By Li Pipman Denaut, teacher of HS math and STEAM arts 

 

When students in Functional Art-Upcycle Plus! were presented with their Design Challenge—DeStruction, each eagerly scavenged through a collection of treasures. The challenge’s goal is to deconstruct a piece of technology (explore, assess, analyze) and then reconstruct components (design, redesign, create). Some started with good old solar calculators, some with an ‘old fashioned’ camera (aka non digital), while others were drawn to old computers, laptops and DVD players.

What began as a ‘1-2-3 take apart and put it together’ strategy quickly became an analysis and investigation of how things work, what connections are essential, exploring hand and electric tools with many inquisitive explorations.

Some questions were answered, some are still under investigation. How do itty-bitty, tiny parts play a huge purpose while contributing to the whole? And how exactly do you take apart rivets? Or what is the best method for salvaging the copper wire that surround magnetic components?

As students deconstruct, ideas begin to percolate as to how to utilize various components and in what ways, and which little (or big) new found treasures are they going to showcase within their functional art pieces!