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How can we guide our students through the process of navigating media with purpose?<\/h3>\n
When you teach artist research in your art classroom, you prepare your students for real-world applications using several 21st-century skills<\/a>.<\/p>\n Research is holistically baked into many artmaking processes. Developing and articulating connections to the work of other artists is a core part of Responding in the National Core Art Standards<\/a>. Whether you teach advanced students through AP<\/a> or IB Visual Arts<\/a> or strive to support your elementary or middle schoolers, students will need your support to research efficiently and effectively.<\/p>\n Budding art student researchers need to understand when to look beyond what they know. According to the American Library Association<\/a>, information literacy is a composite set of skills that enable individuals to \u201crecognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.\u201d To be information literate, students need research skills and critical thinking skills. Additionally, we can prepare ourselves to support a broad range of competencies.<\/p>\n To instill good research habits in your students, provide them with routine opportunities for research. You can spiral these activities by starting small and building up to more complex tasks. Exposing students to the work of other artists often and asking them to do a little digging for small tasks will help them develop the necessary autonomy for more extensive research projects.<\/p>\n At the start of the school year, I find it helpful to take my students on a field trip through the hallways to our underutilized library. Upon entering the library, you can start a foundational conversation about sources. Engage your media specialist or librarian in advance to collect some of the best art books to share. Check your students\u2019 knowledge of books, from the publication page and the table of contents to section headers and the index.<\/p>\n As your students flip through the glossy book pages, the conversation about quality and authentic sources begins. Yes, the internet is full of options and ideas. However, your students may be surprised to learn about the quality control processes required for professionally published books<\/a>. After learning about quality sources, it\u2019s time to discuss digital wayfinding.<\/p>\n A straightforward search on Google<\/a>, Bing<\/a>, or Yahoo<\/a> will provide a list of sources and topics. Image searches are often more exciting for students at the start of a quest for new inspiration. It is good to remind them that image searches work better as a starting point for research than as the only line of inquiry.<\/p>\n Shane Mac Donnchaidh<\/a> offers several options for refining internet searches to improve the results. First, students will find enhanced results by looking at quality sources through a basic internet search\u2014not an image search.<\/p>\n More specific phrases will enable a more precise outcome. For example, the most popular images and articles will appear when looking up historic Swedish artist Hilma af Klint. Ask your students what they want to know about new artists as they embark upon their research. They will discover that phrases such as \u201cHilma af Klint sketchbook\u201d or \u201cHilma af Klint works on paper\u201d will yield more specific results. Depending on your students\u2019 ages and experience levels, they may need support with this. A prepared menu of search terms, quick tips, and questions can help lead students through a more successful research experience.<\/p>\n It may sound like a no-brainer, but many of your students may not consider the domain name ending as a key for finding enhanced results and identifying credible sources.<\/p>\n Discuss the difference between typical endings<\/a>, such as:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n To narrow their search, students will need to type \u201csite\u201d followed by a colon and the desired domain ending. For example, \u201cLand Art site:.org\u201d will narrow a search into nonprofits such as museums or research organizations. This trick is one quick and easy way to zone in on quality sources.<\/p>\n Work with your students to identify parameters for identifying \u201creliable\u201d or \u201cquality\u201d sources. Is the information on the site up-to-date? Does the data come from a reliable source? How do they know? Is the information on the topic detailed? Does each source offer something different from the previous source? Pose these questions in a visible place for students to consider as they continue their research in books, magazines, and online.<\/p>\n Have you ever found yourself fooled and unsure whether something is original or an imitation? It is often easy to detect an outlier with a trained eye. Our students often don\u2019t have a discerning eye or knowledge of art history to tell the difference.<\/p>\n Reverse image search tools, like TinEye<\/a>, allow you to drag and drop a screenshot or image file into their search engine. If an image is authentic, the search results will include art museums, galleries, exhibition reviews, or artists\u2019 websites.<\/p>\n The examples below show two versions of Andy Warhol\u2019s Mao Zedong<\/em>. Which one is by Warhol? Play with TinEye and see if you can figure it out!<\/p>\n Three sources will help build a well-researched and balanced report, article, or presentation. While three sources may seem like a lot for a younger student at first, they will quickly catch on to the advantages of considering multiple points of view.<\/p>\n Your students may need additional training to stay organized. Learning how to bookmark and organize websites is one way to manage a list of sources. You can also teach your students to keep a single document with linked references for easy access. Online bibliography generators, like easybib.com<\/a> or zbib.org<\/a>, help students maintain a digital record of sources. Students enrolled in IB Visual Arts<\/a> will appreciate this practice when preparing their Comparative Study assessments.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unnecessary to explain to art teachers how incredible it is to see art in the flesh! However, many students don\u2019t experience art beyond the art classroom. Organizing an external field trip requires preplanning, administrative approval, and guardian permission. And it is always worth it. When students encounter work first-hand, they understand the difference between that and experiencing work online or in a book.<\/p>\n When field trips are not possible, share your own in-person experiences with your students. Then, encourage your students to visit local galleries and nearby fine art museums or check out museum offerings during their school holidays. Museum visits may inspire new artworks, IB Comparative Study proposals, or even IB Extended Essay ideas for advanced students. This experiential approach to art research can extend into a lifelong interest for students of all ages.<\/p>\n Your students can attend a dozen different virtual museums in a single day\u2014an impossibility within the physical realm! Virtual offerings have increased and improved in recent years. Virtual field trips are easy to organize, and they retain many of the qualities of visiting a museum. These experiences also support student autonomy and choice.<\/p>\n Here are some top virtual museum sites and resources to consider:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n If you give students absolute freedom to peruse the internet searching for new artists, prepare for uneven outcomes. Students often don\u2019t know where to look, and they quickly become entangled in a wayward search with few results.<\/p>\n Instead, curate a list of artists relevant to a specific unit or activity. With a shorter list of options, your students will be more efficient in selecting a research focus. Lists allow students more time to engage with the critical thinking processes required in research.<\/p>\n If you are looking for artists to share, here are some curated resources to get you going:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Try taking one or two of these ideas to implement at first. Then, add new ideas and habits along the way. When you scaffold research skills, you will see increased student engagement in the research process. Once your students have the skills required for research, they can focus on deeper concepts. Interpreting art and creating comparative analyses provide excellent avenues for critical thinking. However, you do need to develop student ownership to get there. You can do that by developing student autonomy through the acquisition of research skills using the twelve tips above.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s establish and unpack twelve essential understandings for developing good research habits.<\/h2>\n
1. Define \u201cinformation literacy\u201d for artist research.<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n2. Develop good research habits through repetition.<\/h3>\n
3. Foster a renewed relationship between students and the library.<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n4. Discuss the concept of \u201cquality\u201d resources with your students.<\/h3>\n
5. Enhance internet search results with better keywords.<\/h3>\n
6. Identify domain name endings for quality results.<\/h3>\n
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7. Apply critical thinking skills to determine the relevance of new information.<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n8. Implement a reverse image search to authenticate questionable artworks.<\/h3>\n
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9. Suggest a minimum number of sources and keep a running list of sources handy.<\/h3>\n
10. Teach your students about primary sources through experiential learning.<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n11. Create a virtual museum field trip.<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n12. Curate a list of artists by theme, subject matter, media, historical movements, or geographic location.<\/h3>\n
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\nStudents can search by theme or medium with drop-down menus.<\/li>\n
\nThis website is organized by theme.<\/li>\n
\nThis website is organized by date.<\/li>\nDeveloping good research habits does not happen overnight.<\/h2>\n