Make a Museum
Activity Summary
In this activity students will transform their classroom into a museum exhibition, showcasing through visual and artistic artefacts what they have learned about the topic they have been taught.
Activity Plan
1
5 min
Introduce the students to the activity and divide the students into pairs.
Ask all to help bring all tables and chairs to the side, so there’s as much space in the classroom as possible.
2
10 min
Give the students approximately 10 minutes to discuss the topic they have learned about and choose a certain area of which they want to communicate through an art piece.
Depending on your context of the topic they have learned about, they can be given the challenge to communicate it all.
e.g. if it is a maths equation they can try to visualise the whole equation through the art piece, if it’s a longer topic such as a historical period, they might choose to focus on one element within this bigger topic.
3
10 min
Give the students approximately 10 minutes to walk around the school (potentially also in outside surroundings if possible) finding materials they can use for building their sculpture.
4
10 min
The students have 10 minutes to discuss their artistic vision, what they want to make, and how they will make their sculpture.
5
30 min
All the pairs get a part of the classroom which is their part to build their sculpture in the museum exhibition. Give the students approx. 30 minutes to build their sculptures together in the pairs. During this time they also have to figure out how they will present this topic (presentation can be max. 3 minutes) through the sculpture and how it will support them in communicating the topic. They have to give their art piece a title.
6
Approximately 40 min
When the time is over, gather all students. You as a teacher will be the museum guide. Start by presenting the exhibition through its title. Lead the students around the exhibition and the student-pairs will present their art pieces one group at a time. As the guide, feel free to ask relevant questions to the groups and potentially let the rest of the class ask a few questions. Take a whole round around the classroom and see/hear all the art pieces.
7
10 min
Round collectively by asking students to summarise in plenum, what they learned from this exercise.
8
5 min
Ensure time for all to help clean up after the activity.
Tips & Tricks
- As the Museum guide, consider making it playful and fun, while showing that you take the students’ art pieces seriously.
- Create a safe learning space, where imperfection and mistakes are allowed, so they can explore their creative expression- and communication more freely. Consider doing a creative warm up energizer before this activity, to allow them to tap into a less perfectionist mindset and to get their divergent thinking warmed up before this activity.
- Suggested location to do this activity is in the classroom, but if you have the possibility of doing it outside or in a place with even more space, that is great!
- Consider letting the students give feedback to the other groups.