Abstract

This research is an inquiry into the use of collaborative and constructive learning as an approach for adult learners responding to contemporary artworks in a museum setting. My goal was to see if this approach could be effective in assisting uninitiated viewers to confront the interpretive challenges posed by contemporary art and in helping them to form meaningful responses. To explore these concepts, I enlisted 10 adults of varying ages to undertake, in pairs, a series of interpretive activities at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal. Central to these activities was the use of dialogue as a reflective and collaborative tool. I observed, facilitated and tape-recorded their discussions and also conducted individual follow-up interviews with each participant, all of which to determine whether learning had taken place and what kind, and whether their responses had been enriched by the activities