CIS-TK's Visual Archive of Perspectives
International Arts Collaboration: CIS-TK’s Visual Archive of Perspectives
The visual arts provide a dynamic international platform for expression, inquiry and understanding. Opportunities for global collaboration in a school environment are not commonplace. However, our TK community had an exciting opportunity recently to work on a collaborative art and technology project with Sydney, Australia’s Trinity Grammar School Junior. This collaboration allowed us to showcase our commitment to the three C’s, (three of CIS’ core values): creativity, curiosity and collaboration.
With an IB PYP focus, this very visual journey, focussed on the key concept of ‘Perspective’. With “perspective” acting as a meaningful anchor, students and teachers from pre-kindergarten to grade 6, explored creative thought and action. With access to a variety of art forms, elements and digital tools, teachers guided students to depict their interpretations of ‘perspective’ across a range of subject areas. These included language, mathematics, science, social studies, and STEAM-based storytelling with iPads.
Even our youngest students were able to participate meaningfully in this engaging project. Students in pre-kindergarten, after reading the book ‘Not a Box!’ with their teacher, made imaginative and inspiring contributions to the project through kinaesthetic exploration and dramatic play.
Our students’ artwork, along with artwork from other participating schools, is currently displayed on iPads in a prominent position within Trinity Grammar School Junior School. The final installation, designed by a local artist in collaboration with Trinity students, is a three-dimensional painting. It includes eight embedded iPads, each with a slideshow of projected images of one of the eight PYP key concepts. Each iPad projects images of that specific concept relating to the unique culture, environment and character of each school community. Trinity students and parents are invited to scroll through a wide range of concept based images.
This collective visual archive will be shared among participating international IB PYP schools to celebrate global connections and open the door to increased digital opportunities for globally connected teaching and learning worldwide.
Thank you to all members of the TK community who participated in this unique international arts collaboration. A special thank you to Ms Helene Nguyen-Boiron (kindergarten visual arts teacher) and to Mr Brian Hobbs (primary visual arts teacher) for their artistic insight and support with this unique endeavour.
Here is a snapshot of the impressive contributions our students made to the art and technology project:
Corresponding photos for each grade level’s contributions are as follows:
Pre-Kindergarten: Not a Box!
Students explored and played with boxes after reading about how a rabbit has a box, which creatively transforms into a car, building and a rocket amongst other things. The children are learning to use their imagination, cooperation and communication skills as they play with boxes and share what they think the box could be. “It is not a box. It is a bed, an aeroplane, a blanket, a house, a boat and more!”
Junior kindergarten: What makes a good friend?
Friendship is important for young children’s social and emotional development. In JK, we have been exploring friendship in different ways. One of our learning tasks was a visible thinking routine called ‘Chalk Talk’ where children created illustrations and shared their perspective on ‘what makes a good friend’. Here are some of their thoughts: “I play nicely with them; I invite them to my house and share my cars; I invite them home to play and give sandwiches to eat; I share and also show them how to colour; I draw pictures of my friends; I take my friends to the nurse’s office when they are sick.”
Senior kindergarten: What does a pink elephant eat for breakfast?
“As the kindergarten visual arts teacher, I decided to build on the students' close connection and attraction towards large animal sculptures in the art room, including a pink elephant and a husky dog. To inquire about the concept of perspective through a visible thinking routine, students were invited to impersonate the sculpture of their choice and were encouraged to "step inside" its body and mind to explore what the animal feels, cares about, perceives and knows. Students were amazing in achieving this goal and engaged in further exploration during their own play time”. -Ms Helene Nguyen-Boiron
Grade 1: Beautiful Oops! From mistake to masterpiece!
Stories provide unique windows into different perspectives about the world and provide us with tools to learn from our mistakes. With imagination at the very heart of their creative process, students responded enthusiastically to the unique picture book entitled 'Beautiful Oops' through painting. On a blank canvas, each student added an abstract ‘oops’ brush stroke, then exchanged it with another classmate who then created a ‘beautiful oops’ - transforming each mistake into an inspiring illustration.
Grade 2: What’s in Bella’s Pocket?
Students observed objects and characters in different ways by examining their physical features, function and purpose in story scenarios. The class explored photography with iPads as a medium for storytelling after reading the story Bella’s Pocket. After reflecting on the idea that the personal items we treasure carry meaning, students recognised that they could learn a lot about people by investigating objects that are important to them. Students took pictures of their favourite things as a way of telling personal stories.
Grade 3: Energy is electrifying!
As a reflective approach to exploring features of electrical energy, Grade 3 bilingual programme students drew pictures in abstract sketches of what energy is, how we use energy in daily life and why everyone has the responsibility to conserve energy. They engaged their critical thinking skills on this task. The formation of their hands in a circle around their sketches represents the many perspectives explored. One student titled her sketch “We are all earthlings and our goal is to protect planet Earth.”
Grade 4: Ecosystems everywhere!
In Chinese bilingual class, students engaged in an interactive provocation task at the Outdoor Discovery Centre on our campus. With iPads, they observed and identified three elements representing connections between living and non-living things. At our off-site Open Minds Programme, students completed a drawing task to demonstrate their understanding of how abiotic changes affect rainforest ecosystems. They received ‘riddle cards’ with clues about living things and had to use science test kits to investigate where they were located.
Grade 5: A day in the life of an artefact!
Students will use the knowledge they have acquired through the Open Minds programme about artefacts and the information about the civilisations that used them in order to create unique stories of the artefacts. They had drawn their own artefacts in art class, then they later told the story. The students adopted the perspective of the artefact to describe the era in which it had been created, why it had been created, who would have created it, what it had been used for, how long it could have lasted and how much it had been worth. The students took photos of their artefact and then proceeded to draw and record their story using the thinking strategy ‘Explain Everything’.
Grade 6: Novel views- Novel vision!
“As the primary years visual art teacher, I engaged students with art and technology to capture unique observations on our campus through photography. Students decided to look at familiar objects from different perspectives. They analysed old objects around the school with a novel approach using micro and macro views to bring new insights to these objects”. -Mr Brian Hobbs