Teaching Critical Thinking through DanceMaking The Thinking Tools

Teaching Critical Thinking through Dance-Making

The Thinking Tools Sparks of Genius: The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People • Based on the book • By Robert & Michele Root- Bernstein • Published by Houghton Mifflin in 1999

The Thinking Tools to Be Discussed Include. . . • Observing • Transforming • Recognizing • Abstracting patterns • Empathizing • Body Thinking • Imaging • Playing • Forming patterns • Modeling • Synthesizing

Selected & arranged in this way because. . . • They can be easily applied to the creative process in movement & dance. • This order of arrangement follows the order of operations in dance-making.

Creative Movement Dance-Making Process • Inspiration • Observing inspiration • Responding to inspiration • Felt-thoughts + Imagination • Transforming & abstracting = • Movement + • Playing around = • Final product or dance

Observing • Means active observation • Making sense of the sensation • Learning to see in new & different ways • Seeing details such as colors, separate parts of picture or foreground & background

What details can you observe in this picture?

Recognizing Patterns • Noticing relationships • Using various viewpoints to reveal different patterns • Patterns recognized can be visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic • Culture influences pattern recognition

What patterns do you see in this picture?

Empathizing • Being able to see the world through the eyes of others • Having personal knowledge • Becoming the animal, plant or object • Imagine what the object of your attention is sensing

What feelings do you get from the two photos below?

Body Thinking • Usually hidden from us • Using movement to solve problems • Felt-thought • A heightened physical awareness • Kinesthetic empathy

How would your body feel in each of the two positions below?

Imaging • Seeing pictures in the mind or • • • visualizing Thinking about sounds Being able to recall a body feeling Seeing movements in the mind Being polysensual—synesthesia A virtual experience

What mental images can you create from the two cut paper designs below?

Transforming • Changing from one sense to another • Using diverse methods to solve a problem • A blurring of lines between fields • Transformations are not always exactly equivalent

Transforming body shapes. . .

Abstracting • Begins with the real • Representing the essence of • The core • A simplification of • A tool for artists • Can be interactive across disciplines (visual arts & high speed photography)

An abstraction of a forest. . .

Playing • Experimenting • Fooling around • Treating work like a game • Breaking the rules & testing limits • Encouraging the unexpected • Limited sloppiness • Invoking a make believe world

Playing around with a photo

Forming Patterns • Combining structural elements or • • operations Can be spontaneous or planned Spans sensory modalities & disciplines Embodies relationships & meanings Leads to innovations

Forming a Pattern. . .

Modeling • Simulations • A physical representation of • Helps teach imaginative skills • Capturing the essence of operations • Embodying concepts • Supplies control of situation • Reveals problems

Models of Dances - floor patterns for 2 dancers (L) & changes in energy quality (R)

Synthesizing • Bringing together sensory • • impressions, feelings, knowledge & memories Creating unity & wholes An integration of the thinking tools Trans disciplinary & multimodal A necessity in solving problems

A whole dance is the result of synthesizing.