In this Spark video produced by KQED, travel to Yosemite with Julia Parker who is helping revive the art form of Native American basket weaving. For Julia Parker, weaving baskets connects her to the lives and traditions of her ancestors, telling the story of a people that for more than 4,000 years populated villages throughout the Yosemite Valley.

This lesson in part of Software Carpentry workshop and teach novice programmers to write modular code and best practices for using R for data analysis. an introduction to R for non-programmers using gapminder data The goal of this lesson is to teach novice programmers to write modular code and best practices for using R for data analysis. R is commonly used in many scientific disciplines for statistical analysis and its array of third-party packages. We find that many scientists who come to Software Carpentry workshops use R and want to learn more. The emphasis of these materials is to give attendees a strong foundation in the fundamentals of R, and to teach best practices for scientific computing: breaking down analyses into modular units, task automation, and encapsulation. Note that this workshop will focus on teaching the fundamentals of the programming language R, and will not teach statistical analysis. The lesson contains more material than can be taught in a day. The instructor notes page has some suggested lesson plans suitable for a one or half day workshop. A variety of third party packages are used throughout this workshop. These are not necessarily the best, nor are they comprehensive, but they are packages we find useful, and have been chosen primarily for their usability.

Creating art from found materials is not a new concept.  Josef Albers, one of the most famous residents and faculty members of Black Mountain College, encouraged his students to create art from scarcity.  This art project is based on the same principals of making something amazing out of something that was discarded or seen as irrelevant.  Grade Level 7/8Lesson name:  Trash to TreasureTimeline:  5 work sessions at 40 MinutesMajor Concept:  Assemblage of assorted materials to create art.Visual Art NCES7.V.2 Apply creative and critical thinking skills to artistic expression. 7.V.3 Create art using a variety of tools, media, and processes, safely and appropriately. 8.V.2 Apply creative and critical thinking skills to artistic expression. 8.V.3 Create art using a variety of tools, media, and processes, safely and appropriately.  8.CX.1 Understand the global, historical, societal, and cultural contexts of the visual arts. Essential QuestionHow can I take found materials to create a complete new piece of artwork?  Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy forNCES CoursesEvaluate:  Students will evaluate the uses of found materials in their personal artwork.Apply:  Students will apply their knowledge of the elements of design when putting together their composition.Create:  Students will create an original piece of art using a variety of tools, media, and processes.Lesson Details and FacilitationAbout a week or more before you plan to teach this lesson, show your students the following videos:  http://safeyoutube.net/w/Uued, http://safeyoutube.net/w/PredOnce you have shown the videos, ask the students to be on the lookout for materials they think might be useful in creating artwork.  Once collection has begun, put the materials into groups for students to look through for inspiration. Assign each student a type of symmetry.  Based on what they are assigned, they will create a composition. They will then glue their found objects into place. While, students are working, they should talk with their table about what looks interesting and get other opinions on their work.  MaterialsAssorted materials (Ex: bottle caps, string, gum wrappers, old jewelry, pencils, buttons, anything you can find that could be repurposed.)Glue, (Hot glue, Modge Podge, white glue, tacky glue)Backing (Cardboard, book board, mat board, pasteboard, wood)VocabularyAssemblage, collage, repurpose, found materials, composition, elements of design, balance, functional fixedness, repetition, emphasis, linear symmetry, asymmetrical, radial symmetryIntegration Cross CurricularIn art class, discuss The Great Depression and how scarcity led to creativity.  Discuss how a place very much like Ashe county became a “Mecca”, so to speak, for artistic ingenuity.  Discuss with students what it might have been like to attend BMC and participate in the community that the college created.  Seventh Grade teachers can discuss the migration of Jewish artists to America and how their influence shaped American art of that time period.Eighth grade teachers can discuss the shortages created by World War 2 that led to the idea Josef Albers had to repurpose found materials for use in art.ResourcesThe Black Mountain Connectionhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1yyLhjSV599Uph4eKelG5NPpJW6f9pp3KvvjGjxJqmJ8/edit?usp=sharing