Virtual Museum Experience for Critical Thinking Development: First Results from the National Gallery of Art (MOOC, US)

Abstract

In recent years, the use of innovative learning strategies within museum education contexts has been considerably supported by the use of digital technologies, especially in terms of critical thinking enhancement. As underlined by several studies in the field, the aesthetic experience is particularly effective in terms of reflection skills promotion, critical interpretation and analysis, both at individual and group level, as well as personal and creative reinterpretation (Biasi, Patrizi, & Fagioli, 2020). The present paper describes a research conducted within the MOOC «Teaching Critical Thinking through Art», cre-ated by the National Gallery of Art in Washington (DC), under the scientific supervision of the Harvard Project Zero researchers, pioneers of Visual Thinking Strategies within the museum context. The paper is aimed at illustrating the results of a content analysis conducted on the forum section of the above-mentioned MOOC during the 2020 edition. In particular, 163 posts from the «See/think/wonder» activity were assessed by two human evaluators using two different Critical Thinking evaluation tools (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2001; Poce, 2017). In addition, specific analyses were carried out selected users’ writing activities in order to identify possible positive correlations between the characteristics of forum posts and the critical thinking skills solicited.