Curiosity Cards

52 prompts to spark curiosity about art, ideas and the world

Curiosity Cards promote critical and creative thinking and encourage ‘long looking’, resulting in students actively engaging with works of art, with ideas and with each other. The questions provide students with an alternative ‘way in’ to a work of art, sparking their curiosity and developing their confidence in responding to visual information. Some questions require a quick response, and so are great icebreakers for all students to have an opportunity to share, while other questions are designed to stimulate extended activities and could be completed in pairs or small groups.

A self-guided visit can often be a daunting experience with students seeing works of art in situ, sometimes for the first time. The Curiosity Cards assist you to plan a visit to a gallery, without the pressure of disseminating content in the exhibition space. Rather, slow down the gallery experience by providing opportunities for students to make connections and respond, emphasising that every student’s opinion is acknowledged and valid.

Outcomes

  • Provide alternative ways in to a work of art.
  • Experience long looking to develop visual literacy.
  • Improve critical and creative thinking skills.
  • Increase confidence when talking about works of art and suggesting ideas.

You may like to allocate each student with a card, rotating these questions throughout your session. Alternatively, you may design your visit with your entire class responding to the same question.

  • Some activities take longer than others, you may like to arrange these cards into Warm Up activities and Extended Responses.
  • In the instance of an hour long visit the students may only have time to formulate a response to one question, as these questions require students to observe, analyse, compare and discuss their responses.
  • For a younger age group you may opt to choose 5–10 cards that require shorter responses and encourage group discussion.
  • Visit the Gallery to plan your journey and decide which displays will be appropriate for your students.
  • Trial a selection of the Curiosity Cards in your classroom with works of art from the Gallery’s online collection.
  • Practice long looking and provide a variety of opportunities for students to respond to works of art using visual art language.
  • Allow time for long looking. Before students respond, encourage a moment to look at the works of art in silence.
  • Keep your class together in the Gallery.
  • Allow time to share responses as a group, unpacking the students’ ideas and decisions.
  • Prepare small clipboards and a looking log for students to document their responses in pencil. A sturdy sheet of A3 paper or card folded into 8 sections is an ideal size for students to hold in the palm of their hand when exploring the Gallery’s collection. Oversized sketchbooks

Document your visit and share your photographs and the students’ responses with AGSA Education.

education@artgallery.sa.gov.au
@agsa.education on Instagram and Facebook

Curiosity Cards are created by Dr Lisa Slade and Kylie Neagle at AGSA.

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Download a sample