Alex DePagter HS Art

Meet the Maker: Alex DePagter New Berlin West

My name is Alex DePagter and I am a 9-12 grade Art Teacher at New Berlin West. I teach Drawing 1&2, Digital Art Design, and Photography. Maker culture is important part of my curriculum because it gives students the opportunity to explore their interests and create innovative solutions to current problems.

Provocation: How can we use our design skills to draw attention to or solve a problem currently facing our National Parks?

Maker Plan: Problems facing our National Parks

"You could be as creative as you wanted without limits. You could create anything you could think of."

- Juna M, Grade 11

Problems Facing our

National Parks

Project Description

My Digital Art Design Students were tasked with finding a solution to a problem facing our National Parks.

This project was designed to open students their eyes to many issues currently facing our environment, show them how creators brainstorm ideas, revise their work, pitch their ideas to investors, and how an effective marketing campaign can make all the difference.

Students were given the freedom to explore issues they found interesting or important. I had students create a WIDE variety of solutions from organizing a Half-Marathon to creating an app that teaches middle school students strategies for organizing the wilderness safely.

What we are making, Why we are Making, Who we are Making for: Each student was able to choose their area of focus and their audience . Student audiences ranged from elementary students to specific companies that are affecting the Parks.

Project Timeline

Day 1 RESEARCH

- Get Students excited about the National Parks System by sharing experiences, and watching an inspirational video

- Search National Parks record 5 - 10 interesting facts that you found about one or two national parks.

Day 2 PROBLEM STORMING

- Give students brief project overview

- Students research problems that are currently facing one of the national parks they are focusing on

Day 3 DEFINING QUESTION

- How can we use our design skills to increase awareness or solve issues facing the National Parks System?

- Brainstorm solution ideas to current problems

- Fill out Reframing the Problem: Capture Findings Worksheet

Day 4

- Solution Storming Worksheet

- Sketch 5 Solutions to meet audience needs

- Meet with Ms. DePagter and discuss ideas

Day 5

- Meet with group and present problems and solutions.

- Fill out Solution Storming Part II

Day 6-9

- Logo design process

- Decide on 3 defining colors/basic shapes of design

Day 10-15

- Begin Designing Graphic

Day 15-20

- Website design! Put all information together into a cohesive webpage that sells idea.

Day 20-22

- Present ideas to the class

List of Paragraph

Maker Skill Builders & Highlights - All previous coursework lead up to this project

South Park Self Portrait

Students created a likeness of themselves in the South Park Character style. Students are taught to use layers, add texture, create layer masks, and evaluate their learning.

Learn More/ Try it (hyperlink)

Digital Drawing Tablet Practice

Students learned how to use specific equipment that could be useful in creating their finished product.

Learn More

Optical Illusion

In this optical illusion project students took their own images, focused on proportion, scale, skin tones, and adding highlights and shadows.

Learn More/ Try it (hyperlink)

Low-Poly Project

Students transformed a photo into a digital work. Students focused on unity, form, texture, and color.

Student Product Samples:

Amy West, 9th Grade - Cavernous Informational Cave Running Game (app)

Cavernous

Amy created an app that raises awareness about safety and issues facing her National Park. Each time the app is downloaded the $.99 is donated to the National Park. By creating an app that is fun, relevant to kids, and easy to understand Amy has created an easy way to distribute important information related to her park as well as raise funds.

Logo

Amy decided her logo should include the title of her game to make her brand as visible as possible.

Graphic

Amy's Graphic shows the home screen of the game.

Web Page

Amy created a cohesive webpage that displayed all information important to her campaign.

Morgan Anderson- Glacier National Park Informational Campaign

Logo

Morgan created her logo without text so that it could be viewed easily from a distance.

Graphic

Morgan wanted to show the progression of the park through an infographic.

Additional Teacher Resources & Reproducibles:

National Parks Packet

Logo Rubric

Graphic Rubric

Website Rubric

Must know tips for Teachers:

"You got to pick the Solution. I'm interested in engineering and you got to design your own result."

- T.J. 11th Grade

Reflection

SUCCESS- There were many parts to this project that I loved. I really enjoyed the open ended nature of the assignment. I found that students were able to take this project and relate their ideas to something they were interested in. I was a little nervous to give up control but I found that students became invested in their work! I had little to no resistance during this process.

CHALLENGES- The amount of time this project took significantly altered the timeline of other projects in my class. Next year I would set aside more time!

I would 100% do this project again! I had such a positive reaction from my students! This was one of their favorite projects all semester!

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