Dr. Maria Tarasova - Associate Professor of Art History and Dean of SibFU Honors College, Siberian Federal University, Russia

 

In the research the advantages of developing honors students’ critical visual thinking skills are examined and the impact of highly developed visual thinking on enhancing honors students’ analytical reasoning and systems thinking skills is studied. Critical visual thinking includes the skills of observation, envisioning, reflection, questioning, explaining, evaluation and expression. The function of foresight enables visual thinkers to see a future of objects and events and to foreknow new ways of operating with them. In SibFU Honors College students improve their critical visual thinking skills by means of communication with pieces of visual art, learning to analyze, synthesize, grasp the essentials, and understand compositional principles that structure works of art as visual forms of thought. The course “Critical Visual Thinking” is suggested for inclusion into honors programs of universities worldwide.