CyberGame Pedagogy

CyberGame Pedagogy

Throughout my journey into investigating digital game play as education, I landed on planning a lesson using the program Scratch.  When first diving into the world of creating digital games to teach art, I found some game platforms to be more self explanatory and easy to follow than others. Even though I use technology often and am very experienced using it as a classroom and art teacher, making the games and the computer knowledge that comes along with that seemed complicated to me. Having to fully understand a game or digital resource both inside and out before handing it over to students is imperative, so I had to do some learning of my own.  After reading about story and its possible link to this digital world and Han's connection to student motivation, I realized I wanted to pick something that would be motivating to my elementary students.  Looking through all the possibilities, Scratch seemed like the best tool for me because it lets them play in a familiar setting (as they use this in STEM class) while incorporating elements of art in something they already enjoy. Playing the games came easy to me and I feel like that might be the case with students, too.  With Scratch, yes it is a game you play in a sense, but there is a lot more creation that goes into it - which is why I think it fits with art education so nicely.


Lesson Title: Exploring Abstraction using the Elements of Art and Scratch Jr. 
Author: Courtney Latorre

Grade: 1
Topic: Abstract Art – Elements of Art & Digital Coding 
Time Frame: 2:05-2:55

Objectives/Learning Outcomes:
*Students will create an abstract work of art on Scratch Jr. using elements of art such as line, shape, and color. 
*Students will be able to understand and explain the concept of abstract art. 
*Students will be able to identify an abstract artist. 
Student Assessment:
Formative Assessment:
Formative assessment will be gauged throughout the lesson and changes will be made in teaching based on student participation both in the technological and demonstration activities.

Summative Assessment:
The summative assessment for this lesson will be the students’ completed projects. I will assess using my classroom rubric for work habits. In addition to looking for understanding of non-objective art and elements of art included in their work. 

Key Standards:
1st Grade- VA:Cr2.1.1a
Explore uses of materials and tools to create works of art or design.
1st Grade- VA:Cr3.1.1a
 Use art vocabulary to describe choices while creating art.

 Lesson Materials:
Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan
Student Chromebooks
Projector
Hook/Activating Prior Knowledge:
Students will gather on the carpet and I will begin class, as usual, with a read aloud. I will read aloud, Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan to hook students into the lesson and provide context for what we will be working on today. 

Sequence of Instruction:
1. After reading aloud, I will ask students to remind me what kind of artist Jackson Pollock was. After identifying that Pollock was an abstract artist, we will review what abstract art is. This will be a review for students, as we spent time at the beginning of the year studying Kandinsky and explicitly learning about abstract/non-objective art. 
2. I will explain their task today is to create an abstract work of art using the elements of art, but rather than using materials in the classroom, they will be animating their work on Scratch Jr. Students are familiar with Scratch Jr. from their STEAM class. 
3. Using the projector, I will demonstrate Scratch Jr. from my own computer. First, students will use the draw tool to draw their work using shapes, lines, and color. I will remind students that this is non-objective work, so I will ask them to remind me of things they might add and things they should not add. 
4. Next, I will show students how to select a shape or object and add movement in Scratch Jr. 
5. Students will have time to explore and playfully develop their coded creations. Once they have completed their work, they will save it and upload it to our google classroom. 
Closure:
6. To conclude, students will have the opportunity to take a virtual gallery walk on google classroom where they can view and interact with their classmates’ Scratch Jr. creations. 

Assessment:
With student work uploaded to their google classroom, I can easily go through and see which students understood how to create abstract art using shape, line and color. I can also see which students were successfully able to use Scratch Jr. 

Differentiated Instruction:
Adaptation: To help students that may struggle with Scratch Jr., I will have printed out visual scratch programs that they can copy to make their creations move. Once comfortable with following the visual directions, they can begin to create their own programs. 
Example: 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Public Pedagogy of Everyday Objects

Image
My home is my nest. It is a space I have carefully constructed to feel secure, to feel protected. Each pillow, lamp, and chair carefully selected to create comfort. The colors and scents reflective of the image I present to the world. My nest is my space, when I enter it I feel a return to the familiar. The familiar is one in which I have constructed. After viewing  Pepón Osorio’s sculptures, I made a connection between the art in which he has intentionally and purposefully created and the narrative constructed often unintentionally in one's home. In contrast, Do Ho Suh brings forward the theme of home being a relative concept. Something not necessarily physically, but more of a spirit or embodiment of home that can be fluid or transfered. I connected with this as my home or feeling of home is often just a reflection of my sense of self. My sense of self can be transported to the cafe in which I drink my Sunday coffee or the yoga studio in which I teach my Tuesday night class. Most...
Read more

Exploration 5- Data Visualization Analysis

Image
  Exploration 5 - Data Visualization Analysis For my visual data analysis I wanted to take note of what is present in my students’ creations - what is present for them and how they chose to explore identity will be my next inquiry. To do this, with a central focus for my action-research thinking, I planned a three-day long collaboration with the music teacher.  We went about looking into how and why artists participate in portraiture, a cause creation, and finally the making of an identity map.  Through all of this, it was interesting to take note of what students chose to include (or exclude) from their creations.  DATA: There was a total of 27 students who participated in person (remote students kept their artwork).  Stand-out stats:  Hair - 20 out of 27 students included their hair in their self-portrait. Career/Interest - 15 out of 27 students mentioned a career they want to pursue or an interest/hobby that comes across blatantly in their self-portrait....
Read more

Exploration 3- Narrative Inquiry

Image
  The above illustration depicts the doodles collected in my sketch book after a week of reflecting upon identity. After explorations 1 & 2, the theme I kept finding myself returning to was the idea of identity and how who I am and who I perceive myself to be shapes who I am as an educator. This led me to ponder how the identity of my students influences who they are as learners and how they make meaning out of what they are learning. 
Read more