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ERIC Number: EJ849926
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Mar
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0004-3931
EISSN: N/A
Plug into a Great Outlet for Creativity
Skophammer, Karen
Arts & Activities, v145 n2 p29, 46 Mar 2009
Is there beauty in the wall socket that people plug their appliances into daily? Can one find beauty in the grate covering the heat vent in his classroom? The author posed these very questions to her third-grade students. She had the students take a good look at the outlet cover (or plate) on the wall. After thinking and discussing the outlets, they moved onto the hands-on portion of their lesson. Each student was given a 12" x 18" sheet of paper. She asked the students to each draw a contour drawing of an outlet wall plate on his or her paper. She held up an example that she had drawn quite large; the plug-in openings measured about 2 inches across and the entire outlet was about 6" x 8". When the contours were drawn, the author asked the students to turn the paper in different directions on their desks and see if they could imagine that outlet being something other than an outlet. They discussed the fact that manufacturers know about the development of good products, and hire artists to design their products so people will approve of them and like them. As student artists, they were going to turn a mundane, everyday object into something fabulous and colorful. Their outlet wall plates were transformed into amazing works of art because their imagination allows them to see things in new and exciting ways. The author's class of third-graders took an electrical outlet cover--which each of them walks past every day and doesn't give a second thought to--and turned it into many different animals, people, robots, spaceships, cars, eyeglasses, hats and more.
Publishers Development Corporation. 12345 World Trade Drive, San Diego, CA 92128. Tel: 866-278-7678; Fax: 858-605-0247; e-mail: subs@artsandactivities.com; Web site: http://www.artsandactivities.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 3
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A