Overall, we managed to stick with our original activity plan from Milestone 5 and UV box design. For this milestone, we focused on creating additional learning materials to provide more context around the cyanotype-making activity.
We used the following slides (below) to kick off the lesson and introduce the learners to the basic information of what is a cyanotype and how cyanotypes are produced. In explaining this process, we draw connection to chemistry lessons in UV light and electromagnetic spectrum.
Because we knew we were going to test the activity in an after school setting, we decided to use only one laptop and have the kids huddle together when we guide them through this introduction (as opposed to standing in front of the room). We made the conscious decision for the presentation and discussion to be relatively informal rather than top down. This session of the lesson ends by giving the learners an overview of what they will be making today (”cyanotypes postcards!”) and a step-by-step of how we will go through the process together.
<aside> 📘 Link to the Google Slides we used at the start of the class here.
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We decided to frame the postcard making objectives in two ways by giving students the option to make a postcard that represents who they are or a postcard they would like to send to someone else. We will have students share out what designs they are planning to do and have them think aloud during the design process. Should we have enough time, we will try to have a share out with the group and have each students explain who they wanted to send their postcards to.
Given the sensitivity of the sun papers, we also made the decision to have students first design their postcards on a card stock paper. Once they think they’re ready to print their designs, we will have students ‘transfer’ what they put on the card stock paper onto the pretreated cyanotype papers. This will also give room for students to experiment and for us to observe their processes.