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Upcycling and Repurposed / Recycled Art

Upcycling and Repurposed / Recycled Art

Posted in 4-7, 8-12, AppliedDesignSkillsTechnologies, artSTEAM, Fine Arts, K-3 | Tagged with , , , ,

Planning lessons and units on the basis of a theme or concept helps teachers to adapt a more interdisciplinary approach. This enables students to understand the chosen theme or concept through different disciplinary lenses.

For instance, within the broader concept of environmental sustainability, students might study Math in order to “understand extremely small numbers… which allows them to interpret pollution data” while, simultaneously, they study Biology to “understand the risks of pollution to human health,” Language Arts to understand “the messages of corporate advertisers,” and History to “recognise that [such global] change has occurred for centuries” (McKeown, 2007, p. 151).

In the overlap of these and other subject disciplines, perhaps as students might be asked to solve a problem, they would also likely encounter the dilemma of contradictory alternatives and be forced to reconcile their decisions in the face of difficult trade-offs (McKeown, 2007; Warren & Flinchbaugh, 2003; Heller, 1997).

Create, Make, Innovate: Getting Hands-on with Learning Design

Recap of the session in the Scarfe Foyer in Fall 2019:

At this week’s Create, Make, Innovate! activity session, held Tuesday, October 1st, 2019 in the Scarfe foyer, teacher candidates (TCs) learned a quick and simple way to try upcycling for themselves.

Using only a pair of scissors and some clever ingenuity, TCs tried their hand at turning an old t-shirt into a tote bag. Watch this short video and try to make your own!

Having a chat while working with their hands during this activity can help participants stay engaged and mindful about the concepts they’re learning, like upcycling or repurposing (… or another related concept, refusing, which is a preceding alternative to the more familiar “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” – more on that below).

After only 15-20 minutes, they’ll be walking away with a practical skill and some fun memories, not to mention a brand new tote bag!

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”

For nearly fifty years, this three-word refrain has helped remind us that our use and disposal of manufactured products has a direct effect upon the natural environment. Somewhat revolutionary for its time, the phrase was borne of a sentiment that has since grown to become the global movement we know today as environmental sustainability. In more recent years, a fourth alliteration has been added: “Refuse.”

The idea behind refusing is to avoid disposable plastics in our day-to-day living – things such as item packaging, drinking straws, and shopping bags – by declining them as much as possible in favour of alternatives. So, as much as it was about recycling – or should we say “upcycling”? – old t-shirts, today’s Create, Make, Innovate session was also about refusing. It was about encouraging people to decline a plastic shopping bag in the future since they would now have a handy tote bag to use instead.

Refusal reflects two key considerations: first, refusal sounds a notably more urgent tone as human manufacturing and waste subject our planet to ever greater amounts of near-indestructible plastics. Second, by implying (like the other three “Re-” words) that each of us has a choice, refusal subtly obliges all of us to think about our actions and accept responsibility for the way we treat the planet. Just as we can choose to pollute, we can choose to refuse.

Read more about plastics and recyclables in the news…

Resources

Alongside recycling and upcycling has arisen a closely related initiative called repurposing. The gist of all these is to find new utility for otherwise disposable items, thereby at least delaying if not preventing their addition to a landfill. In trying to provide alternatives to the trash can, some people have taken the repurposing and upcycling of potential trash to creative, even artistic heights.

For example, Rebecca Jane Houston, a sculptor and installation artist from Toronto, created a giant sculpture using 12,000 plastic bottles. In Calgary, storeowner Solita Work finds, makes, and sells repurposed items as a way to promote and practise zero-waste. Here in Vancouver, community artist Sharon Kallis draws upon First Nations traditions to help people in her Strathcona community repurpose and reuse plants and garden waste. Her project has grown to the extent that Kallis now grows crops as much for their future repurposing as for their more common usages.

Check out these “3-R,” “4-R,” and even “5-R” alternatives offered by various governments agencies…

… as well as by charitable and not-for-profit organisations…

Acknowledgement: post author, Scott Robertson; editor, Yvonne Dawydiak

Interdisciplinarity, collaboration, hands-on learning – that’s the spirit of Create, Make, Innovate! We want to promote enthusiasm for sharing and learning across age groups and across subject disciplines.

Make, Create, Innovate sessions took place during the Fall 2019 in the foyer of the Neville B. Scarfe building and were hosted by Scott Robertson, a project assistant on a small TLEF grant with Dr. Lorrie Miller, Dr. Marina-Milner Bolotin and Yvonne Dawydiak, Teacher Education.

If you have an idea or an inspiration for a resource or future session, please let us know! scarfe.sandbox@ubc.ca

References

Heller, M. (1997). Reading and writing about the environment: Visions of the year 2000. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 40(5), 332–341. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/40026248

McKeown, R. (2007). Education for sustainable development and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: An overview. Internationale Schulbuchforschung, 29(2), 147–158. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/43056776

Warren, L., & Flinchbaugh, M. (2003). Engaging Students in Meaningful, Integrative Environmental Lessons. Middle School Journal, 34(3), 47–50. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/23043900

Feature Photo Credit: Keagan Henman on Unsplash

Spin Class: Drop Spindles and Textiles

Posted in 4-7, AppliedDesignSkillsTechnologies, artSTEAM, Blog Posts, Elementary & Middle Years, Not Subject Specific, Post Secondary, sciSTEAM, Secondary | Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Interdisciplinarity can be understood as a response to the rapid changes our world is facing today, particularly social, technological, and environmental changes. Yet interdisciplinarity does not advocate for an end to traditional subject disciplines. Rather, it calls on each discipline to “develop open, dynamic, and transactional approaches capable of depicting research in a network representation that is more aligned with changing configurations of knowledge and education” (Klein, p. 28). In short, it calls on all of us to listen, learn, and work together more closely and more sincerely.

Beyond being educators and researchers, we are members of our families, our communities, and our society. As our society has been placing greater value upon diversity, an interdisciplinary approach to teaching, learning, research, and inquiry seems like a perfect fit.

Exploring textiles in the classroom provides an excellent opportunity for students to connect theory and practice, and to reflect on how we are living interdisciplinary lives and have an impact on the world.

Listen to Episode 6 of our Learning Outside the Sandbox Podcast: Textiles featuring Dr. Lorrie Miller and Dr. Kerry Renwick explaining and providing examples on how to work with students around topics like the sourcing of fibers, string making, and fabrics, followed by exploring the process of dyeing, transporting, manufacturing and wearing.

Create, Make, Innovate: Getting Hands-on with Learning Design

Recap of the session in the Scarfe foyer Fall 2019

Understanding the nature of fibres is the first step in learning how we use them.

At this week’s Create, Make, Innovate! activity session, held Tuesday, September 24, 2019, teacher candidates (TCs) were able to try their hand at the ancient craft of spinning wool into yarn.

Silk fibres as captured by the Leica optical microscope at more than 30x magnification

Using a Leica optical microscope and its accompanying downloadable camera app to capture photos, they also examined cotton, silk, polyester, and freshly sheared sheep wool. Something everyone found amazing is how odd, even alien, the fibres look at such high magnification. One TC imagined her students thinking these pictures had been taken at the bottom of the ocean. Everyone appreciated the value of seeing something so ordinary from such a different perspective!

After making their top-whorl drop-spindles, TCs compared and contrasted the properties and pliability of each material during the felting and spinning processes. By considering both historical and cross-cultural perspectives, teachers can ask students to think about how textiles have played central and supporting roles in the stories and traditions of cultures such as British Columbia’s local indigenous peoples, including the Coast Salish and, more specifically, the Musqueam, on whose traditional territory the university now resides. The Musqueam people have a long tradition of weaving. Weaving and the spindle wheel play a central part in their culture to this day.

Visit the Musqueam Cultural Centre Gallery and arrange for a short guided tour of the local community. The Gallery is located a short drive southeast of the UBC campus.

Today, even a cursory assessment of the contemporary textiles industry reveals its elaborately diverse range of interconnection with other areas: geography, sociology, anthropology, folklore, religion, iconography, economics, agriculture, environmental sustainability, fashion, mathematics, education, and – presumably for any of these – history. Through a political lens, the textiles and garment industries focus concern upon some of our most fundamental human rights issues, such as poverty, women’s rights, and child protection, and also labour codes and safety standards. As Blandy & Hoffman (1991) marvel, “… the breadth of this topic leaves one wondering how it could possibly be ‘hidden’” (p. 62).

Check out some brief instructional videos on the Sandbox to see spinning in action!

Visit our Podcast Episode, Thinking Outside the Sandbox – Textiles to hear from some UBC Faculty of Ed professors

Resources

If you’re intrigued by the scope of textiles, visit The Quilt Index (Michigan State University), “an open access, digital repository of thousands of images, stories and information about quilts and their makers,” and the Boise Peace Quilt Project (BPQP), “a gesture of friendship to the people of the USSR, from 35 Idahoans.” You can also read this New York Times article from 1985 to get a sense of the BPQP’s historical context.

Check out the Science Learning Hub – Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao, University of Waikato, www.sciencelearn.org.nz for some great articles detailing wool fibre properties and wool processing, and search for a lesson plan provided by the Science Learning Hub called “Making Felt.”

The fibres of a wool swatch, as captured by the Leica optical microscope.

Learn more about wool at lovetoknow.com and quatr.us, and learn about needle felting at birkelandwool.com.

Here are some sample unit plans for Weaving made available by School District #44 (North Vancouver), suitable for Grades 4–5 and Grades 6–7.

Local Math legend and Richmond helping teacher, Janice Novakowski, shared a blog post & handouts from a session titled “Creating spaces for playful inquiry: encounters with fibres and fabrics”

Finally, have a look at these fascinating films for a sharper historical understanding of the textiles industry as well as some future alternatives it might be able to provide:

“Thread” (Vey Films) “Can the fashion industry reverse global warming?”

Textiles on Film (BFI Player) “A century’s worth of cinematic history documenting the British textiles industry”

“The New Black” (Fast Company) “Ideas for the future of fashion that blend style and sustainability”

Acknowledgement: post author, Scott Robertson; editor, Yvonne Dawydiak

Interdisciplinarity, collaboration, hands-on learning – that’s the spirit of Create, Make, Innovate! We want to promote enthusiasm for sharing and learning across age groups and across subject disciplines.

Make, Create, Innovate sessions took place during the Fall 2019 in the foyer of the Neville B. Scarfe building and were hosted by Scott Robertson, a project assistant on a small TLEF grant with Dr. Lorrie Miller, Dr. Marina-Milner Bolotin and Yvonne Dawydiak, Teacher Education.

If you have an idea or an inspiration for a resource or future session, please let us know! scarfe.sandbox@ubc.ca

References

Blandy, D. & Hoffman, E. (1991, January). Resources for research and teaching about textiles as a domestic art in art education. Art Education, 44(1), 60–71.

Klein, J. T. (2012). A taxonomy of interdisciplinarity. (2012). In J. T. Klein, C. Mitcham, & R. Frodeman, Oxford handbook of interdisciplinarity. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

ScribJab

Posted in 4-7, 8-12, Dual Language Books, English, K-3, Not Subject Specific, Open Educational Resources, Resource | Tagged with , , , , , , ,


Scribjab is a tool through which you can create and share multilingual digital stories. Stories are written (and/or narrated) in 2 languages. Scribjab was created by two professors from Simon Fraser University (Kellen Toohey and Diane Dagenais) and is offered free of charge to users through a browser-based or mobile-based app (iTunes).

Not only do you write the story but you can record it aloud. This application is interdisciplinary, interactive and user friendly. The creators target elementary school students starting in grade 4. In fact, we can use Scribjab for all ages if we use appropriate scaffolding.


“ScribJab promotes the reading and writing of stories in all languages ​​by allowing children to write their books in English and / or French and their native language. In addition, we provide a space where children can discuss their stories together in the language (s) they wish to use “(SFU, 2018, para 2). This approach supports engaging students own funds of knowledge and can have a positive impact on students’ social emotional well-being and literacy development.


The application and the website are free and easy to navigate. You can read books already published without having an account. Having students start by reading some of the existing books will allow them to understand the affordances of this app.

In order to get started writing stories, the teacher/user will need to create an account with Scribjab. As soon as that’s done, you can start creating projects or folders for each class.

Making Connections: playing with electrical circuits

Posted in 4-7, 8-12, AppliedDesignSkillsTechnologies, artSTEAM, K-3, sciSTEAM | Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Play-based, hands-on learning activities appeal to our creativity and our curiosity. When combined with specific prompts and tasks, they encourage children by providing greater success and a more rewarding experiences (McLean & Harlow, 2017) as they learn about the world around them.

Helping children to construct an understanding of scientific concepts “[equips] them to solve problems and address challenges that have a direct human impact” (Honey & Kanter, 2013, p. 2).

The approach posited in the McLean & Harlow study supports the increased emphasis on engaging girls in STEM learning. They found that when presented with an opportunity to create story or sculpture using the squishy circuits, girls were more likely to engage and learning outcomes mirrored those of boys.

Using inexpensive familiar materials, teachers can prepare simple, fun, yet challenging hands-on activities for their students that can also provide footing for learning down the road. By using the squishy circuits first, students play with concepts using materials that can be re-used multiple times. Following this play, they might then design and build a circuit using a given length of copper tape thus using design thinking skills, electrical know-how and mathematics. Turn that paper circuit into an interactive book, button or a card and you now have full on STEAM learning in action.

Make, Create, Innovate: Getting Hands-on with Learning Design

Recap of the session in the Scarfe foyer Fall 2019

Some people are frightened of electricity.

But when you combine a 9V battery with a handful of playdough and a few strategically placed mini-LED bulbs, anyone can safely learn the basics of circuitry. Before long, those same people might just take the lead, and soon enough they’re speaking knowledgeably about current, polarity, and conductivity and asking great questions of their own! More advanced students can extend their learning by co-constructing their understandings of series and parallel circuits, switches and more. Design challenges can support students creating toys and electrical devices or imagine the learning that might happen when high school chem students are challenged to create new recipes to increase conductivity or resistence and improve the texture, colour or consistency of the dough (McLean & Harlow, p. 128).

At this week’s Make, Create, Innovate! session, held Tuesday, September 17, 2019, Teacher Candidates (TCs) had a chance to learn about the basics of electrical circuitry by making squishy circuits and paper circuits.

By trying out these simple Science activities, TCs were experimenting and predicting just like scientists while also making connections to other subject areas, such as Math and Art. They were also developing an anchor for new ideas and concepts they might encounter later on, just as we try to do with young students.

Have a look at Mind Trekkers (Michigan Tech) and Beam (UCLA) for some lesson ideas, and check out Brain Pop for an assessment activity designed as an interactive web-based game. You can also find more about circuit-making activities at The Tinkering Studio (Exploratorium), Makerspaces.com, and STEAMsational, and you can download a helpful handout on “Circuitry Basics” from Instructables.

“Facilitating STEM events [allows] teacher candidates to recognize and listen to students’ science ideas” (Dani, Hartman, & Helfrich, 2018, p. 375)

At the same time they were making circuits, the TCs were sharing and co-creating their understanding by contributing thoughts and questions to an on-line virtual wall called Padlet, a web-based space for hosting and displaying collaborative communication and feedback in real-time.

Padlet lets users see their ideas update continually on a nearby TV monitor. It also allows people to respond to each other. It’s another simple way of using classroom-based technology to provide formative assessment by consolidating and sharing immediate feedback, which also helps to promote a classroom community of learning.

Learn more about Padlet on the Scarfe Digital Sandbox.

Acknowledgement: post author, Scott Robertson; editor, Yvonne Dawydiak

Interdisciplinarity, collaboration, hands-on learning – that’s the spirit of Create, Make, Innovate! We want to promote enthusiasm for sharing and learning across age groups and across subject disciplines.

Make, Create, Innovate sessions took place during the Fall 2019 in the foyer of the Neville B. Scarfe building and were hosted by Scott Robertson, a project assistant on a small TLEF grant with Dr. Lorrie Miller, Dr. Marina-Milner Bolotin and Yvonne Dawydiak, Teacher Education.

If you have an idea or an inspiration for a resource or future session, please let us know! scarfe.sandbox@ubc.ca

References:

Dani, D. E., Hartman, S. L., & Helfrich, S. R. (2018). Learning to teach science: Elementary teacher candidates  Facilitate informal STEM events. The New Educator, 14(4), 363–380.

Honey, M. & Kanter, D. (2013). Introduction. In M. Honey & D. Kanter (Eds.), Design, make, play (pp. 1–6). New York, NY: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203108352.

McLean, M., & Harlow, D. (2017, June). Designing inclusive STEM activities: A comparison of playful interactive experiences across gender. In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children (pp. 567–574). New York, NY: ACM, https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3084326

Green Screen #wormholechallenge videos

Posted in 4-7, 8-12, AR & VR Tools, artSTEAM, Not Subject Specific, Resource, techSTEAM, Video & Video Tutorials | Tagged with , ,

The #wormholechallenge seems to have emerged on Twitter over the past few weeks spurred on by some improvements in iMovie that make ‘green screen’ videos highly accessible to those with the free mobile App or the full iMovie application on iOS. Using any green (or blue) background, you can create the appearance of a wormhole effect with an image gradually appearing, shifting, stretching, disappearing and distorting. Try using playdough or food colouring in water. Have a look at the Twitter hashtag (#wormholechallenge) for some amazing examples. Here’s my first try at a wormhole video!


Green screen can support photo and video creation across subject areas. Using accessible materials (without the need for a big green wall) allows your students to create unique special effects within any video project or presentation. I believe this technology encourages us to think more creatively and can support students in developing core competencies. The video above could be used in a presentation about intertidal life where students select an invertebrate to study and reveal it during their presentation. I’ve only just started to play with this but already feel like the possibilities are vast.

You can use a Green Screen app (like DoInk as shown in an earlier Scarfe Sandbox post: Green Screen for Storytelling) or use a newer feature of iMovie that allows you to import video as ‘green or blue screen’.

Here’s the video tutorial by Richard Hopkin that I viewed before making my own iMovie wormhole video:

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