Innovation: George Rickey Kinetic Sculpture
South Bend 2009 - 2010

Ideas for Teachers in K-12 classes

   
 We have put together a few ideas for guided inquiry lessons that give hands-on experiences for students to develop an understanding
of the principles of George Rickey's kinetic sculptures - and at the same time satisfy some of the required Indiana standards:
  • Each single topic has ideas just for a limited set of grade levels - these can be adjusted/changed to apply to other grade levels.
  • Each lesson uses the SIP process - Satisfying, Intentional, Problem-solving - ref(1),
    and is built in four parts: (a) Introduction, (b) hands-on group work, (c) analysis+relevance and (d) extensions.
  • Each topic includes a help-section for the teachers, plus a list of relevant standards.
  • Class visits to the sculptures downtown could be one of the most rewarding ways to bring to life any of the lessons below.
    We are looking for funding to help subsidize bus transportation costs for such trips - see contact below for more info.
  • Here is a more complete list of relevant standards.
  

 Here follow some suggested topics for a variety of grade levels: we hope teachers will be able to adapt each of the lessons
to become appropriate to their grade/classroom.


 
Lesson #
  
Title (click to see the lesson)
  
Grade levels
 Lesson 1   Connections: Art in science; Science in Art    All, depending on the leading questions
 Lesson 2   Symmetry and Balance  K - 4, also other grades
 Lesson 3   Thinking about color, texture and reflections    All, depending on the leading questions
 Lesson 4   Thinking about space 1, 2 and 3 dimensions  All, depending on the leading questions
 Lesson 5   Ideas about Motion  Grades K -2
 Lesson 6   Ideas about Motion - alternate to lesson1  Grades K -2
 Lesson 7   Motion - 2  Grades 7-12
 Lesson 8   Machines (Control of motion)  All, depending on the leading questions  
 Lesson 9   Mass distribution; motion of a balance  All, depending on the leading questions  
 Lesson 10   Energy - 1  9-12, could adapt for lower grades  
 Lesson 11   Energy - 2  Grades 9-12
 Lesson 12   Forces and their effects  Grades 7-12
 Lesson 13   Joints and motion
    Rickey sculpture versus human being		  All, depending on the leading questions  
 If you have ideas for more lessons, or you need more help in trying out one of these lessons
please feel free to contact Gordon Berry at the email address: hgberry@nd.edu
            (Notre Dame office phone: 574-631-4012)


 Reference 1: Mary Hynes-Berry, The Erikson Institute, Chicago:
The SIP process in the classroom is developed from the SIP understanding used by players to improve their abilities in winning games.
Mary's examples of the play/work connections are given here.