My first Maker Monday post described how an art-related Maker Movement activity brought about a much-needed change in the dynamic of one class. That semester, after observing the transformation produced by a simple painting activity, I brought variations of the same activity into multiple classes. My conversation class discussed art, and then spent the last 20 minutes of class painting and discussing the experience. Another group, for a warm-up, were given markers (no clean-up needed!) and prompted toward a similar circle-making activity while music played. When the music stopped at different intervals, I called out a random color, and whoever had been using that color had to answer a simple review question. It was a very different activity, and they enjoyed it. So after a week or two, I had a good amount of small squares with Kandinsky-style circles painted on them.
Before I started the project, I had in mind something collaborative as the end result--something that could stay in the school and that others could interact with. Inspired by the mid-twentieth century architects and designers, Charles and Ray Eames, I decided to make the squares holding these concentric circles into a puzzle. The Eames were a husband and wife design team who made significant contributions to modern architecture and furniture. Among many fun and playful things, they crafted a card game known as "House of Cards." Composed of stiff rectangular cards with slots cut in the sides, they are meant to be assembled and re-assembled into various structures.
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| House of Cards by Charles & Ray Eames Photo by SebastianHelm - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23169054 |
They are best known for their whimsicality, and the playfulness behind the designs of Charles and Ray Eames revolutionized modern architecture, and even the average office chair! They said, "Toys are not really as innocent as they look. Toys and games are preludes to serious ideas."
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| Furniture designed by Charles & Ray Eames Photo by Nika Vee from Montreal, Canada (Modern furniture and a leg splint) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Taking this to heart, I glued the Kandinsky circles back to back and had them laminated in plastic. I then cut two-millimeter slits in the sides, similar to the House of Cards model. (After employing the help of a few students who had finished their writing assignment early, and noticing their lack of enthusiasm, I took the cards and scissors to a meeting and finished them myself.)
The next class, we met in the library, where they saw their paintings in this new form. As a warm-up, before a review day, I put them in teams and had them play something like "reverse Jenga ®." They had to put one piece on at a time (I had them start with two, just to get a standing structure), each team alternating. The idea was that the game was over if the structure fell, and, of course, they could only use English to decide where to put the pieces.
It took them some time, and lots of team collaboration. In the end, they used up all the squares, filling up an entire table, and, to my admiration and their relief, the structure was still standing! I left the Kandinsky / House of Cards game in the library for a few weeks for other students to interact with.
Two semesters later, I set up a mini-maker space in the reception that I fondly call the Maker Corner (more on that in future posts!), and left these cards for students to build with between classes. The response was quite enthusiastic.
Before that, I had also brought the game into another class that was starting a unit about architecture. As a warm-up, and to get them excited about the subject, I challenged them in small teams to see who could build the biggest structure. I had all the cards in the middle of the classroom, and the rule was that groups could only take two cards at a time, and they could only get more cards when the ones they had were in a standing structure. In an advanced-level class that tends to get bored easily, the competitive nature of this mini-maker challenge brought about a great energy vibe. It also encouraged teamwork, problem-solving skills, and communication in English.
I'm definitely saving our Kandinsky / House of Cards puzzle for future classes! I'll be sharing more Maker Monday ideas in two weeks. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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