ASSESSMENT REFLECTION - For Every Animal A Better World
âFor Every Animal A Better Worldâ is a childrensâ book exploring the negative effect of pollution on animals and their habitats. The creatures featured in the book are made from recycled or discarded materials, and they are accompanied by short poems that convey information regarding how they are affected by different types of pollution, for example light, plastic or oil.
Our assessment revolves around the week three class topic of ecologies. We wanted to explore how ecologies are represented in art and design and create a work that highlighted relevant environmental issues. We settled on the topic of pollution and its effect on animals fairly quickly as we all agreed it was a problem we want to bring more attention to.
We started this assessment with a very different idea. Our original approach was to design and organise a class activity in the form of a trash treasure hunt. This idea, however, proved to be too simple therefore we discarded it.
Through experimentation with creating creatures out of rubbish and the research of artists who use similar materials in their works, the idea formed to create a childrensâ book; the trash animals were cartoon-like and reminiscent of toys or characters in childrenâs literature or television.
The title of the book came about by re-wording an existing childrenâs book entitled âFor Every Child A Better Worldâ which revolves around human rights.
To create images for the book, we each created two animals out of rubbish took photographs of them. They were then isolated on photoshop and placed on top of two images of their habitat; one polluted and one undisturbed.
We played further into the child-like aesthetic by creating rhyming text to go along with the images. After researching our respective animals we could write poems that were simplistic but informative for the target audience.
As we decided on this concept with limited time left, we unfortunately couldnât make the book entirely out of recycled materials like we had planned. If this were possible we would have had it printed entirely on recycled paper, or possibly even made it completely by hand. Nevertheless, the end product looks professional and is well-made.
The presentation part of the assessment was very successful. We created a backdrop for our animals out of discarded classroom materials and had it behind us as we read the book to the class. The feedback was overall positive and it was interesting to gage everyoneâs reactions to the book reading; many found it patronising as it was read in a tone often directed towards children (a this was essentially the whole point of the book).
As a group we are happy with how everything turned out and believe we have successfully covered the topic of ecologies in an interesting and engaging manner.
