Art of Analysis

The Art of Analysis brings together an interprofessional group of medical science students and faculty at Ohio State University to the Columbus Museum of Art for a one-time, two-hour experience led by leadership in the Learning Department. The experience begins with a creativity challenge designed to prime participants to engage with ambiguity and with one another, while establishing expectations for the experience. Then, in groups of no more than 11 participants to each facilitator, participants move into the galleries. There, CMA educators lead participants through their ODIP thinking routine for close looking (Observe, Describe, Interpret, Prove). The thinking routine fosters careful looking, resisting assumptions, collaborative thinking, reasoning with evidence, and perspective-taking, all of which are key dispositions of critical, creative, and empathetic thinking. The group will use ODIP to discuss a single work for up to 40 minutes. Then, each participant receives a prompt connected to a concept central to the practice of medicine, e.g. “What does ‘being humane’ (or ‘cruelty,’ ‘care,’ etc.) look like? Find the best representation in this gallery and make the case for why you chose it.” After participants have made selections, the group visits each selected work and discusses the concept their groupmate began with, as well as other ideas that surface during close, collaborative engagement with the work and the connections that grow from that.

If you are interested in participating, reach out to Mike.Horgan@osumc.edu.