The ingenuity challenge tested our minds. All grade six students collaborated and helped each other to make the unique face masks and mind boggling illusion! We worked with the concept we were representing,”Things are not what they seem.” Through the hard work, we are mighty proud of the effort that 150 grade six students and their contributions. We created face masks that had a lot of emotions, using the atomic element AL aluminum, the 13th element on the periodic table. We used a simple and creative art procedure using ‘’papier mache.”
To prepare for this challenge, we watched several videos to inspire us. Rube Goldberg’s contraptions and musical geniuses, OK GO’s video “This too Shall Pass” and “The Writing on the Walls” helped clarify the word ingenuity. We were exposed to multiple challenges, that pushed us to think creatively.
Through brainstorming, discussions and exploring the aluminum ideas began to emerge. A group of inquisitive students explored the textures and capabilities of the aluminum, which led to the fascinating discovery of imprinting ones face. The final decision was: aluminum/papier-mâché.
“Things are not what they seem” was the theme for this year’s Beakerhead challenge. Through various inspirations, we selected to create an optical illusion. From afar, our project looks like masks hanging, but if you look at it from a certain angle it creates the school initials, T.H.S. Our optical illusion demonstrates how viewing something can be different depending on your perspective.
Ahmad and Mustansir are students at Ted Harrison School. Both of them are avid video gamers and enjoy expressing their emotions in written context.
Submitted by their teacher: Jon Patry (@jtpatry)