Transforming my piece into an animation made it a multi-sensory experience and allowed the piece to transform into a 3D experience, no longer bound to the paper.

It also allowed me to add another layer of personalisation, as I elected to play Ma Vlast Vltava: Moldau by Bedrich Smetana – one of my favourite pieces (spite its commercial uses).

Visiting Kelvingrove is like visiting a giant, inexhaustible classroom. Every corner has a new learning experience.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the session, but I have been to Kelvingrove several times and adore everything it has to offer.

I am constantly bewildered by how such a plethora of information is available, to all, for free.

I especially feel that any Primary class from P1-P7 would benefit from every section of this museum.The Drama dress-up section allows children the chance to experience a life that it not their own, and it not from their time period. This transcendence of time allows children the ability to earn empathy skills, and can increase emotional and social understanding and ability; children can escape the borders of their own character to experience another.

Children are naturally inquisitive, and will see an object and wonder what its story is. When children are also afforded the opportunity to touch an object, which there are many opportunities to do in Kelvingrove, they add another layer to their experience and can understand the object’s significance further. Children are hands-on and learn through the sensation of touch and the experience of play. Children get a chance to see and feel, increasing their understanding of how objects affect their emotions.

Attendees of this session also got to view Windows in the West (Avril Paton), which would give lesson opportunities into the exploration of Scottish History, deepening the child’s understanding of the concept of culture and heritage.

Reflecting on this session made me think about the concept of creativity. As a summative experience, it made me consider how creativity could be assessed,linking this university experience to classroom potential. After research, I found this quotation that summarises how creativity, a concept which is unique and personal, can be compared an contrasted and properly assessed:

“Creativity involves aesthetic properties but goes beyond these to require novelty and effectiveness. Concentration on aesthetic properties of products, especially useful products, expands the definition of creativity and suggests a set of indicators of creativity: Such indicators offer promise of a universal aesthetic of creativity which would not only expand understanding of creativity but would offer perspectives on assessment of creativity, improve communication regarding creativity, and facilitate creativity-oriented teaching and learning activities.”

Reference: Cropley, D. and Cropley, A. (2011) Creativity and the Abstract.  In: Runco M. and  Pritzker, S. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Creativity, 2^nd ed. [Online] Amsterdam; Boston: Elsevier/ Academic Press. Available: ScienceDirect [Accessed: 04 March 2017].

I finished my art piece by washing it with watercolours, creating a ‘worn parchment’ effect and adding a trebleclef in purple.

I did this quite messily, creating the juxtaposition between organisation and chaos; the pristine and passion – this juxtaposition can be seen in teaching and in music, therefore I thought it was appropriate to embellish my final piece in this way.

I titled the piece “Meine Geige” (“My Violin” in German). I did this because my evocative object is a German trade violin. A trade violin is a violin that is named after the maker (either through their real name or a pseudonym)

Today, we dealt with the outdoors and considered how it is a stimulating and conducive environment in which to teach the Arts.

We were learning the significance of learning in and through the outdoors – 2 distinctively different things. Learning in the outdoors is taking a task that could feasibly be done indoors, but taking it to the outdoor environment to add a creative influence. Learning through the outdoors entails that the outdoor environment is integral to the lesson, and that the environment will be physically interacted with.

In The Arts in Education: An Introduction to Aesthetics, Theory and Pedagogy,  Fleming infers that learning in and through the Arts are two separate things, relating both to ‘personal growth’. My understanding is that this can be expanded, when making mention of the outdoors, as the Arts in and through the outdoors are equally separate. The ‘personal growth’ part can also be related, as the outdoors are where learning can become real. In their lives, people learn through practical and relevant experiences, not limited to classroom walls. Starting education outdoors gives a chance for learning to become relevant throughout the whole educative experience (from child to teengaer), making what is taught more likely to ‘sink in’.

This lesson made, in my mind, a contrast with digital animation. The outdoors gives natural materials that are accessible to all, but digital animation is accessible to most and is likely experienced (for the most part) indoors; there is a contrast between what is natural, and what is man-made technology.

Outdoor learning can also boost engagement in a cost-free way, by literally oxygenating the body and adding a different environment for the educator to interact with, transcending the walls of the classroom.

I was also fascinated by the lack of direction that the session was given; the lack of direction gave creative freedom – there were no rules or regulations, only self expression.

I created a ‘portable puddle’ by weaving wool in and around thread. The thread is attached (one horizontal, one vertical) to a circle of wire.

My vision for this ‘portable puddle’ is that:

1. Children could throw it (like a quadrat), and take a picture of it where it lands. They could then manipulate the pictures through a PC or tablet application. This would bring Technology into the Arts. I have created an example (as above) where I have drawn in fish to make the puddle look more like a pond. I feel this would be beneficial, as it embraces Art across a few mediums.
2. The puddle could be used as a way to discuss the water cycle, bringing in a Science perspective.

As the subjects of Science and Technology are blended with the Arts in this way, I feel like this would be an appropriate STEAM activity.

During my research, I found the following quotation from an arts-based environmental education programme from the Aalto university in Helsinki:

“What happens when we seek to connect with the living world – not through pre-established scientific knowledge, but through an open-ended artful process?” (Boeckel, 2013)

This aided my understanding of the magnitude of arts-based environmental work; the bases this could cover, what this could unlock for a child, etc. Scandinavia has always been at the forefront of education, paving the way and always ‘one-step-ahead of the game’; a Finnish educational programme  promoting arts-based environmental education gives the (un-official) seal of approval.

Reading for next week: The Wonder of a Child

References:

Fleming, M. (2012) The Arts in Education: An Introduction to Aesthetics, Theory and Pedagogy. [Online] Available:  https://www.dawsonera.com/readonline/9780203126240 [Accessed: 04 March 2017].

Image found at: https://pixabay.com/en/learning-teacher-school-outdoor-pa-1782430/

We continued with the evocative object project, transforming our 62 words into a piece of work that reflected our object. As my object was a violin, I chose to create a large-scale sheet of music, using my words as ‘lyrics’.

It was particularly difficult, in my opinion, to create the stave, finding markings down the paper, using a conventional ruler (I had to count down both sides).

Though there were challenges, I found this particularly rewarding when it all started to come together.

I recognise that anything that would be a challenge for me would be even more challenging for children, so this task let me see from their perspective.

I plan to finish this next week, or from home.

We also learned of STEM–>STEAM.

STEAM is integral, in my opinion, as it is undeniable that the Arts play a large part in STEM subjects.

STEAM is also an integral area for a student-teacher to research, as this will set us apart from current teachers; we can add oxygen and give fresh perspective to old thinking. This modal is future thinking, as it proves one’s creativity – creativity is such an important asset as it’s something that sets us apart from machines. Machines may be efficient, but we will always have creativity, and this gives us job security.

“Research shows that when learning is fragmented, students often fail to understand how various subject areas are integrated with each other […] interdisciplinary learning has the potential for building higher-order thinking skills and helping students form meaningful connections between subject areas.” (Capraro and Jones, 2013)

STEAM is also an invaluable asset to pupils, as it allows them to see their subjects as interconnected, and gives them perspective on career paths – they will have a better idea of which field they want to go into, because this subject has been taught in a practical, hands on, play-related way – real life is practical.

STEAM allows for Bloom’s Taxonomy Higher Order Thinking Skills to be utilised and honed. The Arts and STEM subjects share the Create and Apply sections of Bloom’s Taxonomy, allowing children to gain better experience of these skills through cross-curricular, relevant and challenging activities/tasks.

During a recent cinema visit, I viewed the following advert/trailer:

This made an excellent link to STEM subjects, and I feel that this would also make a strong link to STEAM, as Art & Design are integral to STEM subjects (as discussed above). I would therefore find this an appropriate lesson starter when introducing STEAM lessons to a class. This video also discusses the ‘Gender Gap’ in STEM subjects, and I feel that integration into STEAM is an appropriate way to aid in tackling the gender gap.

On recommendation, I have sought out “Creativity and Culture: Art Projects for Primary School” (Nigel Meager). After scanning the book, I have several ideas for integration with Literacy and Numeracy for my Placement – with particular reference to pp. 50 – 52 (pictured above).

References:

Meager, N. (2006) Creativity and Culture: Art Projects for Primary School. 1st Ed. Corsham: NSEAD

Capraro, M. and Jones, M. (2013) Interdisciplinary STEM Project-based Learning Capraro, R., Capraro, M. and Morgan, J. (eds.) STEM Project-based Learning: an Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Approach. [Online] Boston: Sense Publishers. Available: Springer Link. [Accessed: 05 March 2017].