These images were used in one visit by medical students from U-M medical school as part of a two-week elective on Visual Art and Medicine in April 2022.  

The looking and discussion process for this particular experience within the elective asks students  to form initial impressions and then reconsider the meaning of the works after additional discussion or information.  This “Think and Think Again” pedagogy models the thought process of forming and reconsidering hypotheses or diagnoses, as new information is added or presented through discovery.  In addition, in considering paired sets of writing using primary and secondary observation, participants consider issues of stereotyping, implicit bias, empathy and the relevance of these ideas and issues to clinical medicine. 

The activity further explore what types of understanding and knowledge are generated from first person and objective description perspectives, and what each might contribute to the practice of clinical medicine. This activity builds on perspectives from the research, practices and pedagogy of narrative medicine, empathy and compassionate care.