Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a collaborative, student-centered teaching method that improves critical thinking skills and fosters inclusive community-building dialogue through facilitated discussions of visual images.
You do not need any special art training to use this strategy. The goal of VTS is not to teach the history of a work of art but, rather, to encourage students to observe independently and to back up their comments with evidence.
The Instructor
The role of the instructor in VTS is to facilitate the discussion. This is accomplished through questioning and facilitation techniques.
After taking a moment for the group to look silently at the image, these three questions are essential to the strategy:
- What's going on in the image?
- What do you see that makes you say that?
- What more can we find?
Discussion facilitation techniques:
- Paraphrase comments neutrally – words like "correct," "wrong," or "good" should not be used.
- Summarize student responses using conditional language (“Sam thinks this could be…”). This keeps the conversation open to other interpretations.
- Physically point to the area being discussed in the image.
- Link contrasting and complimentary student comments.
Some tips for doing VTS:
- Avoid inserting information. Let students look closely and reason out their responses, rather than discussing the facts.
- If a student comes to a factually incorrect conclusion, gently correct if absolutely necessary during your classroom lesson, not during the VTS conversation.
- Allow the conversation to go where it will, even if it gets off topic. Remember, the goal is not to share information, but to encourage critical thinking.
The Student
The role of the students in VTS is to:
- Look carefully at the image
- Talk about what they observe
- Back up their ideas with evidence
- Listen and consider the views of others
- Discuss many possible interpretations
Why Does It Work?
VTS is a rigorous and fun research-based approach with measurable growth in all learners across all areas. VTS is an effective teaching method because it:
- uses visual images to engage, puzzle and intrigue students while building ability and confidence in decoding complex and diverse material
- is inclusive and fully respects all learners
- is easily mastered because it uses existing strengths, interests and experiences
- sparks motivation and curiosity
- is easy to transfer the verbal reasoning skills and strategies to other areas of study
