STREAM Day
INQUIRY: How can my art imitate weather?
ITERATION: Students work the 'Design Thinkinging' model to plan and execute an artwork that imitates weather. The cyclical design process allows students more time to plan, test, and revise solutions. Normalizing mistakes removes fear of failure from student learning. Students are free to take more daring risks which lead to innovative ideas.
INNOVATION: Our open ended art project allows students to personalize learning based on their interests. The students have incredible and unpredictable ideas of their own to explore in the art room. First they think of the 'Why' and then use creativity to problem solve the 'How.' The process provides them with authentic opportunities to dig deeper into content. They want to understand because they need to apply that information to their designs.
Students were presented with ten contemporary artists who create works that imitate weather. This served as a catalyst for students inquiry. Writing down questions about weather or how the artists made these incredible feats of engineering design is step one of the creative process.
You may be asking why this project rubric focuses on "soft skills" rather than technical skills or presentation. My aim is to use the Artistic Habits of Mind to emphasize modes of thinking that are crucial to students' cognitive development. The skills highlighted in the Habits are those that transfer easily to situations outside of the art room walls as they are adaptable to almost any learning situation.