Going to the Georgia Museum of Art reminded made me realize how much I do love looking at art pieces! This was the first time though that I went into a place like this with the mindset of a teacher and how I can use art in a certain content area. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be to find art that could easily be used in a classroom. Out of the many pieces I saw for math, Science, and social studies, I chose a piece by Sam Gilliam called "Patchwork/Terry, 1980". In the description of the painting, it describes how Gilliam "uses an irregular polygonal shape" to then display different shapes within this painted figure. This piece could be used in math class when learning topics such as geometry and trigonometry. Students can look at angles to decide their approx. size and identify whether the angle is obtuse or acute. This piece can be used when learning about triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem. While there are not measurements for the lengths, a picture can be blown up and students can measure the length of the sides of the triangles and measure angles using tools such as a ruler and a protractor. A teacher could also identify certain measurements and students must then do the math to find the missing measurements. This activity could be use at the beginning of a class as a “Starter” or “Ticket-Out-The-Door” or there is enough to make a whole lesson with this piece of art. Using art is a creative and new way to bring students attention to school subjects outside of the classroom. This type of activity could allow a student who is passionate about art, but maybe not as interested in math see how their passions can carry over to other fields. A student who loves math, but does not have a great appreciation for art is able to see how the two come together and art now has a new meaning to that student. Overall, I love this idea of math and art coming together!
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I also enjoyed the feeling of shopping for lesson plans at the museum. Sometimes having a constraint on a project helps you see differently, I certainly looked at things with a different point of view.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fun to have kids make a piece out of paper that is in the same style as Gilliam's work, so that they could work out the math on their own art.
Callie was discussing a much more traditional geometric quilt, but she brought up having the kids make pieces. If each child made a shape and found the area, and you attached them all together, it would be fabulous. (You could have a class equation of each child with their area.) Now I am completely excited.
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