This week Diarmuid presented us with the opportunity to explore the Children’s Art Archive This included work from children from all over the U.K. It was laid out into early, first and second level examples.

At early level, (McAuliffe, 2007) states that children tend to move their whole arm to create art as well as stabbing like motions. This piece is what looks to be a child’s interpretation of a rainforest. You can see the while arm movements in the trunk of the tree, and I must admit that I was blown away with the creativity and standard of the work.

 This first level piece is also of a high standard; however, it looks like part of a teacher-lead activity and not as spontaneous or creative. It is at a much higher level of detail and the attention to this detail is overwhelming. This could have been part of a topic related IDL.

This second level artwork definitely looks like topic related IDL. At this stage, children become aware of artists and their styles and become more critical of their own abilities and inhibitions. This is referred to as the ‘gang stage’ (McAuliffe, 2007). I really like how this particular piece tells a story of what the child imagines pre-historic times was like.

Overall this lesson provided me with an insight into children’s art and how to handle and not assess – but to appreciate it, and to display it with pride.

 McAuliffe, D (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11 (ed). London: Continuum.

This week was our first week in Integrated Arts.
 
In art, we were asked to note down our experiences with the arts – both negative and positive. Our lecturer taught us about how when children scribble, it is art. If children are creating art to show us how they see the world, it is important that we take care and interest and engage with their art (McAuliffe, 2007).

During Music, we were learning about Music Appreciation. To start off, we listened to five sound bites and we were then asked to write down how they made us feel. Bloomfield & Childs (2000) suggests that art gives us a chance to all appreciate the arts individually. This was the first time I feel like I really understood this concept. In the classroom, this concept could be introduced to children in a very similar way.

Our next activity was to listen to a longer piece of music and create a storyboard of what we thought was happening. The music was the Tin Soldier from Disney’s Fantasia. What was interesting is that although each group had different ideas, we all had similar themes. In a classroom situation, this would be a great stimulus for imaginative writing and would also cover music E’s & O’s too!

Bloomfield, A and Childs, J (2000) Teaching Integrated Arts in the Primary School. Oxon: David Fulton Publishers.

McAuliffe, D (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11 (ed). London: Continuum.

The last two week we have spent our time looking at Climate Change and the best way to teach it.

Whilst many people try to deny the existence or the major issues surrounding Climate Change,  the evidence and the devastating effects are hugely prominent.

Due to the nature of this topic and the fact that it has such a large topic base, it is more appropriate to explore in depth with second level students rather than first level.

In our lecture, we looked at a brief introduction to teaching climate change and the main issues surrounding the topic itself and the issues that can occur when going to teach it. Our first workshop looked at further links with politics and policies. We looked in depth at how climate change affected people in certain case studies and what their governments could do to support them.

Our last workshop was a practical workshop with a range of science experiments we could use in a classroom to further consolidate the physical features of climate change. These activities were very beneficial to my understanding in both how to teach climate change and an insight into the physical factors.

For our directed study task, I watched a video explaining the effects on the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps and how we were causing them to melt. This shocked me as many of the things I learned are simple things that if we all banded together we could change. When I looked at my carbon footprint, it astounded me that it was so high. The main reason for this was due to my long daily commutes from Dumfries. Once I finish my course, then I can walk or cycle to work, but currently, it is too far from me.

I have chosen the town where I live (Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway) as my urban environment for this task. Dumfries is a market town in South-West Scotland near the border with England. The area around Dumfries is quite rural and a lot of farming activity occurs.

There are three main roads that connect to and from Dumfries; The A75 (Connecting south towards Annan and Carlisle and further South), The A76 (Connecting North to places such as Sanquhar, Cumnock and Ayr) and The A701 (Connecting North to Moffat and towards Edinburgh and Glasgow) [Appendix 1].

Dumfries has many historical buildings that make up the history and culture of the town itself [Appendixes 2&3]. The High Street and The Vennel (two of the main streets in the Central Business District) are vastly made up of these historical buildings. There are also two main green-spaces in Dumfries – The Dock Park and Castledykes Park [Appendixes 4&5]. The main transport in Dumfries is busses and trains. The busses are used more and are on the most part more regular than the trains. There are two trains pass through Dumfries (Both part of the same route connecting Carlisle and Glasgow Central).

Dumfries has four libraries with the main and oldest being The Ewart Library. Also, each housing estate in Dumfries has it’s own community centre that can be used by all.

Dumfries is a learning town with lots of work going on locally to improve education [Dumfries & Galloway Council]. In addition to many Primary schools, Dumfries has four Secondary schools, Dumfries and Galloway College and two university campuses (The University of the West of Scotland and The University of Glasgow).

There are two main sports centres in Dumfries also (The David Keswick Centre and DG1) which can be accessed by anyone making sports accessible to all. Also, there are two theatres and a cinema for recreation. Although there are not many options for young people if they wanted to go somewhere in town for fun, many local charities have become involved in getting young people engaged inn activities and hobbies such as a project called “The Toon”.

Dumfries has four main industrial estates where many people choose to work. With being an Urban/Rural town, many people are involved in agriculture and dairy work. This has opened up the way for some local farmers markets where you can buy good quality produce.

The population of Dumfries and Galloway in 2015 was 149,670 which was a decrease of 0.2 per cent from the previous figure 149,960 in 2014 according to the National Record of Scotland (2016). This shows that the population of the region is in decline.

Dumfries has a high air quality [Air Quality Scotland] with the most recent figures showing a low pollution index of Index 1. This could be due to the rural connections in and around the area as Dumfries & Galloway is a rural community.

Appendixes:

Appendix 1 – An ordinate survey map of Dumfries showing the main roads leading to and from the area.
https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/55.08263,-3.60768,13

Appendix 2 – Greyfriars Church.

Appendix 3 – St. Joseph’s College, RC Diocese of Galloway.

Appendix 4 – Castledykes Park.

Appendix 5 – Dock Park.

References:

Dumfries & Galloway Council (2017) Dumfries Learning Town. [Online] Available: http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/article/15958/Dumfries-Learning-Town Accessed: 22/09/17

The National Records of Scotland (2016) Dumfries and Galloway Council Area – Demographic Factsheet. [Online] Available: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/council-area-data-sheets/dumfries-and-galloway-factsheet.pdf Accessed: 23/09/17

Air Quality Scotland (2017) Air Pollution Report – Dumfries. [Online] Available: http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/assets/downloads/AQScotland-statistics-report-DUMF-2017.pdf Accessed: 23/09/17

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