Developing critical thinking skills with adult-learners in an art school: might a critical thinking manifesto be one way to visualise findings?

Abstract

This qualitative study is set in a UK art school where participants are adult-learners on a postgraduate course. A 'critical thinking club' is described at work in a constructivist classroom where meaning is built through experiential teaching and learning. Three themes of: barriers in education for adult-learners; scaffolded stages to develop thinking skills; and how practice-focused research could contextualise participants' art-practice are considered and discussed. Adult-learners articulate their thoughts about developing critical thinking in a 'community of inquiry' and results are visualised in a five-point manifesto, leading to a discussion on possible practical ways of operationalising and developing critical thinking with students.