Exploring Familiar Spaces

Objective

By taking a tour of their school, students will learn how all of their senses can be used to observe and analyze the mood and function of different spaces.

How does this activity relate to Kidspace?

Susan Leopold cuts up, rearranges, and reflects images of familiar places, such as school hallways and bathrooms, to redefine our perception of their function and mood. By introducing your students to ways of experiencing and interpreting their environment, they will become more aware of the world around them and will develop tools to talk about Susan's artwork.

Activity

1. Begin by leading a discussion on the physical aspects of your classroom. Make a list with your class of the various objects your students see in the room. Discuss these objects and their roles in the classroom. Try to talk about the room as a whole-what does it feel like and what is it used for? Review the five senses and how they can be useful as investigative tools. Explain to your students that they, like detectives, can use their senses to discover the details or "clues" of a space, which they can then put together to understand its overall mood and function. Encourage your students to use their senses to create vivid descriptions of the objects they find and the spaces they experience.

Discuss the concept of mood-that spaces, like people, can have moods. For instance, if a small dark room is filled with many different pieces of equipment, books, artwork, and desks, does this make your students feel a certain way (i.e., crowded, tired, or excited)? Explain that the mood (and use) of a place can be determined by its architectural elements (small, large, rounded, sharp, light, dark) and its contents.

2. Create a chart in your classroom to keep track of your students' observations. Below is an example you may want to reproduce on your blackboard, a piece of butcher paper, or flip chart.

3. After you've filled out the classroom portion of your chart, take your students on a tour of the school and the school grounds. While walking, present questions (like those shown below) and point out to your students that they are using their senses to understand a space.

What is in this room?
What does the space smell like?
What are the objects used for?
Are some rooms bigger or smaller than others? Why?
How do you feel in this room?
Does this space have many uses? What are they?
How do these spaces feel different from one another?

4. Back in the classroom, review the places you visited with your students. Ask your students to fill in descriptions on the chart for each place. Ask your students to think about how all these details can be put together to tell us something about the mood of a particular room in the school or the entire school building.

Reflection

Tell your students that when they visit Kidspace they will see everyday spaces-however, these spaces will have been changed. Explain that Susan Leopold takes images of familiar places such as bathrooms and school hallways and reorganizes them to make them look and feel different.

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