CEP 818 How do I love thee: Perceiving

In this class, I have chosen the topic of Color Theory for my How do I love thee project. For the perceiving portion of the project I will be observing the color wheel. Typically, when studying the color wheel I would show the color wheel to the class and point out the primary, secondary and tertiary colors to the students, followed by guided practice in creating their own color wheel.

To present the color wheel in order for the students to perceive it in another way, I would introduce color mixing in a similar manner, but instead of having students color in a diagram they would use a tactile method in learning color theory by mixing colors with food coloring in frosting. Students will be able to make a real-life connection of how color mixing skills could be of use in the future.

 The cognitive tool of perceiving allows students and educators to learn and teach things in multiple ways and new ways that open a door for deeper understanding. Perception is a major part of being creative in art. In my original observation of the color wheel I was more concerned with the students remembering the vocabulary and completing a color wheel of their own rather than looking for understanding of whether the students could use this information. The color wheel the brain of color theory and color is a crucial part of art. It is very important for students to understand color mixing and relationships between those colors.

Once I used the cognitive tool of perceiving I was able to see that the goal of the lesson should be on deeper understanding. Does the student fully understand color mixing or do they just see colors on a circle? In creating a lesson in which students use frosting and food coloring to create and mix the secondary and tertiary colors, the students will immediately become more interested and in return we have an amazing mind capture! The students will be able to see the colors swirl together and become a new color together better than if we were to mix with paint. The frosting works as a medium to hold the colors as individuals until blended. Another option could be using homemade play dough and food coloring. The students would get the same effect as seen with the frosting.