Promoting Critical Thinking through the Observation and Interpretation of the Work of Art

This chapter aims to analyse the state of the art on the promotion of Critical Thinking skills through the observation of the work of art and to identify the most useful teaching methods for this educational objective, in formal and informal contexts, such as museums. Although the definitions of Critical Thinking are different, cultural heritage education agrees on the need to promote these skills both through activities aimed at a specific audi- ence and by generally stressing their function within the educational role of museums (Smith, 2007). As regards the use of particular educational meth- odologies, Object Based Learning is particularly privileged for the promo- tion of Critical Thinking skills, together with Visual thinking and Digital Storytelling. This contribution also showcases the first data obtained from a quasi-experiment developed at the Galleria Lapidaria in the Capitoline Mu- seums in Rome, which saw the use of Digital Storytelling for the promotion of Critical Thinking skills for upper secondary school students.