Grade 2 - What is the purpose of art?

Central Idea:

Cultures use art to portray their beliefs and values.

This is a Transdisciplinary Unit that offers strong connections with art. The overall understanding from the art perspective is that one of the purposes of art is to express beliefs, values and traditions as well as the technical resources available at a given time and place.

As a provocation, the students are surprised by various cultural artefacts scattered around the classroom. In groups, they observe the artefacts and seek to find information about: 

- What is it? 

- Where does it come from? 

- What is it made of? 

- What is it used for?

Following this first moment of interaction with the artefacts, each group gets to present their findings and explain what signs led them to certain conclusions. The rest of the class has the opportunity to express whether or not they agree with the group's findings. 

This research session is complemented with the observation of some Chinese artefacts and a discussion about the symbology they carry. It is curious to see that some students already have some familiarity with their meanings, either because they have similar objects at home or because they have studied them in Chinese class, and is notable in their willingness to participate. 

Through the discussion about the symbology that these objects carry, the connection is established that certain superheroes are known to carry amulets or talismans that protect them from dangers and give them certain powers. This link with the imaginary of superheroes seeks to create connections with the universe of students' interests and help them to understand the idea of an object as a deposit of powers. 

This Unit focuses on two areas of knowledge: 

1. The symbology of cultural artefacts 

2. The exploration of clay hand-building techniques 

Know, Understand, Do - Unit learning goals.

After the understanding of what a talisman is and its purpose, students are challenged to create their own. To support this creative process, they are guided through the following questions: 

- How does it look like? 

- What is its power? 

- How is it used? 

Initially, students are left free to come up with their own ideas. No limitations are given regarding its feasibility. The important is that each student is able to find a purpose for their talisman. 

After this first creative moment, the students engage in an exploration session with clay. This session allows the observation of what knowledge students have about hand-building techniques, and processes as well as familiarity with specific terminology. This session also allows establishing clay room work routines. The exploration is also a moment to discuss the properties of clay. 

The discussion is guided through the following questions: 

- What is clay? 

- Where does the material come from? 

- Why do we find clay of different colours? 

- What happens to clay when left in the open air? 

- How can we guarantee that the clay remains soft until the next class? 

- What is the ideal way to join two pieces of clay? 

- What is slip?  How can we make it? 

- What happens to clay when subjected to high temperatures? 

- What is the name of the paint used in ceramics? 

- What is glaze made of? 

- What is the function of glaze? 

- What would happen if we put water in an unglazed pot?

 

Following these learning engagements, students are encouraged to reflect on their design. Some designs are initially very complex and there is the need to readjust. This reflection exercise allows students to make connections with the newly acquired knowledge and make predictions about possible outcomes. 

The reflection is an important to assess what knowledge, understanding and skills they have developed during the Unit. Due to the fact that there is a great diversity of writing and oral skills in Grade 2 classes, students are encouraged to combine writing with drawing. Students are faced with the following challenge: 

- How would you explain your project to someone who doesn't know how to read? 

- Imagine that you have to communicate your project on a comic book page? 

To support students in this process, the following questions are asked: 

- How many steps can you divide this project into? 

- What happens at each step? 

This moment of reflection is an important element to access the individual understanding of each student about what a talisman is, what is its function, about the use of the particular processes and terminology of clay.

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