Chapter Graphic

: Clay Model
Trend Task
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Time: 40 minutes Level: Year 4 and year 8
Approach: Independent
Focus: Students can use and control the medium of clay to create three-dimensional forms that interact expressively with each other.
364k
Resources: Per student: 400g & 250g blocks of clay; pointed dowel stick; polythene mat; wooden spatula; base card.

Questions / instructions:
Arrange four independent (non-interactive) work spaces, each with its own set of materials.
In this activity you are going to work with clay. On your desk you have two lumps of clay, and a wooden spatula, and a pointed stick to help you model the clay.

Using your fingers, quickly make two smooth balls — one from each lump of clay — then put the two balls on your desk and wait for me to tell you what to do next.

When students are ready:
 Listen now while I tell you about what you are going to do. Don't touch anything on the table yet. Hiding inside one of these balls of clay is a person. Hiding inside the other ball of clay is a creature.They want to be "pulled out" of the clay, unravelled so that they can be free to move about, meet each other, and have fun together. By pulling and pushing you are to make your person from one ball and your creature from the other. Every now and again, stop and turn your models around so that you make them interesting from all directions. Remember, this person and the creature "belong" together — they do things together! They will be able to stand up, or sit up, or crouch. They shouldn't lie flat like a biscuit.
You will have about 30 minutes to make your models. I will let you know when half of the time has gone.
Remember — these are your models, and you decide what they will look like. Each of you will be making your own special person and creature.
You may start now. You have half an hour.

When half the time is up:
You have used up half of your time. Remember to stop and turn the models around so that they are interesting from all directions.

When time is up:
It is time to stop making your models now. Please finish off.

When students have stopped modelling:
Before we finish this activity, I want you to arrange your person and your creature in an interesting way, so that they look as if they belong together.
I will make a video of them together after you leave.
I will be filming them from all angles — the front, the sides, and the back.
Tomorrow you can collect your models to take home if you wish.

At the end of the day's assessment session, make a video recording of each student's model as they arranged them.
NOTE: The exemplar pictures are all taken from these video tapes

   
mean score
 
y4
1999(1995)
y8
1999(1995)
(0 low – 3 high)
Key attributes:		    
expressiveness:
model appropriate to task; tells a story; sense of movement; interaction and arrangement of parts; imagination
1.4(1.6)
1.8(1.9)
3-dimensionality:
roundness — figures rounded rather than flat; major parts "modelled" (eg. beyond spheres or cylinders); qualities present when viewed from all directions
1.3(1.3)
1.7(1.7)
detail:
appropriate features added to figures; appropriate decoration and texture
1.2(1.2)
1.6(1.5)
structure:
strength; joins
1.3(1.4)
1.7(1.8)
(0 low – 5 high)
Global rating:
2.0(2.1)
2.6(2.7)
Commentary:
 In this trend task, the work produced by students in 1999 was compared with a carefully selected sample of the work produced by students in 1995. Both sets of work were marked by the same team of teacher markers. At both year 4 and year 8, differences from 1995 to 1999 were very small on mean scores in the analytic marking of key attributes and in mean global ratings. 79% (1995) and 66% (1999) of year 4 students' clay models, and 68% (1995) and 69% (1999) of year 8 students' clay models were marked in the middle range of 2 and 3 on global ratings.
 
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