https://www.britannica.com/technology/Kinetoscope

The Dream-o-scope

My final lesson plan is based on the first motion picture display, the Kinetoscope, and how film is an important form of art.  I was inspired by the idea in my History of Film class because the Kinetoscope was the most complex form of technology in the 1880’s, which created a new realm to explore within photography. As film became more popular and in depth, storyboarding became extremely important because it allows the director (or the student) room for creative thinking and problem solving before diving into the final product.

Things I still need to add to my Dream-o-scope:

-a three-piece pyramid structure to hide interior, the pyramid structure will have peepholes for the viewer to see a bird’s eye view of scene.

-circuits will have coded lights that are compatible with the scene (a light up waterfall, light up moss/plants and light up roof tops on little foam buildings.)

-might paint exterior cardboard black, but we’ll see if I have time…

storyboard worksheet-1o0c9mi

First, students will learn about the creation of the Kinetoscope and the art of film.  After, they will create a three scene storyboard drawing (worksheet) based on a dream; whether the dream is good, bad, weird or exciting, it is all up to the student’s imagination. Once the students come up with a story, they will start to build the structure of the dream-o-scope with cardboard and design the interior based on storyboard drawing.  Using Arduino, the student will be able to code a light pattern with the LED circuits to capture an interactive element into the scenes.  Each scene will being extremely unique to the student; therefore in the end all students will have different final outcomes.  Students will be able to view peer’s Dream-o-scopes and make up their own storyboard based on that individual’s project.  Lastly, they can share their favorite stories!

i

Since our class revolves around digital media, I thought the Kinetoscope was a perfect lesson plan idea because it created such an upgrade in technology and lead to further technological advancements.  As future art educators, technology is going to keep advancing and students will be more “up-to-date” than us teachers ever will.  Therefore, incorporating digital media will keep the students engaged with the projects; creating a fun learning experience!

 

updates!!

 

Our group functioned very well together because were all friends, so we have good communication with one another for the most part.  Setting up three crafts for the children was the most successful because we all got a chance to work one on one with the children.  I made the pen accessories, Miranda made the earrings, Erika made bracelets and Kay was able to go back and forth between all of us for additional help. Each craft was intended for the children to engage with their creative thinking and skill building techniques; using many materials such as, feathers, sequins, foam and exciting colors definitely grabbed the children’s attention.

 

We set up all the materials and crafts out on our table to that the children could have a better view of each item.  This worked particularly well because this created a more welcoming environment for the children; allowing them to have a wide selection of materials to work with helped them fully engage with the projects. All materials were in their reach, which allowed them to decide for themselves what they wanted to use.

The moment that stood out to me the most was when a grandma and her grandson, Connor, were making the pen accessories.  This moment was nostalgic for me because it reminded me of my childhood when my grandma and grandpa would bring me to the local library for arts and crafts. My grandparents would always engage in the activities with me, which definitely helped spark my interest in art.  I was so happy to see Conner and his grandma having a wonderful time.  For a three-year-old Connor was so talented and enthusiastic; I was blown about by his creative skills!

 

Since my group members and I all had our own activities within our maker day group, we were able to  engage with the design process and our creative problem solving skills. I am glad I was able to work one on one with the children and watch them make amazing pen accessories, the children were so talented! Even some of the parents made pen accessories with their children, which is such  great bonding time between the child and parent.  Overall, I enjoyed maker day;  I love working with children and watching them be so enthusiastic with the activities. If I could, I would definitely do maker day again!

 

• You had a template to work with that determined the overall structure, you had to show 4 different sides of something/ using line art/illustrator and you had to incorporate programmed leds.  How did these constraints help or hurt your creative process?
• How did your process reflect (or not) design thinking?
• What did you learn? Describe your learning process. What was most challenging?  What was most fun?
• How did this activity connect (or not) to your prior knowledge of art and art education?
  How might you use and/or adapt this activity in an art classroom?

I believe designing four different images and still having them relate to a specific theme was challenging at first because it was difficult to come up with a unique concept.  On the other hand, it was exciting drawing out ideas and finally creating an interesting theme (different types of weather.)  It was a great learning experience working with illustrator because I have not used it in a long time and I enjoyed exploring the program.  The circuit building was probably the easiest part of the whole project because we have been working with them for a while that I have become extremely familiar with the process.

I used the process of design thinking through creative expression and problem solving.  At first, I figured out what design would be on each side of the lantern and from there I began to construct the artwork.  Each side represents different weather such as, overcast, rain, snow and clear skies. I wanted to keep each design simple to create more of a central focus on the interior lights.  The next part I worked on was the circuit; this part was definitely important because I wanted the light pattern to be dramatic and bright. Lastly, I created a based for the lantern to add another creative element to my project.

I learned that colorful cellophane behind each design emphasized the LEDs and brought the project together. In addition, the cellophane is somewhat transparent, revealing the circuit and wires on the inside.  I decided to keep the circuit and wires visible because i believe it is interesting to see the mechanics/data that is usually hidden within objects.  The most challenging part was designing the artwork for the lantern because I knew I wanted to keep the designs simple, but also be creative. Therefore, adding the colorful cellophane and base of the lantern was the most enjoyable because I used my critical thinking to incorporate additional pieces into my project to make it as unique as possible.

IMG_8285-1714mb8 ( lantern with lights)       IMG_8277-23m33qc (circuit)

This activity reminded me of a bird house project I did with children at St. Cathrine’s Group Home in Albany.  I had each child paint and collage with a specific color scheme on their own bird houses.  They used their creativity to design unique and personalized bird houses.  For instance, one child had the color blue and painted blue dinosaurs, another child had the color purple and painted/ collaged purple flowers all around the bird house.  This particular activity I taught to the group home children would work best in a middle/ high school art classrooms because the students can incorporate laser cut; becoming familiar with new mediums/ technology!

• how this project is similar/different from the circuit card project, particularly in regard to you sense of intrinsic motivation/ tolerance for overcoming difficulties?
• How did your process reflect (or not) design thinking? What did you learn? Describe your learning process. What was most challenging?  What was most fun?
• How did this activity connect (or not) to your prior knowledge of art and art education?
  How might you use and/or adapt this activity in an art classroom?

The Arduino project has a similar creative and design process as the circuit card because obviously both involve constructing a complex circuit into a work of art.  However, the Arduino project was more complicated due to programing a pattern into the LEDs.  Even though the overall result of the Arduino project was more interactive and allowed us the engage with our creative problem solving, incorporating a rhythm and visually appealing design was definitely a challenge.  The circuit cards were almost like a foundation to prepare us for the Arduino project.

This project reflected the design process through creative and critical thinking.  First of all, programming the LED lights with the ATtiny was something I have never done before as an artist.  Therefore, creating unique patterns and rhythms with the lights was a great way to engage with my creativity problem solving. Once finding a visual appealing pattern of lights helped me figure what piece of artwork of mine would work best with this project.  I decided to use my graphite drawing of a woman because I thought it would be interesting to see light up flowers in her wind blown hair.  I pushed through the LEDs and surrounded them with fall colored petals.  Overall, I enjoyed the incorporation of lights into a piece of your own artwork because it made the project more personal.  However, the most challenging part was creating a design with the lights that would make the most sense with the piece of artwork.

IMG_7744-2o3nzl2 (video of arduino project)

The Arduino project reminded me of a collage assignment I did in AP art in high school.  Our task was to create a water color piece, then later we were told to incorporate another medium and another after that. As an AP art student, it was a great way for me to use with a variety of mediums and learn how to work outside of my comfort zone. I believe Arduino would be most useful for high school students because they get to engage with multiple mediums and use critical thinking to reconstruct their own artwork into something even better than before.

• How can simply circuits add meaning?
• What did you learn? Describe your learning process. What was most challenging?  What was most fun?
• How did this activity connect (or not) to your prior knowledge of art and art education? How might you use and/or adapt this activity in an art classroom?

I find it easy to make any form of art have meaning.  Once I understood how to add multiple lights to the simply circuit, my ideas started to flow. These circuits can have a variety of shapes and are simple to make (hence the name), therefore the artist can use their creativity to make it as meaningful as possible.  For example, my circuit is not pretty to look at, however I hid it inside the card and pushed the LED lights through the front; the lights with the black paper looked like the night sky. Since my boyfriend’s birthday is coming up, I decided to create a birthday card with his constellation (libra) using the simple circuit.  We share the same zodiac, which made my idea even more meaningful.

I saw people in class either using the copper tape as apart of the design or choosing to hide it.  I took those ideas and learned how to hid the circuit in the card, but make the LEDs visible. The libra constellation was some what difficult to make, on the other hand I found it exciting and rewarding to make my idea come to life. It was challenging to push the LED lights through the paper and still have the circuit work perfectly.  However with lots of trial and error, I was able to make a successful light up libra constellation and a cute birthday card for my boyfriend.

 

IMG_6831-uatlue (video of card lighting up)

This activity reminded me of making Valentine’s day or Mother/Father’s day cards in elementary school.  Creating patterns and designs with the copper tape, and adding the LEDs is a fun way to get the students more involved with the art making process. This is much more meaningful than just writing “Happy Mother’s Day” in crayon. Little activities like the circuit cards show that the student put time, effort and creativity into it, and I am sure the person receiving the card will love it too.

• Tell a story about your experience using a combination of words and images.
• What did you learn? Describe your learning process. What was most challenging?  What was most fun?
• How did this activity connect (or not) to your prior knowledge of art and art education? How might you use and/or adapt this activity in an art classroom?

Our moving picture design replicated an earthquake. A landscape was depicted around the strawberry carton, while a small town sat on top of the carton.  Little did the towns people know, that a massive earthquake was going to struck their quaint town.  To create the earthquake, we taped a motor inside the carton.  Then, attached a glue stick to the motor to make the carton move more violently. This shook the town and its citizens! Later, they found out the earthquake was a 6.0 on the magnitude scale.

From this experience, I learned more about working with hands on materials.  I have never build a project like this that involved so much trail and error.  My group and I spend the full hour and a half trying to make the motion mimic an earthquake.  After a while, we figured out attaching a glue stick to the motor would create a strong enough movement.  Therefore, we taped the motor on the instead of the strawberry carton to make the buildings shake on top.  This task was challenging because the motor made the buildings vibrate. However, we wanted a bigger shaking motion to create a “realistic” earthquake.  Even though we did not have time to fix this issue, overall I definitely enjoyed designing a unique storyline for our moving picture activity.

IMG_6706-2c3fgeh(video of moving pictures)

The moving picture activity connected to my prior knowledge of art education because I remember creating a similar motion project in high school. We had to design cars that moved when an attached balloon was deflated; the air released would push the car in the opposite direction.  It was difficult attaching the balloon in a perfect position and also making the car visual appealing. The car ballon activity and the moving picture activity both had different concepts, but overall challenged my skill building techniques and creativity.  Living in a world surrounded by digital media, it is great to get adolescents familiar with hands on materials.

• Tell a story about your experience using a combination of words and images.
• What did you learn? Describe your learning process. What was most challenging?  What was most fun?
• How did this activity connect (or not) to your prior knowledge of art and art education? How might you use and/or adapt this activity in an art classroom?

My group and I definitely wanted to make something unique.  We started off with warm colored markers and tape. From there, we attached the motor on the side of the cup, which caused an unsteady circular motion.  The motion of the cup made us thinking off a cowboy swinging a lasso. From that moment, Sunset Cowboy the Drawing Bot was born.   We even gave it a little hand and a lasso to swing around.  Our finishing touch was bells to mimic the sound of cowboy spurs.  We thought, “what song would a cowboy dance into the sunset with?” Alas, “Old Time Rock N Roll” from the movie, Risky Business popped into our heads.  Sunset cowboy was a natural born super star.

 

  

Creative problem solving and skill building is definitely something I learned more about with this activity.  When given the materials, it was difficult to decide where to began.  After taping the markers to the cup, our most important step was to figure out where to place the motor.  We decided if the motor is on the side of the cup, the drawing bot will move in a circle motion. Therefore, we attached a stick of glue to the motor; this added the balance we needed to make the motion less sporadic.  The most challenging part was trying to design the drawing bot to fit the word we were assigned, which was “risky.” We tried to make our theme cowboy/ western because according to my group members, “cowboys have risky jobs.” Even though we struggled with the theme, overall was a fun design process and I enjoyed working with new materials such as, the motor and jumper cords.

IMG_6616-268macb  (video of drawing bot)

Middle school was when I had to take technology as a class elective. I feel that middle schoolers will find this activity fun and interesting in art class because of their prior knowledge to motors, wiring, and building that is usually taught in middle school tech. In addition, this activity teaches mark making techniques such as, stippling or hatching when the markers hit the paper.  Another part of the activity can be identifying what mark making technique is your bot drawing.

• How did your process reflect (or not) design thinking?
• What did you learn? Describe your learning process. What was most challenging?  What was most fun?
• How did this activity connect (or not) to your prior knowledge of art and art education?  How might you use and/or adapt this activity in an art classroom?

Through the concept of design thinking, I was able learn something that was totally new to me, find it enjoyable and figure out what am I capable of through the creation process.  First, I was researching some complex origami crafts such as, fish, birds, and flowers.  Since I have never attempted origami before, I decided to keep it simple and created a butterfly.  I messed up a few steps along the way with the origami, but ended up with a decent looking butterfly. In addition, I added two LED lights on the head of the butterfly to create light up antenna.  Later, I moved on to creating a crane, which I had more success with.  As well as the butterfly, I added 4 LED lights around the body of the crane just to make it look unique.  At the end of the project, I enjoyed observing other classmate’s origami and I was quite inspired by their work.

  

Some of the other students in class put their origami on a base to create an environment such as, an origami fish on blue paper to represent a pond.  Therefore, I put my butterfly and the crane on green paper to represent them sitting on grass.  It is not interesting, but I thought it was more aesthetically pleasing that way.

 

I realized I need to keep pushing my creativity to be the most successful with class projects and assignments.  Sometimes, I find it difficult to express my creativity because I tend to give up quickly if an idea I had was too challenging. With this project I picked a kind of simple origami, but now I believe I could have gone out of my comfort zone to do a more interesting creation such as, a lily pad or velociraptor.   The most challenging was following the tutorial videos on Youtube because the person in the video was either creating the origami too slow or too fast.  Although, it did feel rewarding once I successfully made my origami and adding the lights definitely made it much more exciting.

This project connected to my prior knowledge of at education because this type of craft is something I would teach to the children I volunteer with at St. Cathrine’s Group Home in Albany.  Last year, The children I worked with were between the ages of 6-12, so it is usually difficult to find activities to please them all.  When I volunteer again in the winter, I am definitely going to incorporate origami into our activity time. The use of colorful paper and LED lights will help me keep the children involved and entertained.

 

• Compare/contrast marble run and glitch art. How did your group’s process reflect design thinking?
• What did you learn? Describe your learning process. What was most challenging?  What was most fun?
• How did this activity connect (or not) to your prior knowledge of art and art education? How might you use and/or adapt this activity in an art classroom? 

Marble run involved much more creative problem solving than glitch art because it took more trail and error prototyping and skill building with hands on materials. Both assignments involve an abundance of evaluating, however glitch art was much more spontaneous because most of the time you did not know what the end result would be after manipulating with the coding.  On the other, marble run was more instructive because for the project to be successful you had to be diligent with placing objects to allow the marble to roll smoothly and as long as possible.  My group focused on design thinking by first figuring what are the limits to just using cardboard, tape and other miscellaneous pieces to create a successful track for the marble.  Then, analyzing the structure by adding pieces of cardboard or taking away pieces of tape, so that everything was calculated correctly.  At the end of the process, watching other group’s demonstrate their marble runs helped us understand to why we had some issues with ours.

I learned that it is okay to fail the first try into a new project; it takes patients and thorough evaluation of the problem to finally make the project successful.  I saw that the higher we built, the more unstable the marble’s track would be.  Therefore, creating sturdy poles helped keep the project standing and stable.  However, we ended up having some last minute problems with the structure of the poles.  One of them was leaning, so we decided to prop it up right with more tape.  Then, this caused the jump and landing zone for the marble to be off by an inch.  Unfortunately,  we did not have enough time to fix this issue, so our marble never ended up landing in it’s designated landing zone, which was a funnel cup filled with thumb tacks to make noise. The most fun about this assignment was being able to use all of our creativity; just kind of diving into this with little preparation and being able to find what worked with the track felt rewarding.

This projected connected to my prior knowledge of art education because I remember in elementary school and middle school doing activities similar to this one, most of them including a marble or a ping pong ball.  I learned more about group collaboration and how people work off of other ideas through this project, especially when we went around the room and could observe group’s unique marble runs.  I think using this activity in an elementary school classroom will get students prepared for future interactive projects; design thinking and creative problem solving is a affective starting point for children to further develop their skill building and communication of ideas.