How can we expand the children’s schema about color and paint through the process of researching the many impressions of one color?
The children have spent several weeks researching the possibilities of red, yellow, and purple through a process of gathering materials representing shades of each color, creating new shades of paint, drawing with a range of shades, and collage. We encountered an unexpected conundrum when exploring shades of red - lighter shades of red expressed the color pink, darker shades of red expressed the color purple, and medium shades of red expressed the color orange. We wondered, do shades of red exist and if so, what do they look like? This question was prevalent in our experience creating shades of red with paint as the slightest addition of a new color negated the presence of red. We wondered what other colors exist as a sole shade, that transform to a completely different color when combined with other colors? White? Black?
An additional avenue we would like to experiment with for exploring the many impressions of a color involves families taking home jars of paint and matching the color in the jar to something they encounter in the environment.
An additional avenue we would like to experiment with for exploring the many impressions of a color involves families taking home jars of paint and matching the color in the jar to something they encounter in the environment.
How can offer experiences for creating new colors so that the children are gaining more knowledge about the process and science of color transformation rather than facilitating the experience as a means to an end - to create new jars of paint?
Two insights we have pulled from our observations include 1) finding ways to create more autonomy for the children in these experiences and 2) slowing down. In regard to the former, we noticed that the teacher was doing most of the work, mostly because the children could not manage the gallon jugs and because the teachers wanted to get through the other stuff quickly, such as transferring the new colors to the jars and rinsing out the bowls for a new color, because they wanted the children to focus on the mixing aspect of the experience. In regard to the second point, we hypothesized that our inclination for speed in getting through the many steps (dispensing paints, transferring paints, and washing bowls) was actually taking away from the children's opportunity to really, truly slow down and experience the process of color transformation. Instead, they became focused on the end goal - putting the paint into the jar.
Moving from the teacher controlling the paint...
Initial observations of experiences creating new paint colors revealed what little autonomy children actually had during the experience. The teacher was in charge of dispensing the paints, transferring the paints to a new jar, and cleaning out the bowls for a new color to be created. In the end, the teacher was exhausted and the children spent more time waiting on the teacher than they did studying the transformation of color. It was no wonder that they were not engrossed by the colors merging to create new colors if they had to wait 5+ minutes for the teacher to come over and add a new color for them.
...to the children controlling the paint
One possible solution we generated to offer the children more autonomy involved using a different type of container to hold the bulk of the paint that the children could easily manage – as pouring from the gallon jugs proved to be difficult which is why the teacher played such a major role in dispensing the paints in the first place. We hope that the new autonomy will help direct the children's attention to the experience of color transformation.
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After each experience Laura (classroom teacher) and Jen (studio teacher) reflected on how difficult it was to document during the experience because we were doing so many other things. We came up with the idea of using a tripod one day in order to free us from the responsibility of documenting so that we could be more available to the children. During our meeting after the experience, we laughed about it feeling like we were running around with our heads cut off like chickens and decided to watch the video in fast motion. As funny as it was to do this, we felt the video in fast motion really captured the essence of the experience well and highlighted all the aspects of the experience that we wanted to change.
As you watch the video note the high level of activity from the teachers and the low level of activity from the children... The video below demonstrates the impact that the new system has had on the children and as a result, how they are thinking about the experience differently...
At the same time we introduced this new system for mixing colors, we also began to refer to these experiences with the children as an opportunity to "change" and "turn" colors - the language we observed children using to describe this process. We believe that the combination of the new system and our shift in language with the children served to raise the children's level of engagement and inquiry in the experience.
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