Sunday, March 10, 2013

Light Boxes high school Art


During a job interview one of the typical questions I'm asked by a director or principal is" "what do I effectively do in my classroom?"  I usually start answering one or two ways:

A1: I create problems for my students and they have to solve them.

A2: I teach kids how to make something from nothing. 

One of major failings of 21st century education is the lack of hands-on life-long skills. I was chatting with a fellow educator a couple of weeks ago about opening up our own school where we will teach our students skills like cooking, basics to plumbing, car mechanics, carpentry, electricity...you know, solutions to real world problems. Academics are important, but there is a major imbalance in that most schools are slaves to passive learning. I will argue that students need to be more physical in the classroom-be it labs or project based. 



The light Box project below is truly made from the abstract:

1. The box is mat board that has been die cut, taped, and painted

2. The wires from the light had to be screwed into the plug 

3. The glue from the hot glue gun holds the light in place

4. A pointillist style image is painted on Plexiglas

5. Silicone was placed on the ledge of the box to hold the Plexiglas
6. Plug it in
 
A shell (finished box)
Parts of the light
Don't touch the hot tip!
Design of the side of the box
Light inside the box
Plugs
Making the plug. Students were scared during this part because once it was pieced together they had to plug it in to see if it worked. Most thought there were going to get shocked...hardly.
Painting
Chalking
Adding tissue paper under the image was an option.























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