"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." -Albert Einstein, What Life Means to Einstein (1929).
By: Mrs. Botelho, Mrs. Katipunan & Mrs. Vancardo
This collaborative project's goal was to create a piece of artwork to beautify the school, but one that would also become a cross-curricular teaching tool and bring together two seemingly unlikely subject areas. Our inspiration came from the desire to create an art piece that would have a strong math influence.
Stationed out of the Distillery District in downtown Toronto, Cubeworks is a group of artists who create large scale images from Rubrik’s Cubes. A Rubik's Cube is a 3-D combination puzzle invented in 1974 by Ernő Rubik, which has recently regained popularity. We not only fell in love with the image of Albert Einstein that was created, but admire the work of Albert Einstein as well. Due to his love of both Science and the Arts, Einstein believed in the power of imagination, and said "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination encircles the world"(What Life Means to Einstein, 1929). We wanted this mural to draw attention as artwork, but also to speak about the importance of becoming a holistic learner by nurturing both the right brain and the left brain. We wanted students to take their knowledge and expand it past the classroom context, and use it in an imaginative way.
So how did we do it? Mrs. Katipunan Grade 9/10 Locally Developed Math class assisted in the calculation of plasticine needed to complete the project, the number of trays needed to fill the required space, and the cost of materials required. They had also recently completed a Pixel Art project where they used their math skills to calculate ratios of colour. Mrs. Botelho’s Grade 9 Open Visual Art classes assisted with the preparation for the trip, including cutting the borders off of the plastic trays, counting plasticine bricks, packing the materials up, and confirming that we did in fact have everything we would need. Mrs. Vancardo’s students assisted with thinking through the tasks, confirming that all jobs would be covered, and acted as the team leaders on the day of the trip so that each group of students was on track and working accurately. All of the students participated in the day of events!
In the end, we rounded up 65 students, 2 ERWs, 3 classroom teachers and 6 student helpers and dealt with a few set-backs the day of the trip, but the project was a huge success! The students worked incredibly hard (especially once the pizza arrived!), and really banded together. Everyone was busy right to the final moment, and the big reveal was made to an eruption of cheers. Seeing students from different levels work together seamlessly, motivate each other, stay engaged and participate enthusiastically was a beautiful thing to witness. Students really impressed by finding things that needed to be done and simply jumping in and taking initiative. In the end, we achieved our goal. A truly collaborative project that involved many people, many ideas and countless hours of work.
The mural is being installed in front of the Math/Business/Computers Workroom and will be a teaching tool and interactive art piece. Questions relating to Math and other subject areas will be placed along with the mural for students and teachers to use as real-life applications of Math concepts for years to come! A special thank you to everyone who was involved in this project.