Art & Inquiry in ANY Classroom

I thoroughly enjoyed the Art & Inquiry MOOC offered by Lisa Mazzola and her team from MOMA.  Not only did I learn about all the learning resources offered by MOMA and other museums, I reconnected with Sandra Sinfeld,  Ary Aranguiz, and Kelcy Allwein from the previous engaging #EDCMOOC.  I also met a kindred spirit in Maureen Maher.  Together with Matthew Craig and his team from the Museum School in Tennessee we created a Personal Learning Network to explore inquiry based learning using art.  This post is the final project I submitted for peer review, together with a Slideshare presentation I designed to use for Professional Development for educators in any classroom.  I retained the questions that the Peer Review will consider for evaluation purposes.

 

Your assignment is to select an artwork that you would like to use as the starting point for an inquiry based lesson in your classroom.  

1. Subject Area: Art & Inquiry in Any Classroom

• This is intended as a Professional Development Module to introduce any K-12 teacher to Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) using Art in their classroom.  After setting the stage, the presenter models what a unit could look like.   Participants will then design their own classroom module using the IBL Planning Worksheet, using the resources provided.

1. Class size – 10-25
2. Intended grade level range: K-12 Classroom Teachers or Media Specialists
3. Artwork Selection:  Collage of Tahitian themed paintings by Paul Gaugin.

• I chose a collage in order to provide a tapestry of images for demonstration purposes during the modelling activity.

1. Artwork Title: I selected a collage of Gaugin’s paintings influenced by the years he spent in Tahiti.
2. Artist:  Paul Gaugin
3. Date – 1891-1899 (These are the years that Gaugin spent on and off in Tahiti)
4. Materials:

• Collage of selected paintings by Gaugin during his stay in Tahiti
• Instructions for multi-modal activity
• Construction Paper, Pastels
• Inquiry Based Lesson Planning Worksheet – Topic, Theme, Questions, Information, Activities, Goals
• See the Slideshare Presentation for use by the Presenter here

 Evaluation Phase: Is the artwork developmentally appropriate?

Theme/Connection to Curriculum: Briefly describe the theme or connection to the curriculum:

Topic:   The cultural preservation and the perpetuation of indigenous traditions in the Pacific Islands.

This topic is based on the World Wide Voyage Curriculum (Island Wisdom, Ocean Connections, Global Lessons), whose mission seeks to perpetuate the art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging and the spirit of exploration through experiential educational programs that inspire students and their communities to respect and care for themselves, each other, and their natural and cultural environments.

Evaluation Phase: Does the artwork that was chosen clearly relate to the theme/curriculum connection?

Include three open-ended questions related to the artwork in the sequence they would be presented:

1.       Why is preservation of traditional knowledge and cultural values important to a community?

2.       What evidence of traditional knowledge and cultural values do these images convey to you?

3.       What common themes can you identify in this collage?

Evaluation Phase: Are the questions open-ended? Do the questions support the theme? Do the questions invite multiple responses?

Include 3 bullet points of information about the artwork that is related to the theme/curriculum connection:

1.     Tahiti had been profoundly altered by colonialism, but Gauguin’s vision of the place gave him an ideal model for his painting. This vision was particularly powerful for him in its contrast with the West, which, he believed, had fallen into “a state of decay.”

2.     “His use of bright, flat, and unrealistic colors and his interest in recovering a “pure” subject, closer to nature.”

3.     Tahiti is becoming completely French,” he lamented. “Little by little, all the ancient ways of doing things will disappear. Our missionaries have already brought a great deal of hypocrisy and they are sweeping away part of the poetry.”11 Many of Gauguin’s Tahitian works hint at the cultural loss.

Evaluation Phase: Does the information support the exploration of the object? Is the information relevant to a conversation about the object?

Include an activity (multi-modal approach) for this artwork and include the following:

1. Brief description of activity: What will the students do? (i.e. writing, drawing, movement):

Students will form small groups to identify cultural values and themes that are evident in this collage.  Using the 6-word memoir activity, each group will brainstorm their ideas and create a final memoir using construction paper and pastels.

2. Directions: How will you introduce this activity and what directions will you give your students?

“We have talked about the cultural values that that are represented in Gaugin’s images of Tahiti, both real and imagined.  What words would you describe these ideas?”

In groups of 3, brainstorm your ideas, and then select the 6 common words that are most important to each person in the group.  Using construction paper and various pastel chalk colors, create a final 6 word memoir to share with the group.

3. Goals: What are your goals for including the activity in the conversation?

1. To synthesize the conversation regarding the cultural values depicted in the images
2. To encourage the use of color, as Gaugin did, to depict his imaginary beauty of Tahiti.

 Evaluation Phase: Does the activity relate to the artwork? Are the instructions/prompts clear? Is the activity developmentally appropriate?

How’d I do?  For me, the success of the project will be if other educators are encouraged to utilize inquiry based learning in their classroom using art!  Thank you again to my Personal Learning Network for all your support during the last 5 weeks!