Looking To Learn

An education program of Michigan Legacy Art Park

The Michigan Legacy Art Park offers a vast array of opportunities for interdisciplinary and hands on learning. Each work of art in the park has application to multiple fields, including science, social studies, math and language arts. The list below demonstrates the almost limitless potential of the park. Its depth of scope allows teachers at all grade levels to craft lesson plans advancing student knowledge while making the interactive links necessary to promote critical thinking and problem solving.

Since artwork is the central focus of the park knowledge of aesthetics, line, mass, color, perspective, composition texture, etc., are an integral part of all learning associated with the park. David Barr's Sawpath Series, for example, may be a catalyst for the study of intervals or logging. Equally, it is a series of works created by the artist to stir spiritual reflection. The following list is only a sample to demonstrate the educational potential of each work in the Park. Teachers and artists regularly expand the list as they discover new and effective applications.

• Solar Month--geometry, astronomy, geography
• Sawpath Series--math, Michigan history, forestry and lumbering
• Frog--biology, ecology
• Unravel--math, botany
• Red Demon--history, language arts
• Cooling Pond--biology and ecology
• Clan Symbols--Michigan history, American Indian cultures, printing, language arts
• The Bonnet--Michigan history, American pioneer cultures, fashion, language arts Five Needles--botany, math, Michigan history, forestry, logging, sailing
• Vessel--geology, construction
• Barn Chair--construction, furniture design
• Wheels of Progress Wind machine--physics, geography
• Harbinger--Michigan history, fashion
• The Big Two Hearted--Michigan history, language arts, fishing, geography

Even from this sampling it is clear that there are important choices to be made in the effective uses of the art. One might focus on a single work or combine works with similar or contrasting characteristics.

One particular work, Stockade Labyrinth, stands out as a singularly rich piece for learning. It is, in fact, a place containing scores of art works, each with its own potential. The works deal with map making, military history, mining, trapping, American Indian cultures, surveying, agriculture, forestry, sailing, fishing and exploring. It is a perfect place to learn geography, Michigan history, construction techniques, geometry, botany and of course visual art. The park can serve as an important catalyst for different types of learning experiences, When contemplating Five Needles for example, we can imagine a whole series of activities.

Pre visit: Study leaf function and form, plant identification, compare natural occurring forms and shapes with those created by humans. Identify mathematics principles such as Fibonacci's "Golden Mean." Read stories about lumbering and sailing as well as Michigan histories dealing with lumbering and forestry.

On site: Participate in a hunt to identify other works with similar content such as Sawpath Series. At each site students collect bits of information that are later used to create a story or another work of art. Collect or draw leaf patterns or different types of trees, bark, buds, etc. Find and identify a predetermined list of plants.

Post visit: Write and/or tell stories derived from "hunt clues." Design and construct displays from specimens and/or drawings. Research and demonstrate naturally occurring patterns.

Looking To Learn is ongoing and ever evolving. Each year teachers and students develop a body of knowledge and materials that can be replicated. As effective applications are developed they are documented and published for others to use.