Ecology Lesson Final Plan

The Idea

The purpose of this process was to work through the artmaking process to create a model that can be used for demonstrating to students how to create a product that is both artwork and a structure/tool that can be used to serve an ecological use in the local community. This ties in to a current project in the Advanced Art Studio curriculum which covers a focus on ecology and recycling materials into artwork. Given the quantity of country areas in the local region of the school, many of the students have a passing familiarity with the local flora and fauna. Ideally this assignment will provide students with an opportunity to more deeply explore and notice things in their own environments to help build a more mindful community through activism and art.

The Plan

The initial plan for introducing this type of lesson to the class will involve a series of videos about artists like Sarah Sze (New York High Line Park Project) and Mary Mattingly (Swale) followed by class discussions. During the videos, students will be asked to take notes that deal with the following ideas:

-Why did the artist choose to create this artwork? -Who/what benefits from this artwork? -How do people interact with the artwork? -How does the local ecosystem interact with the artwork? -What materials were used to create this artwork?

We will discuss these questions after the videos have been watched and notes have been taken. Students will also be asked to draw some parallels with things they notice in their own local communities. After the class discussion, students will be provided with a handout that asks the following questions:

-List at least 3 ecological things that you notice in your own local area that you believe could be improved. -Interview at least 2 friends, family members, or neighbors about these ecological issues. After telling them your thoughts on the topics, ask them the following questions: 1. Which of these ecological problems/concerns do you think is the most important, and why? 2. What do you try to do that you feel helps the local environment? 3. What do you think would make it easier for you to do something that helps the environment, or the people that live in it?

After students have completed their homework assignment of interviewing people in their neighborhood and local area, we will come together as a class to discuss the interview information. As a class we will cover what are the most common concerns that people in the community have brought up. We will work together to create an mind map of ideas that can be used to find common themes, ideas, and possible solutions. This mind map will be used to plan a physical structure that will serve as both artwork and solution to a possible ecological community concern. This structure that will be built can take 2 forms: it can be something that each student will create a small, more readily completed structure that will serve better if multiples exist, or a larger structure that will be produced together as a group and that will exist as one object. Together as a class we will decide as a class what the dimensions would be for this assignment and what materials will be needed to complete the work. If necessary, we will work together to create a list of supplies that can be sourced or donated from local areas of the community. If this product that will be created to live permanently (or semi-permanently) in a local area, permissions will be sought out from locations that can serve as the home of the final product.

Demonstrations will be provided in class for students to use the necessary tools for this assignment. This can include but is not limited to working with hand tools (hammers, nails, saws, etc.) and power tools (drills, saws, etc.). Jobs will be divided up between students in the class for what they will be completing to make this group assignment work. As students complete their divided steps of the project they will also be recording how they have completed the work. This will include things like the dimensions of the project, tools and processes used, and important tips they have learned when completing their work. These directions will be combined together into a shared Google Doc that will be printed as a handout that can be picked up by members of the community to recreate their own version of the product at home. The final artwork(s) will be displayed in the local K-12 art festival along with the flyers that have been created to spread the knowledge.

In Practice

By following through the steps outlined above on my own as the student in this process I have learned several things about the process including some best practices and snags that will arise when enacting this assignment with the students in the school.

First, this product went through several iterations and false starts before being partially finished. The first snag that caught up the work was determining the ecological concern that is to be solved. Several options were immediately identifiable, which did cause some problems with deciding on a single path to follow. Some ideas were too ambitious, and some were too simple and lacking in interest value. This prompted the use of working with members of the community and family members to help cull new ideas and pare down things that were less important to those in the local area. Prior options and iterations of the project including creating a plan for bird houses or bat boxes that can exist in the fields near the school, a small bee hotel that is easily constructed and can be placed in many areas around a community to encourage pollinators to remain in the area, and a seed swap library. The final product that was settled on was a seed swap library to encourage home gardening after discussing with family members and neighbors who have been working from home during the pandemic. The seed swap library would contain seeds donated from local shops and those saved from local gardens as well as packets from ODNR for local wildflowers. The intent of the swap library is for individuals to be encouraged to plant and garden either in their yard, apartment, or local areas. The benefits of the seed library would include increased plant life that can benefit local pollinators and wildlife and a focus on creating one’s own produce instead of purchasing mass produced goods that are out of season.

From working through these various iterations of the project it became clear that this process would be a cumbersome one unless the students have an opportunity to talk through the ideas and get input from their community members. This prompted the creation of the interview questions and class discussions. In the production of this lesson plan the students will be provided with several class periods to work through the prompts together to decide on something that will be most beneficial and achievable with the teacher acting as a guide to keep the discussion and prompts on track. The use of class discussions will also provide opportunities for the students to work together and prompt more community minded work, which is the intent of this overall lesson. The discussions should prove to be one of the most effective parts of this lesson.

The sourcing of materials also proved to be a sticking point in the process. Thankfully for my own personal model for this work I have been gifted with a lot of wood from neighbors who were getting rid of things from their garages and local shops who are discarding wood from shipping boxes and palettes. This prompted the idea for students to also engage with their community and neighbors while I as the teacher also look for materials, purchased if necessary or donated if possible, to bring together the materials for the final project.

Once the materials have been sourced and the processes have been decided on for creating the product, I will create a series of “construction bootcamp” exercises for the students depending on what they will be creating. The most common methods of construction will include using hammers and nails properly, using a drill and making pilot holes, measure twice and cutting once, and working with saws. This bootcamp will take place while the materials are being sourced, though due to the time it may take to complete the work another side project will also be created while we wait. This will more than likely be a painting assignment using acrylic to give students more experience with the media prior to painting their final product. The content of the painting project will deal with the subject matter and the ecological concern that the students will be working with for this main assignment.

Another snag that was experienced during this process is the time it takes to complete the work. The initial plan was to complete the work in 3-4 weeks, though in actuality it may take near 9 weeks to complete all necessary steps. This is in part because many of the parts of the process will be determined during classes. As previously stated, some side projects will be worked in to accommodate the wait times between steps of the project. The construction bootcamp will construct a simple project that can also serve as an artwork in itself while teaching the skills needed for the later construction. The painting assignment will work with content and skills related to the larger project while simultaneously producing something that can be displayed in an art show and building skills with the media. This solution will increase the work production in the class to provide more works for display in the district wide K-12 Arts Festival in addition to the work.

Overall I am hopeful for the final products that this project will create and the skills and concepts that the students will learn through the process. I feel that this will definitely be something I work towards including in a future year of this class. Practically it cannot be included this school year due to a variety of reasons. As our maker space in the new building comes a little further along in the coming years we will also have more options for the construction methods to use in this assignment. We will also have an agricultural program that is starting in the next few years which will also be a great tie-in with this type of work. I look forward to working with the other departments in the school to create something that will be a beneficial cross-curricular assignment that brings the school community together.

The below images include the drawn out and measured plans, some of the cut wood pieces to build out the seed swap library, and the current state of the work. Some of the seeds saved from my own garden are included in the bottom photo. Future plans will involve including the door to the front with the plexiglass backing, caulking the interior for waterproofing, and the surface will be painted with acrylic outdoor paints with imagery of local flora.