Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about recycled robots, exploring, drawing, and sculpture.

We're going to be doing lots of thinking, talking and exploring together in this lesson.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to add finishing touches to enhance the appearance of your sculpture.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are sculpture, refine, maquette.

I'm gonna say those words again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Sculpture.

Refine.

Maquette.

Good job.

Now Let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at each of their definitions.

A sculpture is a three-dimensional piece of art made by shaping or combining materials.

To refine means to make small changes to improve a piece of art.

And a maquette is a small, rough model of a sculpture used for planning.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson.

"Refining your sculpture" and "Evaluating your sculpture." In the first learning cycle, we are going to take a look at refining your sculpture.

You may have already created a maquette.

In this lesson, you'll use your maquette as a guide to refine your sculpture by strengthening, adding details and finishing touches.

Can you see there that image of the maquette and how it's becoming our sculpture? Izzy and Alex think about ways in which they could refine their sculpture.

Izzy says, "There are so many things we can improve." Alex says, "I think refining our sculpture one step at a time is the best way forward." We could look at the stability or the details.

I wonder which one would be best to look at first? Hmm.

Perhaps stability.

So after completing his sculpture, Alex notices it does not stand on its own.

What advice would you give to Alex? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about this, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? What advice could we give him? Well, Alex could increase his stability by using a wide base to prevent tipping.

It could be placing heavier materials lower down to keep the sculpture stable.

And he can also reinforce joins with extra tape or glue or even folded tabs.

So there are different ways in which we could help increase the stability of Alex's robot.

Other ways to make sure that your sculpture is able to stand on its own could be to gently test the balance after adding each part so that you can adjust it if you need to.

You could add internal supports like wire or sticks for stability.

You wouldn't be able to see those, but they'd help to keep it strong and secure.

And you could also keep both sides evenly weighted, so don't have one side heavier than the other.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What is the best way to improve the stability of your robot sculpture? Is it to use lightweight materials only? Is it to reinforce joins with extra tape, glue, or folded tabs? Or is it to balance it on one small point? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said to reinforce joins with extra tape, glue, or folded tabs, you're absolutely right.

This helps secure the parts and keep the sculpture balanced and sturdy.

Izzy and Alex look back at their sculpture.

Izzy says, "Now that we have improved the stability of our sculpture, we can move on." So here's the stability, we've taken a look and we've fixed that.

Now Alex says, "Remember, we need to make sure our sculpture remains balanced when we add details," so we don't want to undo that hard work.

So let's take a look at the details now that they could add.

Andeep has refined his robot.

This is it before.

Now look at it after.

Wow, what a difference.

What changes has he made here? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and press play when you're ready to continue.

In what ways has Andeep refined his robot? Well, he's added details.

He's added some tissue paper and some aluminium foil, or some fabric scraps to create texture.

You could use paint or markers for colour and patterns.

Add small materials like wire, paper, string or beads to embellish.

So those are some ways you could refine your sculpture like Andeep has, adding those details.

Let's take a moment to pause.

Look at your sculpture and with a partner, discuss what you might refine, thinking about stability and then the details.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time for that discussion, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, perhaps for stability you're thinking the sculpture should be able to stand on its own and parts should not fall off when moved, so you could add additional supports for stability.

And with details, you could add buttons, panels, wires, or textures to make your robot more detailed.

Think about those eyes or the antennas or tools that match its purpose.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to think about strengthening your structure.

So identify areas where your sculpture may feel weak or maybe unbalanced.

And then use those additional materials like gum tape, cardboard, or glue to make your structure more stable.

So pause the video here and have a go at this first part of the task, strengthening your structure, and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did that go? Okay, well, let's have a go at the second part where you can add your details now, now that you've strengthened your structure.

Think about how to make features like buttons, antennas, dials, or eyes.

And think about how you could improve the overall appearance with smoother edges or adding decoration.

But think about not adding too many details so that it compromises that structure strength.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to add those details, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Well, you might have refined your sculpture a bit like this, adding small materials like newspaper, tinfoil, or beads.

Maybe attaching some tissue paper or fabric scraps to create texture.

Maybe using paint for adding colour or patterns.

Well done for having a go at refining your sculpture.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to take a look at "Evaluating your sculpture." Artists might evaluate their sculpture by comparing it to the maquette.

They do this to check if the proportions, structure and key details match their original plan.

Remember that the sculpture doesn't have to be an identical copy of the maquette.

Artists often make creative adjustments as they work, so your final sculpture may have changed from your earlier plan.

Just use your maquette as a guide and focus on whether your sculpture is stable and check if it includes the key features.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

How should you approach changes in your sculpture compared to your original maquette? Should you stick to the original plan no matter what? Should you use the maquette as a guide but make adjustments if needed? Or should you restart if your sculpture looks different from the plan? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about this question, and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said to use the maquette as a guide but make adjustments if needed, that's absolutely right.

That's how you should approach changes in your sculpture compared to your original maquette.

Andeep and Alex are evaluating their sculpture.

Alex compares his maquette to his sculpture.

He says, "I think the arms on my robot are the right size, but the body is a bit larger than in my maquette." Andeep and Alex now move on to evaluating the stability of their sculpture.

Alex says, "The structure is stable and the arms, legs, and head are securely attached to the body." Finally, they move on to evaluating the details of their sculpture.

Alex says, "The details look good.

I changed my original plan by adding tissue paper instead of tinfoil for texture and colour." Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

When refining a sculpture, which details should you focus on? The textures and shape to enhance realism and interest; only the colour of the sculpture; or ignoring details and leaving it as it is.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said the textures and shape to enhance realism and interest, you're absolutely right, well done.

Now what would you suggest Andeep and Alex can improve? Hmm.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

What would you suggest? And press play when you're ready to continue.

What things did you point out? Well, Alex and Andeep think about what they might do differently next time they make a sculpture.

Andeep says, "I think the body could have more patterns or numbers." And Alex says, "We could add buttons to make it look more functional." Did you come up with the same ideas, or did you have other suggested improvements? Well, Andeep and Alex look at the artwork that Izzy and Sam have made.

Andeep gives feedback as he describes what he likes about the design.

"I really like how they built the arms. They look like a vacuum cleaner hose and they're ready to suck up air pollution." Alex and Andeep give feedback by saying how the artwork might be improved.

Andeep says, "Next time, you could try adding different materials like tinfoil so it connects with technology." And Alex says, "You could improve your design by adding beads to the antennas." Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

When giving feedback on a sculpture, you could focus on whether it is stable and how the design could be improved.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think, and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that's true, you're right, well done.

It's important to ensure that a sculpture is sturdy.

You could look at the maquette and consider any improvements that could be added to enhance the design.

This brings us to our final learning task.

Firstly, I'd like you to evaluate your own artwork.

You could write a sentence on a sticky note.

You could use these as a guide.

"I used something in my sculpture and it helped me.

." "I think my sculpture shows something because.

." "Next time, I will try to something to make my sculpture more colourful." So think about what you could fill in those gaps there to write your own sentence, to evaluate your artwork.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to do that, and then press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, hopefully you had enough time to have a go at evaluating your artwork.

Now I'd like you to discuss a friend's work and give them feedback, and you could use these sentence stems to help you.

"I really enjoy the way you.

." "Your artwork makes me feel.

." "Your artwork looks something because.

." "I think you could try.

next time." "I noticed that you.

." So pause the video here and give yourself some time to discuss a friend's work and give them feedback, and use those sentence stems to help you.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Were you able to evaluate your own artwork and then give your friend some feedback? Or perhaps you evaluated your design by saying, "I used a variety of recycled materials in my sculpture, and it helped me to show different textures.

I think my sculpture shows the purpose of my robot because I included the arms as vacuums for sucking up rubbish.

And next time, I will try to use tinfoil to make my sculpture more shiny and futuristic." So well done if you were able to give yourself some feedback on your artwork.

Then you might have given some feedback to your friend, like Izzy.

"Maybe you could add some foil or tape to make the arms look more metallic and robot-like." Or Andeep, "Your robot stands up well.

You might want to add more details like wires or panels to show what it's made for and its job." Or maybe Alex.

"I really like how you used bottle caps for buttons.

It makes the robot look like it has real controls." So well done for having a go at evaluating your sculpture and your friend's.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about refining and evaluating a robot sculpture.

By using tools, paint, or additional materials to refine, it adds that realism, texture, and character to a sculpture.

By adjusting and strengthening the sculpture's structure, we're able to secure joints and balancing that weight.

And comparing your final sculpture to your maquette helps to reflect on what worked well and what could be improved.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.