Artventure: To Green School Bali, Indonesia

I have just returned from a course in Bali, Indonesia. Many of my friends expressed skepticism when I said that. Given its rich culture and traditions, my friends would be forgiven for holding that thought. Between 4 and 8 Sept 2017, I attended the Green Educator Course (GEC) at Green School (GS). 

GS is a sustainable campus on both sides of the Ayung River. The school is designed to operate with alternative energy sources such as hydraulic and solar power. The buildings were made from local bamboo, grown utilising sustainable methods and employed innovatively and experimentally. 

I enjoy listening to or experiencing things that challenged my (often unknown) assumptions. So, I wanted to learn about a school in a different context. The great contrast would spur me to find out more about things that I do not know yet. The theme for this course was 'Building Entrepreneurial Communities’. In Singapore, educators would have heard of the word 'entrepreneurial spirit' in relation to education umpteen times, in media or the news. 

In Green School, 'Entrepreneurial and Enterprise' is a subject area and a methodology. GS staff managing different aspects of teaching and learning presented to us their expertise and answered our questions to help us learn about GS students' experiential learning. The essential questions addressed are:

• What does it mean to engage with the world and one's own learning in an entrepreneurial fashion?
• How do we add value to the world through our efforts, as part of our learning?

GS, being its 10th year has received much media attention. It didn't just established itself as a 'cool' school that advocate for the environment. John Hardy and his wife, Cynthia are founders of the school and they were inspired by a design concept '3 Springs' written by Alan Wagstaff.

They also believe that bamboo offers an innovative response to the problems faced by contemporary design. In order to be used as building material, bamboo is ready for use in just 3 years, compared to fir tree that needs to grow between 12 to 15 years while an oak needs at least 120 years. Its characteristics such as shape, performance, lightness and strength make it a highly renewable resource. 

In the sustainability model, the environment, the economy and human society are portrayed as concentric, one sphere lying within another. The economy is set within society, and the society is set within the environment. If we destroy the environment, which sustains us and provides our air, water and food, then we will destroy human society. If we destroy human society, we will certainly destroy the economy. Thus, the environment is the most important of the three because without it we have nothing. Based on this assumption, protection of the environment is the best way of sustaining both ourselves and everything else that lives on the earth.

Being aware of environment issues is just the tip of the iceberg. People can choose to take actions or take a back seat. The activities that we do can change a society of passive consumers into a society of active producers (makers). Sustainability combines ecological, social, cultural and economic dimensions which demands integrated understandings and responses. Since it is highly complex, systems thinking and holism are adopted. 

GS' focus on sustainability and their interdisciplinary teaching and learning sits very well together because the systemic links between energy consumption, climate change, loss of biodiversity and poverty (World Goals) are national/ international agendas. These issues are evident in media reports and the need for multiple perspectives and integrative approaches are crucial as reflected in many ground-up initiatives.

I was the only Art teacher in the group and it might get you wondering what has my subject area got to with my learning in GEC. There are a wide and diverse set of understandings, discourses and practices around the notion of sustainability. These range from basic issues such as the use and recycling of the materials used in art lessons through to more complex issues such as the role of the art(s) as a tangible means of articulating and disseminating ideas about sustainability. In the midst of an uncertain future, artists often explore narratives of consumption and investigating our relationship with landscape and the environment.

Enough of my ramblings! More photos in my next post!

Art Class: Seeing is Believing? [Part II]

The upper primary children were given isometric paper (as shown in the first photo) to draw their names in 3D bubble letters. They were given isometric dot paper as they had experience drawing quadrilaterals in their Mathematics class. Some of the children had a lot of difficulties writing 3D bubble letters but they were determined to own their own 'glass paint' so they had to redo their work. Some words of encouragement definitely helps and also practical help from their friends to ensure no one is left behind.

The children's work are kept between wax paper, with the waxy side facing the glass paint. I've tried chicken rice paper and freezer paper and both worked well. Children should learn how to take care of their work, especially in the process of transportation so they can preserve it for the enjoyment of others. They were warned that it would be disastrous if the glass paint come into contact with other worksheets in their bag!

Art Class: Seeing is Believing? [Part I]

We started the lesson with the above question. Some children love to debate on this issue as they have personal real-life examples to share. Then we proceeded to watch Professor Richard Wiseman video on "assumption". While some have problems explaining the meaning of assumption, I just asked them if anyone check for faulty stools before taking a seat in class (Usually none of them do). So, by not checking, all of them are making an ASSUMPTION that their stools are good to sit. The children today isn't as gullible anymore. BUT, you can't always assume! The part about discerning facts from fiction especially online is still my thing. So, I like showing them another video "the ball" that is fun to watch.

Throughout the unit, we had discussion about various artwork and artists related to the theme such as the Ames illusion, M.C. Escher's work, notice the anamorphic skull in "The Ambassadors" painting, read story about "The contest of Zeuxis and Parrhasius".

Link real-life examples of what the children are learning where possible. For example, you can share the research by Kokichi Sugihara, a Japanese Mathematician and his 3D optical illusions that are used to help in reducing traffic congestion on freeways.

Art Club: Excursion to National Gallery Singapore

On 9 Aug '17, Singapore celebrated 52 years of independence. The children visited the National Gallery Singapore to find out about our history through architecture. The pupils went into their breakout groups with their guides to learn about how two iconic buildings were seamlessly redesigned as one. 

Art Class: Kinetic drawing

For the past few weeks, the P1s children have been exploring drawing and painting. To be more specific, we are doing kinetic drawing. I try to include more movement in art class for the younger ones and I can't imagine art lessons to be another pen and paper kind of task.

The videos below give a brief idea to kinetic drawing, inspired by the artist, Heather Hansen. During class discussion, we spoke about how the arts not having to be viewed as a single entity. Some artists can combine different kinds of arts together to make an artwork. An example is Heather Hansen. She uses her entire body to draw. Unlike painting, performance arts such as Dance exist mainly as events in time (Robinson, K. 1989). When the music, the dance or drama ends, there is no physical object left to see or touch. Without recording devices, it is never to be seen or heard again unless it is performed again. Thus, what Heather Hansen seems to do is to reject the theory that Dance only exists in time.

In class, we did kinetic drawing by getting the children to work in pairs. The standing person will do some movement while the artist will try to "record" their movement on the mini whiteboard. Thus, this activity serves as a tuning in for our upcoming art task.

Robinson, Ken. 2008.  The Arts in School: Principles, practice and provision. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London.

Art Club: ArtScience Project

We have just begin our ArtScience project this semester. In the previous week, we visited Art Science Museum for an excursion and to experience interactive art installations. We were also very lucky to have a pupil's father, Mr Joshi, an ex-engineer came to speak to the pupils. The point of the talk is to let pupils be aware that knowledge don't occur in isolation so it is important to be competent in different subjects. He used real-life examples in his work to explain about the importance of collaboration.

The upper primary pupils are working together in pre-allocated groups of 4. Each group has at least one P4 and P5 pupils to ensure cross-level sharing. Their first lesson was introductory play with electronic components (Batteries, crocodile clips, LEDs, small bulb, DC motor, copper tape, bulb holder, buzzer). I give them a brief introduction and told them the function of each component. With the components, they are supposed to figure out how to complete a closed circuit by lighting up LEDs/ bulbs and sound the buzzer.

If you would like to try them out yourself, head to Sim Lim Tower to purchase your electronic components! Alternative, you can enroll in Coursera.org to do a free course on Tinkering Fundamentals. There are also more information on Exploratorium website for projects with real-world connections.

Art Class: Cleanup Contest

I started this cleanup contest in the beginning of the year as I dread seeing children taking their own sweet time to clean up the art room. This "contest" is a good way for the children to master telling time in a context. I encourage them to write in terms of minutes and seconds while translating what they see in this digital version of time. 

During cleanup time, it does look quite chaotic but the job gets done very quickly. Making everyone doing the cleanup means that they are learning to work together as a class. They also become empathetic because they would take initiative to help others to clean up their mess after they are done with theirs.   

A few weeks ago, I had someone from a P1 class said that cleaning is not for boys. I was fuming mad when I heard this. I confronted the 7-year-old boy and he claimed that his father taught him. At home, his sister and mother does all the household chores and he do not need to lift a finger to help. I couldn't believe my ears. An existence of a patriarchal household in the 21st century! Needless to say, he has to play his part in school.

This article comes timely. An open statement for everyone. It could be apt for a society like ours when some children are being served by an adult e.g. domestic helpers (see this article for a film regarding the issue) and assumed that the world only revolves around him/her.