Teaching Sequence

15 minutes – Part A: Understanding the Effect of 'Place'
25 minutes – Part B: Designing an Ideal Place
15 minutes – Part C: Writing an Artist Statement
5 minutes – Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes	Part A: Understanding the effect of 'place'
25 minutes	Part B: Designing an ideal place
15 minutes	Part C: Writing and artist statement
05 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Understanding the Effect of 'Place'

Preparation:

Before commencing the lesson, select an outdoor area of the school to explore that links with the content of the lesson (such as an outdoor social area or play area). Read through these Tips for getting your class outside before taking your class outside.

Step 1.

Begin the lesson by establishing with students that the place you are in can affect the way you feel. Do this by asking students to close their eyes and imagine that they are in their ideal place. This could be a playground, a backyard, a park, a beach, bushland or any other place that is ideal for them.

Step 2.

Invite students to turn to the person next to them and describe how they felt when they imagined that they were in that place. After students have shared with a partner, ask some volunteers to share with the class.

Step 3.

Highlight for students that when we are in a place, there are many different things that can make us feel the way that we do. Ask students to recall the place they imagined and share some details about it with their partner. Prompt students to recall what they imagined seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and maybe even tasting! Invite some volunteers to share with the class.

Step 4.

Inform the class that in this part of the lesson, they will go outside to a place in the schoolyard to observe it and consider how it makes them feel and why. Ask students to gather their Student Worksheet, a book to lean on and a pencil to write with and guide the class to the pre-determined place in the schoolyard with you.

At this point in the lesson, you could foreshadow with students that they will be working on a design to make the place better. This will help them to make more conscientious observations.

Step 5.

Invite students to form groups of 3 and ask them to respond in writing prompts on the Student Worksheet:

How do you feel when you are in this place?
What do you see in this place?
What do you hear?
What can you smell?
What are some positive things that you notice about this place?

Once students have made their observations about the place, ask them to return to the classroom.

Step 6.

Ask students to be seated in a large circle. Let students know that the seating arrangement will help them to see the speaker and be involved during a class discussion. Invite each group to share their observations about the outdoor place.

Part B: Designing an Ideal Place

Step 1.

Inform students they will work to a design brief to improve the place that they observed in Part A of the lesson. They will present their design as a bird's-eye-view drawing.

Explain that a design brief helps a designer to understand what is required for the design, including what should be included, what should not be included, any specific details about materials that can or can't be used, costs and the time that a design should be completed by.

Step 2.

Read through the design brief with the class:

Design Problem:	Your school requires a place that encourages socialising, relaxation, play and learning activities.
Materials:	The materials used for the new outdoor area must be natural and/or recycled.
Requirements:	The place should be designed with sustainability in mind. Your design should include designated areas for the following purposes: Seating Eating Playing Relaxing
Constraints:	The place should 'fit in' with the natural surroundings.

The concept of sustainability is explored in more detail in the Year 5 & 6 Creative Sustainability -Tuning In lesson.

If required, remind students that sustainability can be defined as:

Some Definitions of Sustainability

- The ability for something to keep going at the same rate and in just as good condition as before.
- Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
- Living within the limits of what the environment can provide and understanding the many interconnections between the economy, society and the environment.

Step 3.

Ask the class to think about what an ideal place would look, sound, feel, smell (and even taste) like. Remind students about the place in the school that they observed and what they could add to the place to meet the requirements of the design brief.

Some ideas you could suggest:

flower beds with native plants to attract native birds and insects
wooden retaining wall around a garden that doubles as seating
tree stumps arranged in a circle to create seating in a social area
a learning area with a discovery station with miniature ant farms and magnifying glasses
large trees to create shade and provide a place for wildlife to live
areas to play, such as cubby houses or a recycled boat
vegetable and herb gardens to tend
water fountain to drink from and fill water bottles with.

Invite students to create a list of what they intend to include in their 'place' design in the space provided on the Student Worksheet.

Students may like to conduct an online image search for terms such as "sustainable play areas" to seek inspiration for their design.

Step 4.

Distribute A4 paper, Grip 2001 Pencils or Junior Grip Pencils, rulers and Dust-Free Erasers, and ask students to begin drawing a draft of their design, using a birds-eye-view perspective, i.e. from a high vantage point, looking down on the place from above (like viewing a map).

Step 5.

Once students have completed a draft of their design, invite them to complete the Texture Rendering Technique practise handout using Colour-Grip Pencils and Grip Fine pens. These exercises will assist students to develop techniques that portray surface textures that may appear in their design.

Step 6.

Encourage students to complete their design by applying the techniques to portray different textures. Guide students to use a Finepen to define the outlines of shapes and add extra detail.

Step 7.

Ask students to stick their A4 paper to an A3 piece of paper and use the space around their design to annotate their place design. Students should describe each of the inclusions in their design and why they have been included. Lastly, guide students to name their design.

Part C: Artist Statement

Step 1.

An artist statement explains the choices made in a design. As a class, read through the artist statement prompts on the Student Worksheet and invite students to ask any clarifying questions. The prompts are below:

Your name and the title of your design.
What features did you include in your 'place' design?
What materials did you include in your design?
What makes your design an ideal place?

Step 2.

Invite students to write an artist statement to explain their design. They could write a draft in the space provided on the Student Worksheet, then use a computer to publish their statement to add to the class 'place design' display.

Step 3.

Display students' designs and artist statements in a public area for others to view, such as on the wall of the classroom or a school noticeboard.

Reflection

Invite students to participate in a peer review. While viewing the class display of designs, ask students to choose two designs that really appeal to them, and answer the following questions for each work (on the Student Worksheet):

What is the title of the work and the name of the designer?
Which features of the design do you like the most and why?
How is this design different to your own?
Have texture rendering techniques have been used successfully? Why/Why not?
Does the design fulfil the requirements listed in the design brief?

Differentiated Learning

Extension

Encourage students to ‘zoom in’ on their favourite feature of their design and draw a detailed, eye-level view of their chosen feature.

Provisions for Learning Support

Provide graph paper that can be used for the drafting process to assist students who may be struggling with the scale of objects. Amend the design brief to include fewer requirements.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn’t work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Creative Sustainability - Designing Places

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