Instructional Strategies
The primary instruction strategies for this unit are direct instruction and inquiry-based learning. The instructor will model proper material use with direct instruction. Students will explore new materials through experimentation with colour. Students will create artworks using their new art technique skills and demonstrate critical thinking with their development of artworks using colour to create desired effects. Drawing materials such as crayon and marker require different techniques than ink and paints.[75] Students will learn the basic anatomy of the human eye. Students will create and mix colours with paint. Students will also analyze contemporary artworks and reflect on their perception of colours in them. The unit will culminate in students exploring how colour creates awe and beauty in our experience of art.
First grade students often take their artwork home after creating projects. Keeping a sketchpad in class over the period of the unit of five weeks will create a visual record of their learning process. The children’s book Drawing Is… by Elizabeth Haidle describes drawing as evidence of existence. In the Asking Questions in Biology seminar, I explored how to encourage enquiry and reflection among my students. An idea for this learning enquiry kit was inspired by a visit to the Peabody Museum. On a visit to the Peabody Museum this June I stopped to look at a specimen of a sea turtle accompanied by a drawing. I read in the caption that specimens like it had been collected on a journey by an African American man named John Dean who was a steward on a ship voyage from 1838 – 1892. He did drawings of what he observed and collected on the journey. The goal of this unit is to empower students to ask questions and test their hypotheses about colour using the tools at their disposal in the art classroom. I will provide students with a kit comprised of a pencil, paintbrush, sketchpad, prism and a magnifying glass. Throughout the process of the unit students will use their sketchpad as a place to record their observations and lessons learned as a record of their learning process.
Students will reflect on their process of learning by keeping a sketchpad where they record observations and test ideas with design and mixing of colour for artworks. The children’s book Mysterious Things by Andy J. Pizza and Sophie Miller is about the unknown and can spark curiosity about what the world. Another student resource recommended for use in this unit is the book A Day with The Artist by Nia Gould which has examples of artists throughout Western art history and encourages students to spot details about them. The books Glow by Noelia Gozalez and Sara Boccaccini Meadows and Spectacular Miracles of Nature by Philippe Nessmann are resources students can use to understand the physics of light in space.
Students will create artwork individually but they will have opportunities to pair and share their observations especially when learning how to mix colours. Evaluation will be performance based and students will work independently to create artworks. The unit will culminate with the analysis of German artist Kurt Schwitter’s assemblage Merzbild mit Regenbogen (Merz Picture with Rainbow). Students will discuss the cultural context in which we understand colour and how bias/ignorance influences human perception. In the process of creating a drawing design for an assemblage students will learn about composition which is an important component of designing artworks as it shows viewers what is important to look at.[76]
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