I asked for suggestions for things to display that would encourage
contemplation (after listening to the article on NPR Tuesday). Here are your ideas
and
they are very interesting ones that encourage contemplation. I'd like to add
that my father the mechanic suggested we bring in engine parts so they could
study them. That's how he learned about cars in the beginning.
Escher posters like the one with the stairs that go in every direction.
Optical illusions that can be seen 2 ways.
Walter Wick photos that look like ordinary scenes but everything is
actually made of something else.
Mazes
The poster with colors spelled out in letters that say a different
color than the one it's printed in.
Pictures printed in the complementary colors of the "real" color. You
stare at the image for a few seconds, then look at a white area and you
will see an after-image in the actual color. See this link:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/bird_in_a_cage/bird_in_a_cage.html
How about pictures of rock art (petroglyphs and pictographs) from the
Southwest? Kids could contemplate what the symbols represent or what story they
tell.
One of those beautiful thermometers that is in the big tube of water,
with the floating numbers indicating the temperature. The colorful floating
number on the bottom is the temperature. I think it's based on some principles of
Galileo.
A poster about tying knots, with examples of the knots, and rope or twine
or something there for the students to try the knots. My dad was in the
navy in WWII, and spent a lot of time learning to tie knots. More time than he
wanted to spend. In the final analysis, knowing how to tie the knots saved his
little LCT (?) during a typhoon in the Phillipines.
One of those liquid barometers that hang on the wall, with the colored
fluid that goes up and down would be interesting, too.
How about mapss and items -or pictures of items- from different
countries.
Probably a little more work to find, but a tool used in a different
country
that children have not seen before could spark contemplation and spark
curiosity of that country. Maybe some things from Greece -and Ancient
Greece- since the summer olympics are there this year.
How about a piece of shiny origami slice of rock crystals those
old fashioned crystals that cause rainbows a feather where the breeze
blows complex poetry quotes stenciled between the walls odd tool
parts in a mobile paper 3d geometric shapes
A picture of a Rube Goldberg sort of machine for preparing meals that
would be great!
Don't forget something full of words, for the verbal (as opposed to
visual) types :-) Poem of the month, perhaps?
Some unusual looking words, wacky poetry, poetry that begs to be said
outloud, tongue twisters, and some great calligraphy or illuminated letters.
A kite in the shape of an eagle, I like to think it will encourage them
to soar.
Have you ever seen the Discover cards put out by Tin Man Press? They're
sets of 20 or so cards focused on exploring just one item, such as "Discover
a crayon" or "Discover a paper plate" - GREAT activities to put out for kids
to explore and think about. Each card has the child think about another aspect
of the item - might be why it's designed that way or what the reasoning of it
is. This really prompts kids to do some contemplating!
I save old calendars, laminate the pictures and put them on the walls,
changing things as often as I can think about it. M.C. Escher is a great one.
I also have a calendar of double exposed pictures that create something else
very unusual.
In the classroom, I had huge success with ant farms.
I'm at the District LMC and check out materials to teachers. We
borrow/rent museum artifacts from the county museum. Items used during the
Colonial Times are included in the collection. If you can't get the real thing
or replicas, pictures would probably work.
Some of the items included are a foot warmer, tire gauge, wooden spice
grinder, wood plane, pewter porringer, quill pen & pencil and a wooden
paddle.
Teachers borrow the items from the District LMC and just put them out
on display and ask the students how the colonists would use these
things. Some of the answers are amazing!! Then they explain what they
are how the items were really used.Lots of times, I have to tell the
teachers how they were used, so they can pass on the correct
information.
Diane R. Chen, LMS Hickman Elementary School, Nashville TN
Email: DianeRCHen@aol.com
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