As part of efforts to enhance experiential learning, Qatar University’s (QU) Honors Program in the Deanship of General Studies organized a student trip to the Artist Café in the Pearl, aiming to give students a hands-on experience and establish a correlation between visual art and critical thinking. The 17 students who took part in the trip are enrolled in the Critical Thinking Module from the Honors Program’s curricula.
Students had an opportunity to unleash their creativity during the three-hour class period, and through painting, they were able to view the world from a variety of perspectives.
The Honors Program is designed for highly motivated and academically inquisitive students who are looking for an enriching college experience. It aims to provide talented, ambitious, and highly motivated students with an enriched cross- disciplinary academic experience through a framework of learner-centric, experiential, research-informed, digitally enriched, and entrepreneurial education with a focus on the development of excellent lifelong learning habits.
Ms. Iglal Ahmed, Course Instructor and the Academic Support Specialist at the Honors Program commented on the intention of the trip saying, “Art education teaches students to pay closer attention to their surroundings. Good art is frequently complex, with multiple elements and meanings layered on top of one another. Finding, examining, and considering the numerous details that comprise most works of art takes time. This process of observation and study teaches students to observe and analyze their surroundings—skills that form the foundation of critical thinking.”
Fawziya Alhor, an Honor Student who took part in the trip said, “This was a wonderful and different experience; through it, we looked at another side of critical thinking. Drawing is related to critical thinking. Both have no boundaries, and each person can see them from a different perspective. Art makes a person stand out and show their creativity, and this is also what critical thinking does. From my point of view, their relationship is complementary.”
Student Lina Mohamed said, “Our trip to the artist café has truly captured the essence of education with leisure. We were able to relax and have fun whilst learning and understanding the connection between art and critical thinking. The real-life application of what we learned in class has truly furthered our understanding, and I hope more events like this occur in the future for all Qatar University students.”
When asked about the correlation between critical thinking and art, Jana Elbanna, an Honors Student who attended the trip said, “Critical thinking triggers and stimulates imagination similar to art. Art allows you to unleash your creative mind, think design with no boundaries or abandoning the norm and do things with your own rules and perception and view of life or a concept. Critical thinking and art allow an individual to develop their own unique identity while being reflective. Critical thinkers are always questioning ideas and assumptions, similar to artists when they see different art pieces, trying to grasp what the artists was thinking and what the piece represents to them.”
She adds, “Critical thinking also allows artists to self-evaluate, to know what areas need to be developed and to know their areas of strength. Critical thinking and art both help bring people together even if art is viewed differently or opinions are differentiated it’s the fact that they are willing to understand and respect each other’s opinions or forms of expression that helps bring them both together. Critical thinkers are artist, and artist are critical thinkers. On our trip to the Artist Café, we were able to build stronger connections and unleash our creativity with no boundaries.”
Source: Qatar University