Pre-Visit Activity: Art Talk

Please view the two reproductions with your class and lead a discussion using the following questions as guidelines. There are no “right” answers. The questions are meant to guide the group discussion. Students will revisit and discuss the original works at BAM. The vocabulary in this packet will aid discussion.

 Research and experience have shown that students feel more comfortable when they can connect with something familiar once they arrive at the Museum. The students are excited to find “their” works of art while they are at BAM. They enjoy sharing their insights from the classroom discussion with the docent and making valuable comparisons between the textbook-like reproductions and the original works of art.

Art and Science of Robots

This tour focuses on the various ways artists explore the functions and roles of robots in our society through artwork. The exhibition Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon addresses the image of a robot as an icon in popular culture and explores our attitudes towards robots. As artificial intelligence and robotic technology catch up with the wild imagination of science fiction, the dreams and fears anticipated in these stories may soon become reality. Students will discover how robots are increasingly becoming part of our everyday lives as they view the artwork in this exhibition.

Vocabulary
Art and Science of Robots

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Curricular Connections
Constructing Curriculum with Art and Science of Robots

Social Studies, History, Geography

• Have students research the Jason Jr., a robot that descended into the depths of the ocean taking pictures of the sunken ship Titanic for scientists. Discuss with students the reasons why a robot was needed for this job.
• Have students learn about the history of robotic technology and make a historical timeline showing important milestones in the development of robot technology.
• Learn about how robots are used to explore space and the environment. Have students work in teams to research how robots are used to explore different places such as the Arctic, the ocean and other places. Then, students can make a poster or present their findings to the class in their groups.
• Famous artist Leonardo Da Vinci sketched a humanoid robot in the year 1495. Study the history of this famous artist and his other sketches, many of which were ideas for machines, mechanisms, and inventions. Ask students, what other kind of inventions could they create? What would the purpose of their invention be? What would it look like? Then, have students draw a plan for their invention and write about how their invention works and what it will do. Students should research whether or not a similar invention already exists and should come up with a name for their invention. Visit this website for more information related to Da Vinci’s inventions: http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InventorsWorkshop.html . Compare the machines Da Vinci invented with modern robotic technology.
  

Reading and Writing

• Discuss with students their ideas about robots, where they come from, what they are like, what their purpose is, and their physical, mental, and emotional characteristics. Use these ideas to have each student write and illustrate a story about a robot that visits the Boise Art Museum. Have students illustrate these pages and read their story aloud to the class at the end of the project.
• Make a list of age-appropriate movies or television shows that have a robot in them such as The Jetsons, WALL-E, Star Wars or others. Have students write about one of these robots, and address topics such as the robot’s purpose or function and if a similar robot exists in modern technology.
• Onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the noise it is describing, for example, zing, pow, whoo-hoo, ring ring, pop, zap, etc. Have students describe the sounds robots make in a short story using onomatopoeias. Have student read their stories aloud in class emphasizing the sounds that the words make.
• Robots are often physically modeled after humans but their personalities and feelings are often left up to the viewer’s interpretation. Discuss this topic with students. Do robots have feelings? Do they feel sad, happy, or mad? Do robots have friends or human relationships? Have the students write a poem starting with the line “My best friend is a robot….” Use the poem to discuss what it would be like to have a robot as a friend. http://www.gigglepoetry.com/POETRYCLASS/bugshelp.html.
• Robots are made of several different materials. Have students brainstorm and make a list of all the materials they think are needed to make a robot. Then havestudents write an instructional guide or paragraph describing how to build a robot from the materials.

Math

• Have students practice their geometry by giving them a list of geometric shapes without pictures or illustrations. Ask students to cut shapes of different sizes from construction paper and use the shapes to form their own robot. Which shapes do you use most? Which do you use the least? Can you make a robot using just one type of shape?
• Have students design a plan for a robot that could be built. Students will need to plan for specific measurements, such as the circumference, length, and width of the body parts. Discuss scale and have students build a smaller model of their robot using clay.
  

Science and Physics

• Have students identify some machines that they use everyday that are made up of simple components. Examples of simple machines are levers, pulleys, gears, screws, axels, inclined planes and wedges. Have students create their own simple machines using rulers, rubber bands, erasers, notebook paper, textbooks, markers, and other found supplies. Visit this website for examples: http://www.mikids.com/Smachines.htm.
• Have students learn about how robots are involved in space exploration. Why are robots used to explore space? What places in outer space have robots been sent on missions? Have students locate these places on a map of the solar system.
• Have students learn about the Nanorover, a small robot that was sent on space missions. Have students create their own model of a Nanorover. Visit this website for detailed instructions: http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/muses2.shtml. Discuss the way nanorovers work and move, and how they were designed for places with low gravity.
   

Technology

• Ask students to think of some things that they use everyday, either at home or at school, that have a specific function or purpose such as a computer, a toaster, a microwave, etc. Discuss whether they consider these items to be a robot or machine and why.
• If you could have a robotic ability what would it be? A mechanical arm? A jet pack? Write a short paragraph describing the mechanical power and draw a schematic sketch using simple machines to illustrate how the piece would be constructed.
• Have students research basic computer coding, circuits, robotics and electronics. How are these applied in our everyday lives? What would your day be like without these things?
  

Visual Arts

• Discuss with students their own ideas for robots. Have students create a detailed diagram that shows their robot and address the following questions: what tasks does the robot do? What would it be made out of? Would it be a boy, a girl, or an animal? What kinds of noises would it make?
• Robots can be found in popular culture in toys, artwork, movies and television shows. Study Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha. Have students’ come up with a definition of Pop Art in relation to the examples given. Have students create their own work featuring a robot in the pop art style.
• Ask students to consider the difficult tasks we would like a robot to do for us. Then ask students to think of the things they do everyday and create a work of art in which they illustrate a robot doing a daily activity. (Examples: watching television, eating dinner, talking on the phone, or reading a book.) How does this change your idea of a robot?
• Have students use a computer program such as Photoshop or Paint to design their own robot.
  

Performing Arts

• Have students write and perform their own short play starring a robot. Research the origin of the word robot, coined in R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots), a Czech play written in 1920 by Karel Čapek. Older students can take different roles and present a dramatic reading of the play in class.
• Have students find electronic items such as watches, clocks, toys and other items that make noises/sounds that can be combined to create electronic music. Have students compose and perform their piece.

Related Web Sites

Post-Visit Activity: MAKE IT!

To extend the museum experience and connect the tour to your curriculum, please consider using or adapting this suggested lesson

Found Object Robots

Introduction

In this post-visit activity, students will construct their own robot using found materials. Students will use everyday materials such as aluminum cans, twine, pop bottles, cardboard, coffee cans and aluminum to build artwork. This lesson will give students a chance to explore what it is about an individual that makes each of us unique and how to display that visually through art.

Materials

• 1 pop can per student
• Hot glue guns
• Buttons
• Chenille stems
• Paper
• Scissors
• Nuts and bolts
• Wire
• Any other materials that can be recycled (examples: cardboard, paper, plastic bottle caps, etc.)

Instructions

1. First, have students construct a “robot face” on their pop cans. Students can use a hot glue to attach nuts and bolts, paper shapes, etc. to the upper part of their pop can to form eyes, a mouth and a nose. Encourage students to experiment with details like teeth, hair, and hats.
2. Next, have students attach limbs to the robot. Remind students that their robot can have a normal amount of limbs or extra.
3. Finally, students can add any other details to their robot to make them unique. Ask students to consider the personality of their robot and what jobs or tasks their robot performs.
4. End the project with a comparison discussion. Ask students to compare and contrast their robots. What is different about your robots? What is similar? Why did you choose to construct your robot in that way? Why did you choose to use those materials?

Project Applications and Extensions

Social Studies, History, Geography

• Ask students to find and research a social robot that is designed to interact with other robots and people. How does the robot interact? What messages does it communicate? Is it designed to look like a person or a machine?
• Have students write about the environment where their robots would live. They should explain in detail why their robot would function best in certain environments.
• Ask students to imagine sending their robot on a mission to learn about a different country. Have students research their country of choice, locate this place on a map and create a travel journal with information about their robot’s trip and what their robot has learned. Have them include photos, cultural information, facts about the area, and practical traveling information. Present the journals to the class and discuss.

 Reading and Writing

• After reading a story about a robot as a class (see bibliography section), have students create their own illustrated story about their found object robot and an adventure it takes. Have students share their stories aloud in class.
• Have each student create a poem about their robot. The poem can have a rhyme scheme or free verse but must exemplify their own robot’s qualities.  

Math, Science, and Physics

• Practice finding the area and volume of cylinders by having students measure their pop can robots. Give students both formulas and several examples of how to complete an area/volume problem. Students can then find the area/volume of their pop can robots using measuring tapes or rulers and completing the formulas.

Technology

• Discuss what a “humanoid” robot is and some of the famous Hollywood “humanoid” robots; for example, the characters of Star Wars, Bicentennial Man, WALL-E, etc. What can one tell about humanoid robots through just the word “humanoid” alone? Would they consider their pop can robot a humanoid robot? Why or why not? What features must a robot have to be considered a humanoid robot?
• Research the roles of robots in the world and in the workplace as a class and Have a “Robot Career Day”. Give each student a chance to discuss the profession/job of their pop can robot and the robotic skills that it uses to do its job.
• Discuss the many types of media used by artists to create artwork. Compare this to the different materials (media) used by engineers and inventors to create robotic tools, machines, and forms. How are the two fields of creation different? How are they similar? Take a classroom poll and ask students if they would rather be an inventor/engineer, or an artist or both? Is engineering a kind of art form?
  

Bibliography
Art and Science of Robots

Teachers

Cook, David. Robot Building for Beginners. Apress, 2002.
Ping, Kathleen and Mark Gura. Classroom Robotics. Information Age Publishing, 2007.
Williams, Karl. Build Your Own Humanoid Robots. McGraw Hill, 2004.

 Preschool

Brownlow, Mike. Little Robots . Ragged Bear, 2000.
Brownlow, Mike. Little Robot Rabbit. Ragged Bear, 2001.
Priddy, Roger. Funny Faces Rusty Robot. Priddy Books, 2007.
Schwab, Eva. Robert and the Robot. Boyd Mills Press, 2001.

 K to 3rd

Cali , Davide. Mama Robot. Tundra Books, 2008
Farrar, David Lucas, Straus and Giroux. The Robot and the Bluebird. 2008.
Gritton, Steve. The Trouble with Sisters and Robots. Albert Whitman and Company, 2009.
Hunter, Ryan Ann. Robots Slither. Putnam Juvenile, 2004.
Kuszyk, R. Nicholas . R. Robot Saves Lunch. Putnam Juvenile. 2009.
Oliver, Mark. Robot Dog. Good Books, 1996.
Staake, Bob. Hello Robots! 2004.
Whybrow, Ian. Sammy and the Robots. Orchard Books, 2001.

4th to 6 th

Darrow, Geof. Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. Dark Horse, 1997.
Gage, Brian. The Saddest Little Robot. 2004.
Miller, Ron. Robot Explorers. 2007.
Munzer ,Steve. Robotz: An Encyclopedia of Robots in Fact and Fiction. 2002.
Sonenklar, Carol, Henry Holt and Co. Robots Rising. 1999.

Junior High

Becker, Bonnie. My Brother, the Robot. Dutton Juvenile, 2001.
Brown, Jordon D.. Robo World: The Story of Robot Designer Cynthia Breazeal. Joseph Henry Press, 2006
DK Children. DK Eyewitness Books: Robots. 2004.
Varon, Sara. Robot Dreams. First Second, 2007.

Young Adult/Adult

Cook, David. Robot Building for Beginners. Apress, 2002.
Domaine, Helena. Robotics. Lerner Publications, 2005.