Purpose Through Inquiry and Clay

inquiry art

Inquiry with a twist! This semester I was granted the privilege to teach the First Year Seminar: Inquiry Based Learning to a fantastic group of students at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. No, it is not an art class. It is an Inquiry class in which we learn to explore to understand and ask questions to see different points of view through Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Art, and Humanities. As I tell my students, “We don’t ask questions to validate or defend our point of view, but to understand the point of view of others”.

10486273_10150648601624956_1752413744331762256_oIn honor to art discussion week we sculpted in class to understand Inquiry as a non-linear process comprising DESTINATION, DIRECTION, PURPOSE, and ACTION. It is a way of finding purpose through inquiry and clay. With clay in hands the students are presented with these concepts. You can observe four types of approaches to inquiry as you do with sculpting. These can happen in any order and intersect each other multiple times during the activity. It is very important to observe behavior, and moreover make students aware of the behavior in light of these concepts to allow them to understand their own path. Each path is different and there is no “right” or “wrong” but different approaches to learning.

1. DESTINATION: Where are we going with this? Some students need to know where they are going and what they are making before reshaping the clay. By knowing their destination they find purpose and enter the process and find direction.

2. DIRECTION: How do I make what I am thinking of doing? Some students need a little guidance in what we call “technique” or process. Through “touching” the clay they get familiar with controlling motor skills and the many ways they can manipulate the material which sparks, in action, purpose and destination.

3. PURPOSE: Why are we doing this? This concept is very personal and dependent of student’s intrinsic motivation. This motivates finding destination and direction as they sprint into action.

4. ACTION: Let’s do it! Some students begin playing with the clay and in the process they discover direction which leads them to think of a destination. They find purpose as they move on.

Some people describe the class as philosophy, others as learning psychology, some as foundations for research and innovation. I prefer to see it as “learning for life”, and not only for the students but for myself. During this process I get to understand better the purpose of all my academic and non-academic experiences in art, humanities, philosophy, history, graphic design, learning psychology, instructional design, stand-up comedy, radio, tv, public speaking, working on medical offices and the little I know about natural sciences, answering phones, opening doors for people, teaching, or simply observing human behavior. I know these small parts are just pieces of a larger picture.