Learning Cycles in Art History

Abstract

Art history has traditionally been taught by the lecture method.1 The general public believes that only experts talk about art, and our teaching has done little to dispel this idea. Students leave introductory classes able to repeat what the professor has said but are very hesitant to express their own ideas. The active learning method I have incorporated into my art history survey classes encourages stu dents to begin to express their ideas about what they see. It is a method that can be used in almost any field of study and has special advantages for instruc tors of introductory classes. The method described here is derived from the ADAPT Program (Accent on Developing Advanced Process of Thought) begun in 1975 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. A number of courses are offered within this program, including physics, mathematics, Eng lish, and anthropology. The ADAPT program was set up to apply Jean Piaget's research on cognitive develop ment to classroom learning. Although the instructional methods described here can be implemented without the in structor's adopting Piaget's learning theory, a brief description of the rele vant aspects of Piaget's model of cogni tive development may be useful.