia. Developing the four cases allowed the researcher to assemble a set of descriptive portraits that reflected teacher practitioners' theories and the value they ascribed to critical and creative thinking. In addition, they reflected the way these theories and beliefs impacted on education practices and students in the visual arts classroom.