The Artist & the Artifact: The Things We Make Reflect Who We Are & Where We're From 1

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Our current PYP unit, The Artist & the Artifact, follows three lines of inquiry, or three areas that we'll be exploring over the next five weeks. In the first week, the aim is to pique student interest, provide a context for deeper investigation, and provoke questions.

As a provocation for the first line of inquiry -- the things we make reflect who we are and where we're from -- students viewed two antique farm tools belonging to my family, then, based upon their observations, drew inferences about the world in which the tools were used. Here's a sampling of their ideas:

“I think they were skilled at putting together things with wood, and probably had good resources for food.”

“I believe they were gardeners, or planted things, because that says it’s a corn planter, and this was used to cut-down the corn.”

“They were crafty with metal, because this is very sharp.”

“Both of these tools were for growing corn. They were good with metal, because they had to put it all together. They could use things around them, from nature, because I’m sure they can’t really make this piece of wood, they’d have to find it.”

“These aren’t really modern. Now we’d use a lawn mower to cut something off.”

“I think the container that sort of looks like a mailbox and it connects to the tube, and the tube connects to the ground. The other object could be used for two reasons – to cut off the corn, but another reason is it could have been used as a rake.”

“Maybe they were craftsmen who sold to the farmers.”

“I think they were both from a farm, but they were from a different times, because this one looks like it’s from Colonial times, because it’s like a machine. In Colonial times they used hoes and horses. They just don’t look like they’re from the same time.”