Use Students' Ideas Students' ideas must be central to activities. Teachers may need to yield some of their authority in order to give students the opportunity to think through a problem and articulate their ideas and feelings. Student efforts should be praised without a need to judge responses right or wrong. Encourage Ownership of Ideas Students should be encouraged to develop their thoughts fully, and to explain, clarify, and refine their ideas. Summarize and Synthesize Issues in aesthetics can often be complex.
Teachers can do two things to keep ideas from becoming too tangled.
The teacher can periodically summarize what has been said. In this way teachers can clarify and refocus the discussion. Teachers can conclude dialogues by summarizing and synthesizing ideas. Bringing about a conclusion will help give students a clear picture of what has transpired and what conclusions have been reached. Of utmost importance is a fair representation of the ideas that have emerged, not just the most popular ones, but varied and contrasting perspectives as well.