Problem Solving

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Dwellings Around the Globe

In this activity students will explore dwellings across the globe. They will conduct collaborative research on cliff dwellings, igloos, longhouses, and yurts.

›› Full lesson

	Coast-to-Coast B...
	60-30-10
	Turn Off the Tub...
	Tour + Workshop ...
	Tour + Workshop ...

›› Take the Tangent and Run

›› Working on my 1st design

›› CHAD & C-H SDI

›› Mural Project

›› Navigating through 'Conve

4/12/2007 7:17:46 PM Posted By Carolyne Kellner One of the great things about being an art teacher in the elementary school is giving students a "problem" and then observing how each resolves a particular assignment and watching them solve it in their own way. Its almost like a level of intelligence.
4/12/2007 7:28:08 PM Posted By Carolyne Kellner Also, students are hand fed everything and since so many students are busy with their day being "taught to the test" or rote learning they lose the opportunity to create solutions using their wits. I "command" my students to think for themselves within an architecture of criteria. I am just thinking about today, we made pop-out landscapes with a foreground, middle ground and background. We were originally doing it in 2-D but a student came up with the idea of the pop-up book. We used his idea and then changed the project. I really encourage mistake making and try to get the kids comfortable with making mistakes in order to reach a "loftier" end. We also do a lot of brainstorming. You can't do that in math class or reading class.
4/15/2007 5:52:18 PM Posted By Leslie Lami-Reed Carolyne, you work with high school, right? I work with elementary, and it is so much fun when they are young, because everything they do is so intuitive. Now, get this, the writing program that the elementary teachers are using in the younger grades incorporates DRAWING, as a way to generate ideas and gather details. A teacher asked me to teach the students how to draw "people". I am in kind of a quandry, because I was taught (long ago) that as children grow and there perceptions develop, they pass through different universal stages. ( Victor Lowenfeld) Should I rush them by teaching them how to draw a human figure? Their spontaneous drawings are so wonderful, yet some children are stuck on general stick figures. What do you think? What do others think?
4/16/2007 9:24:50 AM Posted By Nancy Katz Leslie, Yes, children do develop through somewhat predictable stages in their drawings, but I have found that drawing from observation opens up whole new worlds for children, even the very young. I don't necessarily teach them how to draw a human figure, but rather try to have them connect their looking with their drawing.Amazing works are done drawing from observation. What they might not do then is connect this way of drawing with their tried and true comfort zone of what they know is how they think you are supposed to draw- stick figures and the usual suspects. But then again some may gradually add this new observation knowledge to their bank of imagination. A number of years ago I was working with a 2nd grade class, learning about the skeleton and how our bodies move. We were looking at a real skeleton and I said though we all look different from the outside, deep inside our skeletons are very very much the same. One boy quickly raised his hand and said, woman's hips are wider so they can hold a baby . Yes, young children are really way beyond stick figures and their capacity for learning is astonishing and wonderful! It is great that the teachers are incorporating drawing in their storywriting. Bringing it to the 3rd dimension is also great, sculpture and puppets. Writing and drawing can inform each other to create a fuller picture.
4/26/2007 9:58:31 AM Posted By Deborah Klose We are so fortunate to be able to able to work with our students by allowing them to be creative problem solvers. There are no right or wrong answers. It is all about process. I believe that other countries are surpassing us technologically and industrially because our students are not given enough opportunities to think creatively to arrive at solutions to real life problems. Tests do not measure the ability to problem solve. We hold the key!
5/7/2007 10:15:27 PM Posted By Marianne Aalbue Leslie, I recently asked myself the same question about rushing students through the predictable developmental stages. If a student is happy with his or her drawing and the drawing is age appropriate I leave them alone and explain to the classroom teacher why I am doing so. However, if a student is frustrated and wants help drawing figures I also use observation drawing exercises. I have the students model for each other (they love to do this). I engage the children in close looking and initiate a discussion about what types of shapes they would use to draw the head, torso, arms, etc. I find that sometimes the words arms and legs will again lead to stick-like limbs. However, if I ask the student to look at the shapes of the clothes the model is wearing, they get it. Once they learn to see the shapes the stick figures disappear. I recently had an interesting discussion with a Literacy Coach in my school. She talked about the link between developmental stages in drawing and in writing skills. Very interesting.
5/7/2007 10:19:32 PM Posted By Tonya Adison When you say writing, do you mean expressing oneself through written words or handwriting?
5/8/2007 10:34:11 PM Posted By Marianne Aalbue Handwriting. It seems that many students who have trouble with handwriting are also in the preschematic stage of artistic development.
6/11/2007 9:11:18 AM Posted By mel ruth Being at a design school we have been teaching the steps of design and how they can be implemented for a project as well as everyday situations. We continually enforce the steps in mediation, announcments, projects, problems etc....it really is a DAILY design process.
6/11/2007 1:39:43 PM Posted By Kathleen Lee We recently had our learners draw shoes just using their observations. It was insightful. I am not an art teacher, but it was an important step towards their learning the design process.
6/13/2007 10:03:44 PM Posted By sudha singh I too am not an art teacher, but have had the learners enthusiastically choose to work on first identifying, and attempt to later solve some of the problems that exist in their immediate community. I was sort of overwhelmed at some of the suggestions they came out with. Our Bridge Community Garden project was totally designed by the learners ,based on what was neede in that part of the community and how it would make a difference. These learners sure do have a keen desire to bring about some positive changes in their imediate neighborhood.
6/22/2007 1:05:14 AM Posted By Dorothy Ahoklui Carolyne, when I read your comment on problem solving, as a science teacher the scientific method automatically popped up and it just demonstrates how the two topics are related.
6/22/2007 6:02:55 PM Posted By Susan Miller I'd like to go back to the discussion about children's developmental stages and drawing. I have also struggled with this conflict, not only about drawing figures, but about the horizon line...are they too young in 4th grade, for instance. What about 2nd? So sometimes I have shown them pictures of landscapes, and perhaps, more importantly, have asked them to picture in their mind what it is like when they are at the beach, looking out across the water...does the sky separate from the water below, meet it, etc...For some it clicks, and they have "observed" the relationship, but for most of them it is confusing and so I leave them to their natural stage. So I think that there is somewhere in between pushing them and showing them what we, adults, perceive and expect, and leaving them entirely on their own, and that is by engaging them in the process, like Nancy suggested earlier in the link, to notice things, to observe the world around them. Then let them each take that information and integrate it as they will at their own stage, for each child learns and integrates material in their own way, not on a timeline.

4/12/2007 7:17:46 PM

Posted By Carolyne Kellner

One of the great things about being an art teacher in the elementary school is giving students a "problem" and then observing how each resolves a particular assignment and watching them solve it in their own way. Its almost like a level of intelligence.

4/12/2007 7:28:08 PM

Posted By Carolyne Kellner

Also, students are hand fed everything and since so many students are busy with their day being "taught to the test" or rote learning they lose the opportunity to create solutions using their wits. I "command" my students to think for themselves within an architecture of criteria. I am just thinking about today, we made pop-out landscapes with a foreground, middle ground and background. We were originally doing it in 2-D but a student came up with the idea of the pop-up book. We used his idea and then changed the project. I really encourage mistake making and try to get the kids comfortable with making mistakes in order to reach a "loftier" end. We also do a lot of brainstorming. You can't do that in math class or reading class.

4/15/2007 5:52:18 PM

Posted By Leslie Lami-Reed

Carolyne, you work with high school, right? I work with elementary, and it is so much fun when they are young, because everything they do is so intuitive. Now, get this, the writing program that the elementary teachers are using in the younger grades incorporates DRAWING, as a way to generate ideas and gather details. A teacher asked me to teach the students how to draw "people". I am in kind of a quandry, because I was taught (long ago) that as children grow and there perceptions develop, they pass through different universal stages. ( Victor Lowenfeld) Should I rush them by teaching them how to draw a human figure? Their spontaneous drawings are so wonderful, yet some children are stuck on general stick figures. What do you think? What do others think?

4/16/2007 9:24:50 AM

Posted By Nancy Katz

Leslie, Yes, children do develop through somewhat predictable stages in their drawings, but I have found that drawing from observation opens up whole new worlds for children, even the very young. I don't necessarily teach them how to draw a human figure, but rather try to have them connect their looking with their drawing.Amazing works are done drawing from observation. What they might not do then is connect this way of drawing with their tried and true comfort zone of what they know is how they think you are supposed to draw- stick figures and the usual suspects. But then again some may gradually add this new observation knowledge to their bank of imagination. A number of years ago I was working with a 2nd grade class, learning about the skeleton and how our bodies move. We were looking at a real skeleton and I said though we all look different from the outside, deep inside our skeletons are very very much the same. One boy quickly raised his hand and said, woman's hips are wider so they can hold a baby . Yes, young children are really way beyond stick figures and their capacity for learning is astonishing and wonderful! It is great that the teachers are incorporating drawing in their storywriting. Bringing it to the 3rd dimension is also great, sculpture and puppets. Writing and drawing can inform each other to create a fuller picture.

4/26/2007 9:58:31 AM

Posted By Deborah Klose

We are so fortunate to be able to able to work with our students by allowing them to be creative problem solvers. There are no right or wrong answers. It is all about process. I believe that other countries are surpassing us technologically and industrially because our students are not given enough opportunities to think creatively to arrive at solutions to real life problems. Tests do not measure the ability to problem solve. We hold the key!

5/7/2007 10:15:27 PM

Posted By Marianne Aalbue

Leslie, I recently asked myself the same question about rushing students through the predictable developmental stages. If a student is happy with his or her drawing and the drawing is age appropriate I leave them alone and explain to the classroom teacher why I am doing so. However, if a student is frustrated and wants help drawing figures I also use observation drawing exercises. I have the students model for each other (they love to do this). I engage the children in close looking and initiate a discussion about what types of shapes they would use to draw the head, torso, arms, etc. I find that sometimes the words arms and legs will again lead to stick-like limbs. However, if I ask the student to look at the shapes of the clothes the model is wearing, they get it. Once they learn to see the shapes the stick figures disappear. I recently had an interesting discussion with a Literacy Coach in my school. She talked about the link between developmental stages in drawing and in writing skills. Very interesting.

5/7/2007 10:19:32 PM

Posted By Tonya Adison

When you say writing, do you mean expressing oneself through written words or handwriting?

5/8/2007 10:34:11 PM

Posted By Marianne Aalbue

Handwriting. It seems that many students who have trouble with handwriting are also in the preschematic stage of artistic development.

6/11/2007 9:11:18 AM

Posted By mel ruth

Being at a design school we have been teaching the steps of design and how they can be implemented for a project as well as everyday situations. We continually enforce the steps in mediation, announcments, projects, problems etc....it really is a DAILY design process.

6/11/2007 1:39:43 PM

Posted By Kathleen Lee

We recently had our learners draw shoes just using their observations. It was insightful. I am not an art teacher, but it was an important step towards their learning the design process.

6/13/2007 10:03:44 PM

Posted By sudha singh

I too am not an art teacher, but have had the learners enthusiastically choose to work on first identifying, and attempt to later solve some of the problems that exist in their immediate community. I was sort of overwhelmed at some of the suggestions they came out with. Our Bridge Community Garden project was totally designed by the learners ,based on what was neede in that part of the community and how it would make a difference. These learners sure do have a keen desire to bring about some positive changes in their imediate neighborhood.

6/22/2007 1:05:14 AM

Posted By Dorothy Ahoklui

Carolyne, when I read your comment on problem solving, as a science teacher the scientific method automatically popped up and it just demonstrates how the two topics are related.

6/22/2007 6:02:55 PM

Posted By Susan Miller

I'd like to go back to the discussion about children's developmental stages and drawing. I have also struggled with this conflict, not only about drawing figures, but about the horizon line...are they too young in 4th grade, for instance. What about 2nd? So sometimes I have shown them pictures of landscapes, and perhaps, more importantly, have asked them to picture in their mind what it is like when they are at the beach, looking out across the water...does the sky separate from the water below, meet it, etc...For some it clicks, and they have "observed" the relationship, but for most of them it is confusing and so I leave them to their natural stage. So I think that there is somewhere in between pushing them and showing them what we, adults, perceive and expect, and leaving them entirely on their own, and that is by engaging them in the process, like Nancy suggested earlier in the link, to notice things, to observe the world around them. Then let them each take that information and integrate it as they will at their own stage, for each child learns and integrates material in their own way, not on a timeline.

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