Art Club: Pupils' project.

The revised Bloom's taxonomy (Fig. 1) is a framework derives by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 to categorise the order of thinking skills where the tip of the pyramid display higher order thinking. With Create as a verb (Fig. 2), Art provides a platform for pupils to display acts of planning, problem solving and meaning making for improvements or radical innovations.

Figure 1. Extracted from http://thesecondprinciple.com/teaching-essentials/beyond-bloom-cognitive-taxonomy-revised/

Figure 2. Extracted from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

While there are different versions of the design process or so called thinking process. The design thinking model (Fig. 3) by d. school, as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University is referenced as it's often held in high regard for how interdisciplinary design thinking and creativity can be taught.  

Figure 3. Design Thinking Process

There is no lack of information of Design Thinking when you run a search online. I was worried that Design Thinking or its counterparts such as Maker Movement or STEAM education are a fad so I read up on the following articles just to wrap my head around these ideas first. You can also sign up for an account on Coursera for this course, Tinkering Fundamentals to get started.

Related articles/ books:

• Petrich, M., Wilkinson, K. & Bevan, B. (2013). It looks like fun but are they learning? PDF 
• James Haywood Rolling Jr (2016) STEAM Locomotion, Art Education, 69:6, 4-5
• Don Glass & Colleen Wilson (2016) The Art and Science of Looking: Collaborative Learning Our Way to Improved STEAM Integration, Art Education, 69:6, 8-14
• Kelly Gloss & Steve Gross (2016) TRANSFORMATION: Constructivism, Design Thinking, and Elementary STEAM, Art Education, 69:6, 36-43
• Kelly W. Guyotte, Nicki W. Sochacka, Tracie E. Costantino, Joachim Walther & Nadia N. Kellam (2014) Steam as Social Practice: Cultivating Creativity in Transdisciplinary Spaces, Art Education, 67:6, 12-9
• Sarabeth erk (2016) Designing for the Future of Education Requires Design Education, 69:6, 16-20
• AnnMarine Thomas, Making Makers: Kids, Tools and the Future of Innovation. (2014) Maker Media: USA
• Wagner, T. (2012). Creating Innovators: The making of young people who will change the world. USA, New York
• Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. USA: New York
• Schell, J.(2008). The art of game design: A book of lenses. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers :USA

ArtScience Project

Here's a sneak peek to what I'm up to during the Summer break. I think the children will be thrilled to do more hands-on activities and create their own games when school reopens.

Artventures: School's Out! Summer's In!

Hi teachers! How did you spent first week of the Summer break? The pessimist in me tells me it's ending real soon. How nice to sleep in and losing track of time doing your own things. 

Just last Sunday, I've contributed an art activity for Pesta Ubin 2017. I'm lucky to have my friend, HT, to help out this year. We went to Pulau ubin the previous week to do some preparation. Thanks to the organiser, Ria, and Uncle Lim, the drink stall owner, who lend us his shop space so that we don't have to break our backs sitting on the ground. Our canvas were the treated coconut husks. Uncle Lim kept them for us and after sunning and sanding them, they were good for painting. Things were moving at a good pace but the sun was unforgiving. I love the smell, sight (grains) and quality of natural wood. I still marvel at how thoughtful the way nature works: you can have something to eat (coconut flesh) and drink (coconut water) and paint (husk) all-in-one compact design. You can view more pictures here.