Media Arts
"The imagination is the root of all creation."
- Lovena Rawoo
Cool.org
The purpose of the Website
The main goal of the Cool.org website is to offer resources for education that are useful in the real world, align to the curriculum, and help educators teach essential environmental and social issues to student's and engage them in deeper learning, understanding, and action.
Strengths:
1. Carries curriculum-specific resources: The Cool.org site does possess some teaching resources aligned to the Australian curriculum.
2. Relevant to the real-world: All resources are focused on real-world issues, making them relevant and engaging for students.
3. Action-focused framework: The Cool.org Act Framework integrates ways to implement strategies to enable action and develop critical reflectiveness.
Weaknesses:
1. Lack of international relevance: Because the resources are targeted to Australia, it may be difficult for the resources to resonate to other contexts.
2. Complexity: Some of the resources are quite complex and will require significant planning/time to implement.
Teacher-Relevant Elements:
1. Lesson plans: The Cool.org lesson plans aligned to the learning and student outcomes for the curriculum and provide structured tasks and activities to teach the critical issues.
2. Act Framework: Supports actionable strategies and promotes critical thinking.
Classroom Activity- Raining Rainbow
Age Group: 4-5 years old
Objective:
To explore colors and creativity using a fun and interactive art-based activity.
Lesson Plan:
Introduction:
1. Show the children a rainbow or ask if they have seen one before.
2. Review the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Activity:
1. Pass out paper, paint, or colored markers.
2. Tell the children to make their own rainbow art.
3. Instruct and encourage them to experiment with colors mixing.
Extension:
1. Have the children create a "raining" effect on their artwork using a spray bottle to stimulate rain.
2. Discuss how rain can create rainbows.
Benefits:
1. Develops creativity: Children will explore colors and create art.
2. Introduces colors: Children will learn about the colors of a rainbow.
3. Encourages experimentation: Children will experiment with art materials.
Australian Curriculum - Media Arts
Purpose of the Website
The Australian Curriculum website provides a framework to structure the teaching of Media Arts where students can create and communicate representations of diverse worlds, investigate the influence of media, and develop critical awareness of media practices. Similarly, students can think, invent, and make something new.
Strengths
1. Clear curriculum framework: The website provides a defined framework for teaching Media Arts.
2. Emphasis on critical thinking: The curriculum is designed as a practice for students to think critically, interpret and analyse media and develop their media practices.
3. Incorporates modern technologies: The curriculum acknowledges the important role of emerging technologies in Media Arts.
Weaknesses
1. Complexity: There are major abstractions with the curriculum framework that could be complex for teachers to interpret and implement.
2. Limited resources: The website is limited in resources/examples for teachers.
Teacher-Relevant Elements:
1. Curriculum alignment: The website provides a clarity for a defined framework for teaching Media Arts aligned to the Australian Curriculum.
2. Emphasis on creativity: The curriculum encourages students to imagine and collaboratively produce a media artwork, as well as negotiate responsibilities in planning and producing media artworks.
Classroom Activity: "Media Makers"
Age Group:
4-5 years old
Objective:
To introduce very young children to basic concepts of media and creative thinking.
Lesson Plan:
Introduction:
1. Show children a simple storybook or picture.
2. Have them retell the story or picture in their own way.
Media Creation:
1. Evaluate simple media tools (crayons, markers, paper).
2. Have the children create their own story or picture.
3. Encourage them to be creative and use their imagination.
Sharing:
1. Ask them to share their creations with the other classmates.
2. Discuss their stories/pictures.
Assessment:
1. Observe the children's level of creativity and imagination.
2. Observe if they can share their ideas in their own way through their stories/pictures.
Materials:
1. Crayons, markers, paper
2. Simple storybooks or pictures
This lesson plan promotes creativity, communication, and the most basic concepts of media in very young children.
Improv Encyclopedia
The Purpose of the Website
The Improv Encyclopedia website offers a wealth of resources related to improvisational theater such as games, exercises, and activities that encourage creativity, group trust, and spontaneity.
Strengths
1. Comprehensive resource: There are over 500 improv games and exercises listed on the website in various categories (all adaptable for Media Arts), and these are easy to navigate.
2. An assortment of activities: The website contains icebreakers, warm-ups, group trust exercises, and drama games.
3. Useful for diverse contexts: The resources can be applied to various settings, including theater, education, and team-building.
Weaknesses
1. Limited direct connection to Media Arts: The lessons could be used in Media Arts classes, but the goals are primarily targeted to improve theatre values and concepts.
2. No explicit curriculum links: The website does not include direct links to curriculum standards or lesson plans.
Teacher-Relevant Elements:
1. Improv games and exercises: Most of these games and exercises could be adapted for use in Media Arts contexts to foster creativity, teamwork, and support spontaneity.
2. Group trust exercises: These can help develop trust and cooperation amongst students.
Classroom Activity
Concept: "Improvisation and Storytelling"
Activity Title: "Freeze Frame Storytelling"
Age Group: 4-5 years old
Objective:
To encourage creativity and storytelling through a simple freeze frame activity.
Activity:
Introduction:
1. Show children some pictures or scenes and ask them to describe what is happening.
2. Discuss the concept of freeze frames.
Freeze Frame Activity:
1. Divide children into small groups.
2. Ask each group to create and perform a simple freeze frame scene (e.g., a story, an animal, a scene from a fairy tale).
3. Encourage groups to depict scenes or stories using props and costumes.
Sharing:
1. Have each group presents their freeze frame they prepared.
2. Ask the other children to describe what they see in the freeze frame.
Benefits:
1. Develops creativity: It encourages children to be creative and imaginative by creating freeze frame scenes.
2. Encourages teamwork: It encourages teamwork as children are working together in groups.
3. Introduces storytelling: It introduces storytelling by allowing children to practice telling a story through freeze frames.
This activity promotes creativity, teamwork, and basic storytelling skills in young children.
Springer Nature Link
The Purpose of the Website
The Springer Nature Link website provides access to academic research and publications resources, including articles regarding Media Arts in early childhood education and its contribution to young children's creative engagement and participation in the digital world.
Strengths
1. Attention to academic rigor: The website offers peer-reviewed articles and research are available through this site.
2. Appropriate for education: The articles are useful and provide different insights to consider Media Arts as part of early childhood education.
3. Theoretical framework: The ArtsIN Framework is presented as a possible pedagogical model to integrate arts into children's learning.
Weaknesses
1. Considerable barrier to access: The website may require either subscription or institutional access.
2. Technical language: The articles may contain technical language which may be unhelpful for a non-academic audience.
Teacher-Relevant Elements:
1. Media Arts framework: The article discusses how Media Arts is playing a role in developing digital and multimodal authorial practices.
2. ArtsIN Framework: Provides a pedagogical model to consider further for integrating arts learning into teaching programs.
Classroom Activity
Concept: "Digital Storytelling"
Activity Title: "Creating Digital Stories"
Age Group:
Early childhood students
Objective:
To foster young children's creative engagement in the digital environment through Media Arts.
Lesson Plan:
Introduction:
1. Introduce the idea of digital storytelling.
2. Provides examples of easy digital stories.
Digital Storytelling Activity:
1. Provide the digital tools they have access to (tablets, storytelling apps).
2. Ask the children to create a simple digital story from images that have been provided to them on the apps, selecting their own images and sounds.
3. Encourage experimentation and creative representation.
Sharing:
1. Have children present their digital stories.
2. Offer reflection and discussion concerning the stories the children created and their creative choices.
Assessment:
1. Observe levels of children's creativity and digital skills.
2. Observe children's ability to depict stories through the use of digital tools.
Materials:
1. Digital tools (tablets, storytelling apps)
2. Examples of digital stories
This lesson plan highlights a way to develop young children's creativity, engagement, digital literacy, and storytelling skills.