Janet Clark from the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site wants to encourage more young people to visit the World Heritage Site in Greenwich. To do so, a young person’s point of view on the area is needed.
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich © ferkel, flickr.com
Janet has partnered with Jessica Burdett from Kidbrooke School in South London through the 2009/10 Engaging Places network, to run a project with year 10 art BTEC students that would harness their perspectives.
A new look
Jessica wants her students to be more engaged and take responsibility for the learning process, to work as part of an effective creative team, and to improve their understanding of the built environment. So they decided to challenge the students to create a new map of the heritage site area that would appeal to their peers.
The students took to the project with relish. They started by researching the site’s geography and history, pulling out things they found interesting that they might include on the map. Subterranean tunnels and ghost stories immediately grabbed their attention. Jessica then introduced them to artists, like Grayson Perry, who have used maps in their work, to act as inspiration for the students.
Creative differences
The class has been split into teams. Each team has been given a different quarter of the Greenwich map to develop. Students have free creative reign to interpret their findings. Once each team has come up with a design for their section the class will regroup and working together will merge their ideas to create one cohesive design.
Map of an Englishman by Grayson Perry 2004 © Grayson Perry (image from Artificial Gallery, artificialgallery.co.uk)
Future potential
The project is going well so far, and has extended passed the art and design curriculum, with links being made to the humanities, English and ICT. Jessica already sees its potential as a year 7 project, relating to the ‘What’s in a building’ unit, so hopes to run a similar project every year for both age groups.
We will be following the project on the Engaging Places website so return in spring 2010 to see how their map develops. If you want to do something similar with your class in the meantime, take a look at the following teaching resources:
Create-a-Scape by Futurelab
SuperSchemes Unit 26, Investigating the local area: our town by the Geographical Association
The Engaging Places network
To find out about other partnerships and projects developing through the Engaging Places network visit the 2009/10 Engaging Places network article.
