6th graders know
about scale – they define it as: “Big & Small” but “not
just big things or small things, but taking something big, and making
it small, or taking something small, and making it big.” Like
Florentjin Hofman does, for instance, with his 50 ' floating rubber
duck http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/dev/project.php?id=104
6th
graders work with scale all the time – take these detailed
interiors, for instance, in which found objects are re-purposed as
bathroom fixtures, table lamps and computer monitors.
5th graders know how to make two wooden beads transform into a pet bird for a dream-bedroom:
8th
graders know about scale too – as in the “boy-sized book big
enough to get into” that a student is making into a long term
project.
 |
| "C" is using each center and new process to decorate the cover of his "Boy-Size Book" |
In the choice-based
art room, art history lessons often follow student initiative,
instead of precede it. That way, when students invent a project, they
can see how their idea relates to others in the art world – who
else is working in “their” preferred medium, or who else is
considering similar subject matter or approach. This makes learning
relevant and personal, while honoring innovation and creative
approaches to artistic problems.
