Permission to Wonder – Visual Thinking Strategies
A group of pupils at the exhibition of Festival of Political Photography at the Finnish Museum of Photography. Photo by Virve Laustela.
The Finnish Museum of Photography, together with five other European cultural organizations, is piloting the use of the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method to enhance learning with visual arts in schools and cultural institutions.
Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a visual arts teaching method in which art is used as a tool for learning critical thinking, interpersonal skills and visual literacy. The method is based on the work of psychologist Abigail Housen and museum educator Philip Yenawine.
In the Permission to Wonder project, the method is being further developed for educational use in schools and cultural institutions by teaching the method to art educators and school teachers in 2017–2020.
The project has received funding from the EU’s Erasmus+ Programme. The partners of the project are:
- Ireland – Dublin City Council’s Arts Office & LAB Gallery, Dublin
- Netherlands – VTS Nederland, Amsterdam
- Finland – The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki
- Denmark – Muserum, Roskilde
- Spain – CREA 360, Cocentaina
- Slovenia – The Slovenian Association of Fine Arts Societies, Ljubljana
More information: Erja Salo, Head of Education and Public Programmes, The Finnish Museum of Photography, erja.salo@fmp.fi, p. +358 44 2706 216
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VTS -Permission to Wonder
“Maybe posing the question is the point. A child looks around her, and when she notices something she can’t fathom, she asks about it. Our explanations don’t suffice because, I believe, what she really wants from us is to know if it’s okay to be puzzled and curious. She wants permission to wonder.”