Lesson 1: Place and Play Lesson Number 1, Art 1, 2-4th grade, 1-2 class periods
Elementary students are learning about their local environment and community and their own place within it. Students reflect on their relationship to place and their own mobility within it by playing within public space. Students collaboratively design games that structure their exploration and creating mappings of their local environment. Students are introduced to ideas of the Situationist International, contemporary walking artists and the mobile game ROAM.
Key Concepts: Our relationship to place informs our sense of self and community. Using games to structure exploration welcomes chance and invites creative engagement. Navigating and orienting space, we learn about our local environment through moving through it. The design of our built environment influences our behavior and our behavior influences our environment. Getting lost or wandering without focusing on reaching a destination can help us to observe the world around us.
Essential Question:
How do we navigate our world?
How do we construct a sense of place?
What can we learn from places?
How do we map place? How do we map experience?
How do we construct meaning and narrate experiences within place?
Where do we feel at home?
Where do we have access to and where can we not go?
Lesson Objectives: The student will be able to make walking protocols using chance or game structures by looking at artists who use walking and mapping to respond to their local environments. The student will be able to engage with their immediate environment using game structures by using ROAM Playing Cards. Student engagement will be assessed on their completion of their own playing cards.
Specific Art Content: Students will identify walking as a way of knowing using different sense perceptions to notice the world around them. Students will observe their local environment, looking for symbols in architecture, patterns in nature and meaning in social space.
Artists/Artwork: Situationist International, Francis Alÿs, Gabriel Orozco, Jorge Macchi, Julie Libersat
Resources & Materials: Power Point presentation Computer or Tablet ROAM Playing Cards Notepad or small books Walking shoes Pencil
Instruction and Its Sequencing: Students will get introduction to the unit and the ideas of getting lost. Students will engage in a guided sense walk. Students will become familiar with vocabulary.
Introduction/Motivation: Present idea of games and getting lost. Ask students if they enjoy exploring and what kinds of things they notice. Share artwork of Francis Alÿs, Jorge Macchi and images of parkour, parades, protests, etc..
Guided Practice Using examples and a short guided walk, Instructor will demonstrate how we can create simple games for an embodied engagement with space using ROAM Playing Cards. Students will practice using different units of measurement, and verbs to direct physical engagement and navigation. Similar to Simon Says, students will take turns making directions.
Independent Practice Students will use ROAM Worksheet to fill in their own Direction and Capture Prompts.
Closure Students will be prepared to begin brainstorming ideas and ways that setting up games and directions can structure a walk. What kinds of spaces would be good for what kinds of movement? What kinds of things will we notice in different environments? Student have homework: Observe their journey between school and home. Instruct them to collect objects that they find on their way. Students will create a visual map of their trip, from memory during the next class session. Formative Evaluation Instructor will ask questions to initiate discussion to assess students’ understanding of ideas presented. Student worksheets will help Instructor to assess student understanding. Classroom Management Procedures In order to facilitate physical engagement, students will be led in a call and response exercise to encourage participation and reduce chaos. Students can be paired or put in groups of three to complete worksheets.
Summative Assessment and Evaluation: Summative assessment is based on student engagement, participation in activity and reflection during discussion. Instructor will assess student engagement through the completion of their own playing cards.