Imagining the Future

What is adult life?

Grade Level: 9th-12th

Teacher Name: Kristina Bowlus

Artist Name: Jennifer Mannebach

Big Idea:

Imagining the Future

Inquiry Question:

What is adult life?

More/Less

How did your team conceive your project? How was inquiry introduced to students and how did you integrate the inquiry process into your project?

Many of the students are graduating this year, and we wanted to work through ideas regarding adult responsibilities and decision-making. Navigating these concerns often starts with determining what makes you feel comfortable and safe, and how you may want some things to change and some to stay the same. We borrowed a prompt from the NYTimes to get started: "What do you want to see more and less of in 2021?"

Students divided the page in half and drew things that represented their intentions, and talked about why they made those choices.

Some expanded this to talk about personal goals for themselves, such as "I want to tell/show people who I am" and "I want to learn to control my anger better so I don't hurt people's feelings".

Students made choices about where they would like to live- proximity to family, friends, job...urban, rural. They also came up with interview questions for adults like "How can you prevent yourself from getting tricked/scammed?"

We used Google slides to play with creating abstractions of furniture and items inside a home

Students moved their objects around within a variety of floor plans

We delivered building kits to students' homes and worked remotely to create foam core 'walls' and talk about design and structure. Some were more literal than others. A few chose to create a narrative within their wall surfaces, and they learned from each other's examples.

A few students were back in class by April.

Mateo and Solmaris in progress

After developing them separately for awhile, these 2 ended up

building their homes together.

Fabian's structure

Xavier's structure

Stacy's structure

Changes

From the initial proposal, to the midyear report, to the project conclusion, how did your team’s project change over the course of the school year? What motivated each change?

Some students had trouble imagining the raw materials coming together to create a 3D form. Others were more into the 3D possibilities and wanted to rush through the drawing/surface application. We provided more time and created several image presentations that demonstrated a variety of possibilities. For some, we had to be more direct about what we were asking. We also looked at the work of Sarah Sze to encourage finding materials around their homes- beyond what was provided in the kits, so that they would feel confident about experimenting.

We ended up talking about sound - We used Spotify and Youtube to find ambient noises that students chose to have around their imagined neighborhood. "What would you hear from your window?"

Imagining the Future 2nd edit.mp4

Ending

How did the project end? Considering the goals you set for yourselves in your proposal, did you achieve what your team sought out to do?

We ended up creating a short video of the pieces arranged as a village in a visually dynamic area of the school. A few students had very specific ideas about sound, choosing a song or background noise. A couple even created their own sounds which we incorporated into the video. There were a few students that didn't participate as much as we had hoped. The interface and lack of physical engagement was just too much for some, but we covered so much in this unit and we're very proud of the students' work. The CAPE project was referenced in other classes where students created a monthly budget. They selected a city and the number of roommates they wanted before browsing apartments on hotpads and figuring out an average cost.

Standard

Choose 1 standard that you worked on and discuss how the standard intersected with a part of your project.

Visualize relationships between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.GMD.B.4

The material box each student received included: foam boards of various shapes/sizes, markers, pipe cleaners, fabric squares, painted plastic sheets, Washi tape, and toothpicks. They were encouraged to use the materials provided, and items they found around their house, to decorate the walls of the foam boards. These 2-D foam boards were later assembled to make walls, ceilings, floors, fences, gardens, pools, etc. Throughout the process of creating their 3-D spaces students tried out different designs and determined which orientation of the boards created the final product they envisioned.

Teaching Reflection

What did you learn about your students and how they learned? What did you learn about the way you teach?

Jennifer: Students all learn differently - the challenge in a remote setting is to facilitate this while also cultivating a group dynamic. Especially under these circumstances, they want to know they are seen and have a voice. I've learned that it is also best to give them time to explore and not be so worried about 'filling in the voids' in terms of conversation or making. I've also learned that expressing authentic concern and listening carefully can go a long way in these limited circumstances. I have known most of these students for a few years, so I think that helped tremendously. I always knew that it was important to remain adaptable to changing needs, but this experience really underscored that and stretched my abilities. Being silly occasionally doesn't hurt either.

Kristina: The majority of the project was completed remotely, and this created several expected challenges, but also some unexpected benefits. In the classroom we have a low student to teacher ratio, so there is regularly an adult nearby working with a student. If we are not providing direct assistance, oftentimes prompts or suggestions are given. In many ways I found it valuable for there to be a physical block between the students' work and the adults. The productive struggle that the students experienced, and the nature of the materials we used (i.e., surfaces that could be layered with new paint, pipe cleaners that could be easily twisted into different shapes, foam boards that could be attached and reattached with toothpicks, etc.), provided them more space for creativity, editing, and problem solving. As instructors in the classroom we want the students to grow, be proud of their accomplishments, and achieve success. A valuable component in achieving those goals is the student's ability to trust themselves and their skills. This project gave the adults practice in what we already know- it is often best to let a student work through a problem rather than "help" too soon.

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