Bette Naughton

Engaging your students in a design project that incorporates creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and real-world applications can inspire them to think innovatively while igniting curiosity and empathy in their artistic process. I love giving my fifth-grade classes a collaborative, design-centered challenge to solve. My goal in creating this unit was to encourage risk-taking and coming up with solutions to the challenges of creating a prototype.

Discussing Sculpture
The unit begins with a presentation on sculpture as an art form and sculpture gardens as a place to exhibit art. The presentation includes videos of world-renowned sculpture gardens, famous sculptors and their work, and a close look at materials used in creating sculptures. We discuss what makes a sculpture, the importance of scale and form, and how sculptors create a design that is visually compelling from all sides. We also talk about how a sculpture garden is conceived, funded, curated, and designed.

The Chopped Challenge
To get students thinking three dimensionally like a sculptor, I give them an Art Chopped challenge (inspired by the Food Network show). I give a baggie to each student that contains foam shapes, pipe cleaners, beads, and a foam sheet piece. Then I share the rules:

• Don’t open your bag until the clock starts.
• You must use all of the “ingredients” in your bag. You may also use pantry supplies on your table (glue, scissors, wet sponge, markers, and pencils).
• Your sculpture must look interesting from all sides.
• Your sculpture must be able to stand independently.
• You have fifteen minutes.
• Ready, set, design your sculpture!

A student designs a sculpture using a CAD program.

Designing with CAD
During the next class, I lay out the objectives of the lesson: Design a sculpture that complements nature, in particular the environment of Eastern Pennsylvania. I say, “Our sculpture garden will have four seasons. How can you use the seasonal changes, sun, and shadows to your advantage?”

Students are introduced to Tinkercad, a 3D design application they can use on their iPads. To get acquainted with Tinkercad, students work through basic design lessons using the program. I then list requirements for the sculpture’s height and width, hollowing the core, and grouping shapes.

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