Creative learning in visual arts provides students with the opportunity to explore art in a more organic way by allowing them to discover on their own how they might create a work of art with different materials. All art tools and materials are kept on a resource table so students can have easy access. The task is open-ended yet built on the students’ skills and knowledge about the elements of art.
Play-based learning can encompass a number of different forms within the intermediate visual arts classroom. When you walk into my classroom, you may see some students on their own enjoying solitary play, while others are playing cooperatively or individually but alongside their peers.
Some art activities are structured with specific steps to follow, while others are unstructured to allow students to initiate their own creative process. At various times, the class is simultaneously participating in specific play-based learning art activities, rotating through stations or creating their own activities. When I provide my students with the opportunity to create their own play-based learning experiences, I observe them engaging in the creative process — problem-solving, taking risks and discovering something new about themselves as learners and people.
Gordie, a 12-year-old grade seven student, thrives within the play-based learning environment. He is the epitome of a kinesthetic learner—he needs to move in order to think. We have a mutual agreement that he is free to move around the room as long as he stays focused on the learning and does not distract his peers. Gordie is often spotted at the science station or art station, tinkering around with whatever materials are available for exploration.
Recently, the students engaged in a visual arts play-based learning opportunity that empowers them to experiment with various types of artistic tools and media. Gordie took a leadership role and fostered trust and curiosity within the eight other students in his group. Gordie’s group chose to create a rainforest landscape in a display cabinet in the hallway. The students were stimulated by their creative freedom and decided to use found materials from home and the community for their artwork. They took great pride in the items they brought in and found lots of reasons to laugh and admire the vast array of materials contributed (from plastic bottles to hardware parts to scraps of crafting items). Gordie was pensive during this process, carefully examining each item and suggesting possible uses to the group.
During the creative process, Gordie was optimistic about his talent and vision. If he tried something and it didn’t work out as hoped, he would alter his work or start again using new material. Sometimes, the process seemed a little frustrating for Gordie as he was determined to make his creation look exactly as he pictured it in his head. He didn’t give up but instead would ask for suggestions from group members or would quietly wander around the room to see what others were doing and seek inspiration from their methods and creations. This ability to take risks and experiment demonstrated Johnny’s self-confidence and high self-esteem in visual arts. His classmates also appeared to gain new-found appreciation for him and his talents. Until this point, the students would notice Gordie wandering around the room and find it annoying, but during this activity, when Gordie wandered in contemplation they eagerly awaited to see and hear what new insights he would offer to the class.
For my part, I had an epiphany when teaching a math lesson on how to calculate the surface area of prisms. I had noticed Gordie doing something at his desk in the back and suspected he wasn’t paying attention. After my lesson, I quietly walked over to his desk to talk to him only to find that he had created several prisms out of plasticine which had been left on the art table. He also had all the formulae we had been discussing written out in various types or media (from crayon to paint). When I asked Gordie to explain how to solve a specific question, he did so with a level of detail I had never heard from him before. Gordie had included his enjoyment of creative learning into mathematics to help him flourish. The creative play-based learning opportunity established a safe learning environment where Gordie could detect patterns and learning opportunities as well as fosters the skills of persistence, patience and practice associated with various learning skills outlined on the report card.
Students will design and create two and three-dimensional works of art.
Assessment for Learning (AFL)
Individual > Student-Teacher Conferences: When the student(s) finishes a piece of artwork conduct a student-teacher conference to discuss work, technical skills and their creative process ( The Arts Curriculum, p.20).
Visual Arts
(Ref: Ontario Ministry of Education. The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: The Arts, 2009)
Teacher provides the following directions to students:
Find your own space in the room. When I say “Move around,” all of you start to move around the room like particles traveling through space. When I call out a number, you must get together with people closest to you to form a group of that number. For example, if I call out ‘Huddle 4’ you would need to get into groups of four. If there is anyone left over, hide that person in the center of your huddle.
Once everyone has established a huddle, pause for a moment, then ask the students to walk individually around the room again. Practice this with the students three or four times so they understand the fundamentals of the game. Now, inform the students that you will also call out an element of design along with the huddle number, for example: Huddle 5 Line. Ask students to quickly collaborate within their huddle groups to create a body sculpture (tableaux) that represents the element. Ask students to remember where they are standing, with whom they are collaborating and their body position within the sculpture. Teacher should call out a few more huddle numbers with elements. Once a few of these have been established, repeat calling the various huddle numbers with elements. When the students have a grasp of the activity, call out just the huddle number (so students can practice recalling the elements of art).
Art Gallery
Establish a class art gallery to showcase student work. All culminating tasks should be showcased as well as any drafts/revisions of work that were created during the creative process (The Arts Curriculum, 2009, p.20). Ask students to describe their learning experiences throughout the creative process. This can be done in presentations or in written format depending on grade level.
Portfolio
Ask students to keep either their original work or a photograph of their work in a portfolio. Have students examine each other’s portfolios and comment (using the Elements of Design) on the artwork created by the student artists. Consider having each student also keep a Reflection Log in their portfolios to track their feelings and experiences in visual arts.
For students who may be experiencing a creative block, consider asking them to look up a specific artist on the internet or to look at art books for inspiration. For students who require more structure, consider setting up four or five stations that showcase artists and/or demonstrate a specific skill. Ask the student to create their own interpretation of what they observed at a station using either the same/similar materials of the original piece of work or their own choice of materials.
For naturalist learners, encourage students to gather tools and materials from outside to incorporate into their work. For logical/mathematical learners, encourage students to create or identify patterns in their work.
“I thought it was fun because you got to be like a real architect and build your own train track.”
“It was a fun way to end our measurement unit because it helped us be responsible with money so when we’re older we’ll know how to budget.”
“It was a good challenge in budgeting with $100. It kept us focused on how many straws we actually needed and we didn’t waste any materials.”
“I also liked building a train engine and figuring out its volume and how much time it would take to go around the track once. This really got us thinking about what we learned in our unit.”
“I want to do more of these activities in the future because they are creative and lots of fun!” “The most challenging part of this activity was building the bridge. We had trouble keeping it up with the materials we had. After a while, our group problem solved and used tape instead of glue to keep the bridge up.”
“By setting our goals, we were able to finish our train track successfully.”
Play-based learning is closely connected to brain-based learning. The brain naturally learns through emotional connections exhibited during creative, enjoyable activities which “develop the pathways in the brain that affect future health, learning and behaviour; and even the shape of the brain” (ETFO, 2011, from My Playbook, www.ultimateblockparty.ca).
During the lesson I was mindful of maintaining a safe and accepting environment. This was accomplished by following our classroom norms. Within heterogeneous groupings of four to five students, everyone had the opportunity to share their ideas openly and feel comfortable knowing their opinions were validated and appreciated by others.
