Reinvigorating Critique With Criticality: Developing an Affective Response Protocol

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Arts, Cooperative Learning, and Experiential Education

Abstract

Critique is both a vital pedagogy in the art room and something that must be avoided at all costs, appearing in the National Core Arts Standards only for accomplished and advanced high school students. This two-phase study examines VTS and other response protocols, confirms that criticality and affect are largely absent, and formulates an Affective Response Protocol designed to impel students to critically and affectively engage with artwork. Initial results suggest that affective response increases student engagement, creativity, content knowledge, and supports æsthetic development beyond Stage I and Stage II. An Affective Response Protocol is a necessary corrective to the limitations of formalist thought and demonstrates the educative potential of critique and the transformative power of criticality.

Author

• Timothy Babulski, University of Southern Maine