applications

Applications for the Art and Life in Africa CD-ROM

Nan Mercier, Art Teacher, West High School, Iowa City, Iowa

There are several characteristics of this CD-ROM program that promote options for types of instructional structures in the classroom. One characteristic is the depth and quality of the text and visual information contained within the program. The second is the ease at which teachers and students with even limited computer confidence can navigate through the chapters, databases, and essays, and use the search, bookmark, and slide show tools of the program. The third is the multimedia component that allows the learner to study still images, see art objects in use either in field photos or video, and hear the sounds associated with it. These characteristics allow for and encourage a range of instruction structures that would not be easily achieved with a textbook or video tape. Some possible examples are listed below.

Types of instructional structures:

I. The teacher uses the CD-ROM to provide input of information on the area of study. This is a typical form of input for instruction, but the quality of the presentation is enhanced through the range of information available to the teacher; including maps, data and background information on the people who created the art, detailed images of the objects, field photos and sometime video clips of the object in use. Possible examples:

A. Mask images provide an avenue for the study and application of design: concepts such as repetition, emphasis and symmetry. The teacher uses the slide show tool of the CD to create a presentation on a variety of masks in Africa.

B. The teacher develops and presents a slide show on the multicultural influences in Africa as seen in African art.

C. The teacher presents the chapter from the CD-ROM on "Art of Everyday Endeavor" and uses some of the data bases to provide needed information on the objects, countries and peoples represented.

The presentation will usually be followed by an activity where students apply the information. One copy of CD-ROM with projection devise will be needed for the teacher presentation.

II. Another instructional structure takes place in the computer lab where each student or small team of students have their own computer with the Art and Life in Africa CD-ROM. The input from the teacher is to provide basic instruction on the use of the CD. The teacher identifies the content to be covered, divides it into small teachable components, assigns it to the students and then the students research and teach the content to each other. Possible examples:

A. Students create their own slide presentation to give to the class on an assigned or selected topic. Each student or team of students have a different topic. Students will create accompanying hand-outs, etc. to give to the class. Possible topics:

1. Political art in Africa.

2. Recycling as seen in African art.

3. The use of art/metaphor to aid in the process of grief.

B. After instruction on the CD-ROM in the computer lab, students identify a single image from the CD to illustrate a point or answer a question. The selection is then shared with the class, just as a student would answer a question in a discussion or on a work-sheet. Possible questions:

1. "Find an example of a mask that uses the aesthetic element of repetition."

2. "Find an example of a contemporary image or material used in a traditional art form."

3. "Find an example that illustrates the role that the artist plays in African society."

4. "Find an example of an art form that is used to identify an individual's rank or standing in the community."

5. "Use the Search function of the Slide Show tool to identify a mask of one of the following functions: ancestor, childhood, death, cultural exchange, entertainment, women."

III. The CD can also be used as a source of research for individual students to examine a topic in greater depth. The teacher provides instruction on the CD-ROM with focus on the features that takes the student into the greater depths of the program.

The Art and Life in Africa CD-ROM program also encourages a broader scope of lessons. The students will learn about life in Africa, but because they can see art and life in a context as well as have information on the objects, peoples, and countries of Africa, an avenue for cultural comparison is available. One way to achieve this, is for the teacher to use one of the above instructional structures for the students to gain information on a selected time in the cycle of life of African peoples. Students will be encouraged to discuss how the same time in the cycle of life is handled in their own culture. The follow up assignment will ask the students to apply the cultural comparison to their own individual experiences. When the cultural comparison is applied to the individual, the students also learn more about themselves. Possible assignments include:

A. Create a ceramic sculpture that shows realistically or symbolically your current status either at school or within your family.

B. Create a self portrait that shows you in a mask that represents the qualities you want to have as an adult member of your society. You will identify the meaning you have assigned to shapes, designs and colors that represent the qualities.

C. Identify a passage in your life (junior high to high school, parent's divorce, a new baby in your family, getting your driver's license) and use visual symbolism to illustrate in mixed media that change in your life.

Some students will be able to easily use visual symbolism to express their ideas, however, most students will benefit from instruction on the communicative properties of colors and shapes, i.e., red usually is dominate and blues seem calm. This could provide an additional opportunity for cultural comparison. Students may also assign meaning to shapes and colors.

My students receive two grades for this type of project. One grade is for their idea, and the other is for how they carried it out within the framework of the assignment. Their projects usually contain much more personal meaning than is obvious to the viewer, including me. To help me better understand their meaning I ask the students to include a written statement about the meaning of their work.

It is this type of lesson that keeps me teaching, because it is so meaningful and significant to my students. It is also an endeavor that promotes cultural understanding, acceptance and appreciation.

Revised January 21, 1999