Critical Thinking through Art Event Held
What is the first image that comes to your head if somebody asks you to draw happiness? I am guessing a smiley face, . Smile is a good representation of happiness and the smiley face is probably the most used emoticon to express happiness. But could you be more creative in drawing happiness on paper? How about a picture of yourself on vacation or you giving a toast at a dinner table with all your family members? The point I am trying to make here is that a person can get creative if s/he chooses to be so in doing simplest of simple daily activities. If you don’t believe me, the work of Ganga Ghar (GG) students in Dhading will definitely make you believe it.
Ganga Ghar recently organized an event, “Critical Thinking through Art” in Dhading, Nepal that involved all 29 Ganga Ghar students in the region.Students were given topics such as “Success” and “City” after dividing them into two groups: one comprising of students from grades five and up and the other with students from below fifth grade. The former group, assuming significant growth in their capacity to think, was given to draw what “success” meant to them and the other group with students who having grown up in a village and assumed to have never travelled out were let to imagine a city environment and present their thoughts as drawings. The work that some of the students produced were very impressive; the level of creativity was incredible. You can see their drawings by following the link at the bottom of this article.
Critical thinking is a very important part of developing positive skills in students. Ganga Ghar wants the same with its students as they move on in school. The day long art event certainly is not going to develop all these skills in children. However it definitely exposes the children as to what Critical thinking can lead to and we can definitely see that in their drawings.
Students, however, didn’t limit themselves to drawing during the event. They took some time discussing each other’s work while comparing and contrasting them. Then they had a question and answer session where each student got in front of the rest and explained his/her thoughts while creating the art. Students were just as creative in taking questions as in their drawings.
The creatively fun-filled day for the students was rounded off with the screening of the “Happy Feat” movie which was enjoyed by everybody. Students were very thankful for the day. After Sundar Thapaliya, a graduate student at California State University and currently in Nepal for his internship, explained how critical thinking can improve a person’s performance, all the students seemed to have grasped the essence of it and were motivated to always try to look matters from multiple perspectives.
Students were provided with lunch and snacks all day. At the end of the day, they were awarded a certificate of participation. However, none of the students were judged for their work. GG will let you be the judge and hope you appreciate the work of some underprivileged children who wouldn’t have been where they are today if not for the initiation of Ganga Ghar and the selfless contribution from the valuable sponsors.
Ganga Ghar team in the United States would like to express its sincere thanks to the representatives in Nepal for their industrious efforts all the time, Mr. Sundar Thapaliya for his noble expertise in meticulous organization of the program and above all, the sponsors who are the pillars of Ganga Ghar.