Visual Thinking and Associative Learning

National Art Education Association

Visual Thinking and Associative LearningAuthor(s): Linda AckermanSource: Art Education, Vol. 27, No. 8 (Nov., 1974), pp. 30-32Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3191901 .

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and

Associative Learning

Linda Ackerman As far back as Columbus, a

courageous minority of people en- visioned the world as round. Risking their lives and reputations to prove this assumption, they set out to explore oceans and unknown lands. Their voyages confirmed their hypothesis: the world once thought to be flat is round! There are "worlds" aside from the earth, however, that to this day re- main flat and unpenetrated because people have refused to explore them. I refer specifically to our own personal worlds, the environment in which we live, and our own inner realms. We are able to perceive our surroundings through the five sense receptors. Our eyes see colors; our noses smell odors; each of our sensory organs works con- stantly for us. We have opinions, feelings, and thoughts about everything we know and learn. What we do with this body of knowledge, however, is painfully limited and rou- tinely processed. We may perceive and accumulate new material through dis- covery, but that material itself must be explored by appropriate channels. While learning, we absorb information from our environment and reformulate it within ourselves. Perhaps we store it in our brains, or reiterate it, speak or write it. Our treatment of information is only partial. On paper it is merely two- dimensional. In our memory banks,

30 Art Education, November 1974

data is rarely integrated and developed if not stimulated in some external way. It remains, in a sense, flat!

More precisely, we are not sufficient- ly utilizing learned material. There are exciting ways to expand upon and fer- tilize new perceptions. The third dimension, which completes the form for our thoughts, can be reached through visualization and association of incoming material. A whole new perspective is developed through giv- ing structure and finding relationships to our ideas. This can be accomplished through visual thinking, which is the ability to perceive, ponder, and see ac- tual shape in our thoughts, and through making associations. It is in this dimension that creativity flows, new perspectives emerge, and we experience a blooming of appreciation and awareness.

Unfortunately, we often miss this extra stratem of meaning because we are not accustomed to dealing with information in this additional way. We have never been taught and have rarely experienced the value of doing this. Therefore, we must define the processes of visualizing and associating thoughts in order to more easily explore their full significance. This extends beyond substantiating the content of thoughts. It requires more than just thinking something for its context or its strict definition of

meaning. Visualizing thoughts requires defining their form, value, and spatial placement within our minds. To give shape and relationships to words and ideas allows us to completely understand them. Essences and con- notations expressed in words tran- scend the obvious meaning derived from reading the words in print. This deeper expression must go farther than repeating them in our mind's eye, and even beyond applying the words to our deposits of knowledge.

Meanings of ideas have degrees of importance to us and to related no- tions. The aware mind acknowledges the levels of significance, but the interpretation must not stop there. Think of the beauty created by adding that special third-dimension, of build- ing ideas in terms of contours and spaces within our minds. Imagine ideas by means of appropriate weight, shape, and color. The understanding of relationships between the forms and the voids can create a whole new world of significance in itself.

Let me illustrate with a few examples. I can still remember in days long past the anguish I experienced as a student when trying to memorize my history lessons. Dates, places, people, and events were merely objects without significance, although my teachers seemed to think they were terribly important. The only time I was able to en-



vision this history data was during my nightmares when they appeared en masse like enemy forces emerging over the horizon. Time was nothing more than something that continually went ticking by. I cringe to think how much worry I would have been spared if some brilliant history teacher began by explaining Time to me in visual form. Time might take the shape of a railroad track, a ladder, or maybe an endless spiral. It might have irregularities of texture or direction when a major war was fought, or the New World discovered. There are countless ways to see Time and History, and countless varieties of spatial shapes to be filled by those con- fusing names and dates.

Imagine learning about numbers without visual thinking! Is a "two" shaped like a three-dimensional "2" in our minds? Or is it represented by the amount, two, such as two apples or two pies? Space and amounts are essen- tially visual in mathematics. Problem solving for children would be impossi- ble without assigning a shape or an ob- ject to a number. Higher mathematics is far more difficult to conceive of in these terms. Ten-to-the-tenth apples is equally inconceivable. Then how do we relate to numbers and formulae? Are we so conditioned that we cling to mathematical notation without letting those concepts escape from the paper to our visual world? If there are ways to explain advanced mathematics in three-dimensional form, it may alleviate some of the anxiety of having to deal with irrational, non-relevant numbers and processes.

For a third example, consider the concept of the single versus the many: One stands alone as opposed to great groups of like types. The individual, no matter what shape or size, has a different effect on us than a larger group. The individual itself has better defined qualities than the components of the group, although the shape and size of the group as a unit may be as well defined. Sometimes we give more importance to the individual, sometimes to the group. This will affect the shape and value of our visualization of each. For instance, one ballerina is spotlighted on stage in contrast to the chorus line of dancers behind her. In the biology lab, the one mutation of an organism has a much greater impact on the students than the hundreds of similar organisms in a species. On the other hand, one policeman cannot stand up to a huge crowd of rioting students. Or, a large school of fish is a more welcome sight to a diver than a lone shark.

We visualize and experience the single versus the plural in many different ways. The concepts of "one= small" and "many=large" can be played with by means of visual thinking. That "one" may not be so insignificant

(hello, shark!) but rather greater than life. The shape of the thought "one" varies greatly with its context, its emotional and its intellectual meaning. The shape of the "many" does the same. By learning to use "one" and "group" ideas, we can develop useful variations of significance of the concept, in accordance with, but in ad- dition to, the context. The ideas fit differently into our minds, but each example has a place, a relevant shape, and a specific relationship to the space or forms surrounding it. Visual thinking is most effectively used by this method of associating and varying the meanings of our ideas.

Every discipline has the potential to be expressed through visual thinking. Before we can apply this skill in education, however, we master it ourselves. We must begin by nurturing our aesthetic and artistic appreciation of the environment. If we can grow to feel comfortable with this ability while walking down the street or sitting on the bus, then we can bring it enthusiastically into the classroom, the office, and the home. The important thing to remember is that we must live within this third-dimension as naturally as it does within us. The Approach: Associative Learning

It is fortunate that art educators and art appreciators have a jump on the process of visual thinking. Too often, however, it is difficult for these people to deal effectively with technique, method, and the phenomenology of art and aesthetics at one time. A substan- tial degree of philosophical thinking must be involved along with the creative process. The two are inter- dependent, especially in the arts. Why we create certain effects and how we do so are two buds on the same bush. We choose our methods according to our purposes.

The arts, with their naturally relating forms, offer the likely place to begin the process. Our senses can be developed to be acutely aware of stimuli, and to react reflexively in their associative responses. Learning to see colors, hear sounds, and feel textures is not enough. The excitement begins when we are able to hear color-sounds, see melodies, and feel rhythmic beats in trees and buildings. No, we aren't crazy! We're adding that extra imaginative dimension to common knowledge and inter-relating external stimuli within us.

The practice of connecting various learned materials is one I call Associative Learning. Being able to see the facets of a crystal from all sides and the relevance of its existence to us and other forms is a process which is es- sential to effective cognitive growth and perceptual development. The associations of ideas changes and develops our visual thoughts. We can visualize our ideas in any case, but

through Associative Learning we are more certain of seeing an idea from all angles and in all contexts. The two processes, visualizing and associating, are really a team. They both work alone, but together they create a valuable approach to learning. Through relating media, subjects, and attitudes, imagine all of the visions we could experience-all of the richness and variety of options we would have! Relating art disciplines is an especially necessary and fruitful approach. Incor- porating the more "academic" subjects such as the sciences, math, and history within the arts is a challenging development. Unfortunately, not enough has yet been done to explore these relationships fully, but the seed has been sown, and it is sprouting.

Programs that involve Associative Learning might deal with several of the disciplines as units. For instance, studying music, architecture, and dance concurrently; or sociology, history, and drama in the same lesson, might be effective integrations. Mathematics, painting, and literature; or science, music, and culture are further illustrations of possibilities. There are so many combinations to be considered! Look at the relationships of science, technology, and the arts, or the value of psychological and physical therapy achieved through creative and aesthetic endeavors. We can approach these combinations by looking, for instance, at their notation, their practical purposes, their aesthetic effects and interpretations, their products, or their processes. Each of these fields is a way of entering into that special orbit of Associative Learning through visual thinking. These relationships could be developed and handled differently for each level of education. Curriculums might vary in as many ways as there are approaches to this. Visual Thinking and Associative Learning can be used to develop basic perceptual skills as well as in-depth intellectual endeavors.

Although it is indeed special, I hesitate to refer to this talent as "specialized." The person who is accomplished in this technique is not a "specialist" as such. In fact, that person would be a generalist in the truest sense of the word. As an individual, the generalist would not be tempted or pressured in clashing between disciplines. One subject would share with and enrich the value of another, not steal or over-shadow its importance. Disciplines were not meant to be isolated or to be put on a pedestal, just as we as human beings were not made to block out orfight multiple in-coming stimuli. It is unnatural to work against relating ideas and subjects. The interdisciplinary approach to life and learning is indeed healthy and natural. And that extra attempt to fully understand the unique relationships between ideas is the pathway into the realm of mental

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visuals. How do we spread this new dimen-

sion? We, as educators, must nurture and guide a child's natural imagination towards this goal. A child's sense of fantasy and play are ideal foundations for this type of study. And, too, we must learn to recognize the imaginative qualities of our own minds which may have been dormant since Columbus' time! If we share visual fantasies and connections with our students in every area of study, Associative Learning will be spontaneous and real. We have succeeded in teaching about the trunk of the tree. Now we must inspire the growth of the roots and branches. After all, how alive and exciting is the tree without its complexity of branches that we see, and roots that we know give it life?

I do not attempt to say that Associative Learning will automatically add color, fragrance, and bliss to our lives. It demands a constant effort and maintenance to insure its shape and place in our minds. It does, however, create a sense of other-worldliness, of unique enrichment, and a thrilling touch of mystery in the unexplored world deep within our minds. It is something that must be experienced

along with our normal learning growth patterns. It must also be maintained and supported in order to be beneficial. The challenge itself creates another facet of ourselves, let alone the arrival to that dimension!

Programs do exist today that have the purpose and potential of develop- ing interdisciplinary thinking. Too many, however, have been so caught up in getting subjects together that they have overlooked the purpose of the attempt. Getting the disciplines together in the same room ac- complishes nothing unless those disciplines mingle, stretch, blend, and challenge each other. Four hour blocks set aside to teach four different art forms is NOT interdisciplinary. Unless a rare, natural visual thinker happens along to make the connections himself, no Associative Learning will take place beyond the collection of four square blocks of separate data. Let's face it. All possible connections must be explored and researched. This is not to say that four specialists in different fields can't achieve a unified significance. But it must go beyond the level of experience for experience's sake. There is something more than dancing to music with the lights flashing, incense burn-

ing, and people'singing! Perhaps I should raise my clenched

fist in desperation and shout, "Specialists!! UNITE!!" It seems the thought of getting together to share ideas as a teaching team is more threatening to artists than it is beneficial. But if we are to share knowledge and attempt the transition, we must cast egos aside and get our minds, our associative minds, together! It is unfair to expect each student to make the connections himself. The work begins with us, and we must make the guiding effort first. We must come together and search out essences and visual pathways within our maze of communications. It is imperative to be in touch, mentally and physically, with our disciplines. There are rich layers of experience to be added to our lives, if only we can tear away from the printed page and pump life and form into words. It is a three-dimensional world we live in; and as many facets as a polygon has, there are ways to ap- preciate and share it.

Linda S. Ackerman is assistant direc- tor of Continuing Education Programs for the American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C.

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Visual Thinking and Associative Learning