For these students creating their playground has become so much more than an art project, it has truly become an art problem. Each student has invented their own play structure, and solved an invented dilemma. Students are provided with common materials to solve structural problems of infrastructure as well as conceptual problems of how the play “occurs.”
Students commonly explain their art using sounds and movements. Throughout the documentation process, students continually expand and describe playgrounds in a sequential, movement/sound-based narrative. Students use the words, “first you…” and “then you…” as well as a system of pointing connected to movement in the structure. This student explains his playground with repeated hand gesticulation and descriptive noises.
This student represents the joy and satisfaction that students feel as they complete to project. When working 3-D, a solid structure is essential for the student to feel successful about their work. When this student flips his piece upside down, he demonstrates his confidence in his construction. He describes how he made the piece using various connecting materials, including punching the popsicle sticks through the card-board, one of the only students who chose to problem solve in this way.
Another student shows off his work as other students watch. The audible “ohhhs” and “ahhhs” verbalize the enthusiasm the students feel looking at each other’s work. This student describes the individual way that he has chose to solve his problem of creating a playground for animals. The animals are an important part of this students articulation of how the structure is used. For our next lesson we hope to use some of this excitement, allowing figures and forms to help define the intentions and explanations of the structures.
2nd/3rd Grade Art 