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| Our decorated game board |
The beginning of class on Monday was spent working on our games. We had split up responsibilities during last Wednesday's class, so we began working on those. Audrey and Laura worked on gluing the paper on the board. Sam worked on making the game pieces, while Hali worked on trivia questions. While we were working on those tasks, we noticed that we talked a lot less than the other groups. After a brief discussion, we determined that this was because we make plans very quickly and efficiently and we work very well together. Towards the end of the time we had to work on our games, we split up what we would be doing outside of class.
Next, we, as a class, talked about children's drawing. We learned to think of children's drawings as a verb instead of a noun. It is important to recognize the drawings of children as so much more than cute scribbles. They are representations of thoughts, feelings, and ideas that are important to the child and should be respected and nurtured. In chapter 10 of
Engaging Children's Minds: The Project Approach, it says, "Drawing in project work can contribute to all of the four kinds of learning goals: knowledge, skills, dispositions, and feelings." Drawing is an important part of the child's learning.
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Team LASH on
the Paws |
On Wednesday, we got to put what we learned about drawing and other types of documentation into work. Our group chose to make maps, record videos, draw and take pictures, and take notes to best represent our time spent at the lion shrine and the Palmer paws and our journey to and from those monuments.
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Team LASH on
the Lion Shrine |
Sam was in charge of mapping. While we walked, she took note of buildings we were passing and the direction we were going. She noticed that noting everything the group was passing was very difficult because the campus is filled with so many things. She decided to just take note of the important places that we passed. This was an important thing to document because it helped us to see the environment surrounding the shrine and the paws. The surroundings added to the feeling of being at the shrine and the paws. It made us feel immense school pride. While Sam was mapping; Laura, Audrey, and Hali were taking video and pictures of the journey. They documented the path that we were taking and also the buildings, landmarks, and environment that were surrounding us. The video also captured our conversations during the journey and also the sounds that we heard while we were walking such as construction and a lawnmower.
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Audrey, Sam & Hali on our
journey through the library. |
Our path took us from the Palmer Art Museum, across Curtin Road, and winding around multiple buildings down to the Library Mall. From here we could see Old Main in one direction and the library in the other. We then walked up the mall, through the library, and out of the library towards Chambers. We then walked between Chambers and Kern, around the back of Kern, and we came towards the Lion Shrine from the back of it.
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Sam, Hali & Audrey working
on the map! |
Hali was in charge of some of the video and photos during our journey. She was very excited about going to the lion shrine because she has never really been there before! She felt that having a picture on the lion shrine gave her a feeling of officially becoming a part of the Penn State family. At the lion shrine, our group decided to use our large sheet of paper to draw out a map of our journey from the paws to the shrine. The map is not geographically accurate, but it does highlight the main buildings we saw and shows what we found to be most important. Hali collected some leaves and flowers from the surrounding forestry to add onto the map, and as a group, we drew and colored the map!
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Our finished map highlighting
our journey! |
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Everything touching fingertips from
the lion to the street! |
Laura was in charge of documenting our journey through the use of pictures. She loved taking pictures of our journey and snapped images of everything she saw! Her favorite part of the day was when the whole class was at the lion shrine and we decided to measure the shrine using people. She never thought of measuring the shrine in that way. We discovered that when we stood shoulder to shoulder, the lion shrine was twenty one people around and six people across. When everyone touched fingertips, including two random people who were nice enough to help us out, it took twenty one people to reach from the lion to the street. It was interesting to Laura that it took the same amount of people to go around it that it did to touch from the lion to the street! She also enjoyed taking a video of each member of our group telling their favorite memories about the lion shrine, we all had something to share!
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| Pattee Library Mall |
Audrey was in charge of taking video and some pictures of our journey from the Palmer Art Museum lion paws to the Lion Shrine. She really liked being able to document the big landmarks such as the library and Chambers Building, but she also found it really nice to take some time to focus on the simply beauty of Penn State. Walking through tree-lined paths and noticing small signs noting historical moments was something that she hadn't taken the time to do since she first started at Penn State two years ago! Her favorite picture that she took during the journey was a photo of the library from halfway down the mall. Because of where she lives and where her class have been, Audrey has only walked up the Library Mall a few times. Taking the time to really look at it from this direction allowed her to see and appreciate the beauty of that location. Audrey very much enjoyed this class and being able to go through this journey with her group!
