Teacher Page

Title of Lesson

How I Got My Art Back Using Math ~ Piet Mondrian

Author

Ruth Rudd, December 2013

Abstract

Mondrian loses his ability to do his art when struck by an electric bolt that came from his TV while playing with his X-box. Students try to help Mondrian “get back his art” by creating dot-to-dot-like instructions on the coordinate plane and finding other games for Mondrian to play (again using the coordinate plane) that will not be as dangerous. Students will work in pairs with one being the gamer (creating a safe game using the coordinate plane) and the other the artist (creating new artwork for Mondrian using the coordinate plane).

Performance Objectives

Students will identify and label points in quadrants I-IV of the coordinate plane.
Students will plot given points in quadrant I-IV of the coordinate plane.
Students will plot points and color in a picture in quadrant I-IV of the coordinate plane
Students will give directions using the coordinate plane.
Students will learn about Mondrian’s art to identify points in the coordinate plane that would create the same picture.
Students will create their own Mondrian-esque picture on a coordinate plane.
Students will create their own Mondrian-esque “dot-to-dot-like” instructions that would enable someone else to recreate and color their Mondrian-esque picture.
Students will learn about other uses of the coordinate plane in common games and create a game using the coordinate plane.
Students will play their game with other students.
Students will discover and name another way that the coordinate plane is used to locate or describe position and think about jobs that might use it.

Outcomes

Students will understand how the coordinate plane works and how it can be applied to other areas in real life.

Essential Question

How can the coordinate system be used to map out, describe and represent the position of objects in various applications besides math?

Standards Addressed

Graph points on the coordinate plane to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

CCSS.Math.Content.5.G.A.1 Use a pair of perpendicular number lines, called axes, to define a coordinate system, with the intersection of the lines (the origin) arranged to coincide with the 0 on each line and a given point in the plane located by using an ordered pair of numbers, called its coordinates. Understand that the first number indicates how far to travel from the origin in the direction of one axis, and the second number indicates how far to travel in the direction of the second axis, with the convention that the names of the two axes and the coordinates correspond (e.g., x-axis and x-coordinate, y-axis and y-coordinate).
CCSS.Math.Content.5.G.A.2 Represent real world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane, and interpret coordinate values of points in the context of the situation.

Scaffolding Knowledge

The following are integrated throughout this webquest to lend support to the learning process:

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains

Gardner’s intelligences

Gregorc Mind Styles

Learning Styles

Pedagogy

Emotion:

The webquest is designed to be fun and non-threatening. The scaffolding of activities, starting with the very basic and moving to more difficult enables the student to feel confident wherever they are in the process.

Sense and Meaning:

Scaffolded activities in Process > Prepare! give sense to the topic of coordinate planes and the fun activity of making a game or a piece of art give it meaning. The student wants to learn in order to produce the fun game/art. Alone, sense and meaning add to learning. However, sense and meaning together gives the greatest probability of the information going to long-term storage in the brain.

Retention Method: Learn by Doing:

The activities in Process > Prepare! teach, and then allow practice for greater retention. Various activities ask for practice in different ways, enhancing memory.

Difficulty and Complexity:

Linking the activities on Bloom’s Taxonomy enables the increase of complexity of learning without increasing the difficulty beyond the pace of slower learners. They can improve their level of thinking as they progress through the levels of the taxonomy. Students who learn at a quicker pace can progress to activities of more difficulty.

Motivation:

The rate of learning is significantly higher if the student is motivated. Looking forward to making a piece of art or the game motivates the students to learn about the coordinate plane in the Process > Prepare portion of the webquest.

Teacher Preparation

All PDFs

You may with to printout all of the worksheets prior to beginning the webquest, especially the PROGRESS TRACKER. All of the worksheets can be found here – Worksheets.
Check to be sure that none of the websites are blocked by a filter at your school. For example, you will need YouTube for the Conclusion.
Headphones or ear buds are desirable for the many websites with sounds.
If you wish, you may supply the 22×28″ poster board for the Gamers, to be sure that they have the correct size.
Artists will need graph paper.
Artists and Gamers will need:

scissors
glue
colored pencils, pastels, and/or crayons

Lesson Outline

1. Introduction

Open the WebQuest, and project on a screen for the whole class to view. Help students through the activity by showing them the navigation, explain parts of the webquest. There are many parts, but the Progress Tracker will help them to see where they are. It may be helpful to them to give a time frame for each part according to the learning pace of your students.

2. Teacher Instructional Process

At the end of the first class, ask what the students learned about the coordinate plane.
At the beginning of each class, ask what they expect to learn. How will what they learn enable them to help Mondrian by either creating artwork or a game?
Toward the end of the webquest, ask if they have seen the coordinate plane used in every day life. Where?

Open the task page

Assign the roles of Artist and Gamer and explain their expectations:
- Artist will make a piece of art using the coordinate plane, along with directions on how to reproduce the same piece of art (after all, Mondrian need you!).
- Gamer will make a game using the coordinate plane, along with directions (After all, Mondrian needs a little fun!).

Discuss the Collaborative Poster and the Gallery Walk
- Together, you will make a poster showing how you used the coordinate plane to do your part for Mondrian. You will also collaborate show how the coordinate plane might be used in a real job.
- At the Gallery Walk, you will present your poster, art and game. You will have a chance to make each other’s artwork and play each other’s games.

Open the Process page.

Pass out the Progress Tracker to students and headphones. “You will need headphones because you will be having so much fun with the activities!” Show them how to mark what they have done on their Progress Trackers.
Allow the learners to dig in and walk around the room to see how they are progressing, giving any needed guidance as you do so.

3. Guided Practice

As the students progress through the Part 1: Prepare! check their progress as you walk around the room, also checking on their Progress Tracker. Even though Part 3: Prove! is listed as a quiz, it can easily be used as guided practice.

4. Independent Practice

The Play! part of the process is an excellent and fun way for students to practice. Check their scores in the Progress Tracker to see how they are doing.

5. Closure

Ask students to verbally summarize what they have learned about the coordinate plane. Is it just something for math class? Why or why not?

Grading

Grade scale and the weight of each of the 2 rubrics are to be determined by the teacher.

Suggested Follow-Up

Many of the activities in Prepare! are multilevel and can easily be done multiple times for extra practice. Allow slower paces learners to repeat the early activities.

Works Cited – Click here

Rudd, December 2013