Teacher's Page | thingsweleavebehind

Grade Level: 7th

Key Concepts

This webquest aims to aid in the formation of identity and to develop student's understanding of ordinary objects as signs and signals of personal and communal culture. My hope in creating a project that students will "rediscover" at a later date is to show them the way the passage of time changes us and how the formation of our identity is an organic process that takes place over time. Therefore, the key concepts that I am working with are identity, time, and memory.

Process

Day 1: Help students gain an understanding of what is meant by the term "cultural artifact" by having them engage with museum artifacts, and allowing them to come up with imaginative stories to go along with the given artifacts, therefore showing them that every object has behind it a story or narrative. Encourage the students in sharing their imagined stories and thereby showing them that without any information provided, the narratives that they derive stem from their own personal experiences and associations.
Day 2: Allow the students to recognize in their own daily lives numerous objects that are also to be considered cultural artifacts by repeating the previous lesson with objects from contemporary life. Help them to recognize that the stories may be easier to imagine with these objects because they are more familiar than the museum artifacts. Also help them to understand the connotations that may be evoked by these objects, whether it calls to mind specific people or a specific gender, and help them to understand that these connotations are derived from their personal experiences. Tell students to begin thinking about important objects in their own lives that they may want to recreate for this exploration.
Day 3: Introduce students to Tinkercad and enourage them to simply "play" with the program after they have gone through the tutorial and a few of the guided lessons. Encourage them to attempt to create more complicated objects so that they can begin thinking through the language of the program. Next, put studentsin groups of two or three for them to begin brainstorming their cultural artifact together.
Day 4: Work day! Allow the students to begin working on their selected objects.
Day 5: Reflection and sharing. Allow the students to share the stories behind their artifacts with their classmates, and perhaps encourage them to share differing perspectives on other's artifacts. Explain to them that these objects may mean different things to different people. Give them time to brainstorm and draft their letters to their future selves, encouraging them to explore the idea that these objects may mean different things to them as they mature. Once they are all done, collect the letters and the objects and stow them away in a box of some nature that can act as a time capsule. Let them know that no one, including you will be opening the time capsule until the day when you all open it together at the end of 9th grade.

Materials

computers with internet access so they can work on the Tinkercad program
3D printer
paper and envelopes for the letter
Some sort of box that can be sealed and act as a time capsule

Learning Objectives

learning to recognize cultural artifacts in contemporary culture
learning the technical skills required to work on a 3D printing program
gain an understanding of how our experiences and personal narrative affect the way we percieve the objects around us

National Core Art Standards

Creating

Anchor Standard #1:

Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

Anchor Standard #2:

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

Anchor Standard #3:

Refine and complete artistic work

Presenting

Anchor Standard #4:

Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation

Achor Standard #5:

Develop and refine artistic work for presentation

Anchor Standard #6:

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work

Responding

Anchor Standard #7:

Perceive and analyze artistic work

Anchor Standard #8:

Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work

Anchor Standard #9:

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work

Connecting

Anchor Standard #10:

Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art

Anchor Standard #11:

Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding

Evaluation

"A" Work: Participates in class discussions and in preliminary cultural artifact exercises. Shows real thought behind their decision to create a particular object and shares that story with the class during the reflection. Shows good group participation overall. Completes the letter to their future selves and turns in both the object and the letter by the end of the exploration.
"B" Work: Doesn't really participate in class discussions or in the preliminary exercises. Completes both the letter and the object but the choice of object does not seem well thought out. Group does not seem to be collaborating well.
"C" Work: Doesn't participate at all in the class discussions and in the preliminary exercises. Completes object but doesn't complete the letter
"D" Work: Doesn't complete an object or letter