Landscape elements

  • STEAM Event Summary

    This minimum 2-hour STEAM programme is an excellent combination of science and visual art. By analysing familiar locations like their own school street or local park, students investigate how the placement of large and small objects on a ground plane creates the illusion of depth. Through “peephole” experiments and trial-and-error, students build problem-solving, resilience, and flexibility skills by discovering how to manipulate perspective and scale on a 2D surface. The final collage phase fosters creativity, requiring students to make deliberate choices about horizon lines and element overlapping to build a realistic scene. By evaluating each other’s work against “real-world” criteria, students practice reason-based communication to explain why certain artistic choices look “real” or “impossible.” It develops their critical thinking.

    SPIRIT Skill Focus

    • critical thinking; 
    • problem-solving;
    • creativity;

    Basic Information Sheet

    Age groupStudent numberDurationNumber of stagesSubjects connection and relevance
    2nd gradeWhole class
    (max. 30 students)    		min. 2 hours3 stagesSciences (geography), visual arts

    This STEAM program for children aged 6-8 combines knowledge and insights about science and visual arts. Using specific landscape elements linked to a particular environment, the street or the park, the children will make a collage in an (atmospheric) perspective. In the first phase of this Steam lesson, there is a millimetre and weight phase in which the pupils discover 2 types of landscapes according to their specific landscape elements. This is followed by a musical lesson phase in which, starting from observation of images from the children’s world, they investigate the suggestion of space and the placement of elements (large/small) in the ground plane (atmospheric perspective). Finally, the pupils create a characteristic landscape (street or park) in a collage where depth is suggested by placing specific landscape elements.

    National Curriculum Link and Objectives

    • Science Objective: students can describe a landscape using simple landscape elements.
    • Art Objective: students can arrange visual elements in a spatial place in a ground plane 
    • Cross-disciplinary objective: students can use spatial suggestion to represent a specific landscape and its elements in a collage.

  • Real-world STEAM Connection and Problem definition

    Children like to play in the park. However, the city or village street is something else entirely. Especially if you want to play! We live in different environments that are deliberately constructed to meet specific criteria that enable usefulness, ease of use and safety. Together with the children, we explore 2 such environments, the street and the park. In these we discover e.g. that the park is aimed at relaxation and play but also safety how to make all that possible. By looking critically at our own environment, we discover these landscape elements and clear choices in designing an environment or a landscape. After this, we want to design our own landscape by means of a collage. But how do you get all this on your drawing sheet and make sure that the landscape is right? In this Steam activity, students are also given tools to solve this problem because representing a space, a landscape on your drawing sheet is not that easy. There are many critical choices to make.

  • Materials at a Glance

    For the Science Phase: 

    • pictures of 2 types of landscapes near the school

    For the Art Phase: 

    • pictures of landscapes with focus on placing of elements in the ground plane (big/small, near/far)
    • view camera

    For the Application Phase: 

    • b/w copies of landscape elements (small/large)
    • A3 drawing paper
    • glue (Pritt stick)
    • scissors
    • HB drawing pencil, black coloured pencil/black coloured marker

  • Indoor/Outdoor and Classroom layout

    Indoor — in the classroom, with the possibility of working outside. This lesson can be translated to an outdoor learning lesson by making some adjustments in its structure and organisation.

    Layout:

    • have the students work together in islands of 4 (put the benches together 2×2).

  • Notes on Research-based approach and integration

    This lesson appeals very much to critical thinking. And therefore, needs the student’s full attention and involvement. The more the images to be discussed come from the students’ immediate environment the more engaged they will remain during this lesson. The combination of scientific concepts and visual research leads to a creative final investigation in which the children were given clear criteria for solving this problem. The more your appeal back critical thinking from the students the more success they will experience in making the creative final assignment. Therefore, dare to build enough test and practice phases into your lesson so that the student arrives at a clever and own final result through trial and error and reflection.

  • Lesson Flow Overview – Landscape elements

    • STAGE 1 – Science, landscape elements

      Duration:  40 minutes

      SPIRIT Skills:

      • Critical thinking

      Brief Description:

      The teacher shows pictures of the street in which the school is located (or surrounding streets) but does not say so. Students figure out for themselves that it is the school’s street. Then pictures of a park near the school are shown.

      • Students will react enthusiastically because they recognise these places.
      • Students may already tell what they do in these places and what they recognise.

      We are going to look at these 2 places (landscapes) in more detail so that you learn the name of everything you see here.

      • students are given several photos and cards with certain names on them (e.g. A row house)
      • students must divide the photos into 2 groups (the street and the park) and put the corresponding name in the right place on the photo.

      Based on what the pupils have classified, a short teaching-learning discussion follows. A blackboard diagram is drawn up making clear the difference between the two landscapes (and landscape elements). 

      We classify to 2 categories

      • the street
      • the park

      The teacher introduces the concepts of landscape, landscape elements, etc.

      This is followed by a final control phase:

      students are shown 4 landscape pictures and must think “critically” whether they are correct or not. E.g. In a busy street, there is a swing in the middle: So, this is not possible? (Note: the “wrong” landscapes were created with ChatGPT)

      How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills

      Critical thinking becomes very dominantly addressed at this stage. By moving from open-ended questions to criteria and classification, we come to the necessary conclusions. Facts are established which in turn form a basis for new “proper” critical thinking.

      What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?

      • students can use simple landscape elements to describe a specific landscape.

      Materials and tools needed for implementation 

      • pictures of 2 types of landscapes near the school, PowerPoint, blackboard diagram

      Preparation notes

      • group students into duo’s, make a critical selection of pictures to be discussed. 

      Guided Questions

      • what do we all see in a street?
      • can a building to live in stand in a park?
      • does a swing stand in the middle of the street? why not? 
      • do you see footpaths in a park? why yes/why not?

      Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)

      /

      Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges

      • the terminology should be adapted to the student’s language level. E.g. the choice of the term ‘plants’ over ‘vegetation’.
      • give enough preference to open-ended questioning, students come to the necessary criteria, but ask through instead of giving the answer themselves 
      • give students enough opportunity and time to come up with answers 
      • let them observe in a focused way and name what else can be seen beyond what we observe first.
    • STAGE 2 – Visual Arts – space, placement in the ground plane

      Duration: 40 minutes

      SPIRIT Skills:

      • Critical thinking
      • Problem-solving

      Brief Description:

      The teacher shows pictures again trough observation (pictures) we look for and name the visual characteristics of a landscape.

      But now we look not so much at the elements but at their position and distribution in the overall picture.

      • horizon line: the line that becomes visible where air and earth meet
      • Placement and characteristic of that line determine the image that we see of the landscape

      -e.g. Brussels Ridge- straight horizon line

      Mountain landscape- wavy to angular horizon line

      Where is far and what is near in a landscape?

      • how do we see that?
      • Using landscape elements, we look for criteria for near/far 

      Emphasis on large and small figures and landscape elements that define depth in an image

      Let the children specifically perceive the size of the objects in the image and compare.

      What stands out?

      • large figures/elements mean increasingly closer in the picture
      • small figures/elements mean further away in the image
      • how do we see that?

      This is followed by a checking phase:

      We look for other possibilities

      • who is the smallest in the class?
      • who is the biggest of the class?

      Now, in a picture, can we make X bigger than Y?

      • Introduce the peephole board (1 per group of 4)
      • How?

      In groups (islands, benches 2×2) students look for the picture

      Teacher checks if the picture taken is correct. Students can make smaller objects appear larger than a larger object

      One or more photos are shown to the class and discussed.

      How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills

      Critical thinking: Critical thinking becomes very dominantly addressed at this stage. By moving from open-ended questions to criteria and classification, we come to the necessary conclusions. Facts are established which in turn form a basis for new “proper” critical thinking. Problem-solving: By disconnecting perception from specified photographs but having to take a picture themselves in which far away/small and near/large must form an application they face a problem. Can we manipulate the same in one photograph.

      What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?

      • Describing space and the location of objects in space using space concepts. (big/small, near/further away)
      • Create an image (2D or 3D) by consciously placing objects in space.

      Academic/Curriculum Objective connection

      • Describing space and the location of objects in space using space concepts. (big/small, near/further away)
      • Create an image (2D or 3D) by consciously placing objects in space 

      Materials and tools needed for implementation 

      • PowerPoint with photos, blackboard diagram, peephole board.

      Preparation notes

      • PowerPoint, peephole board (1 each group).

      Guided Questions

      • Where are small and large elements in the picture?
      • Is the small element really smaller than the large object in the same picture? (E.g. same kind of cars)
      • Why is this? 
      • Does a clear line stand out in a landscape?

      Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)

      /

      Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges

      • The structure of this stage is largely the same as the science stage. Crucial here is again to choose images that the children recognise from their own environment but also other images that also play with the (atmospheric) perspective in a funny way. E.g. a zoomed-in nose of a cow in the park’s farm.
      • Dwell sufficiently on perceiving the size of the objects in the image. If possible, also outline the objects in the picture to make perception more focused for the children and show them clearly that size depends on placement in the picture
      • If necessary, you can just point out the objects large and small and their placing. The horizon line gives a foothold in the image for placing but it is not always clearly perceptible and therefore clear in a cityscape.
    • STAGE 3 – Creative application phase: Science and art

      Duration: 40 minutes

      SPIRIT Skills:

      • Critical thinking
      • Problem-solving
      • Creativity

      Brief Description:

      Briefly review the criteria for stage 1.

      Choose now a specific landscape and find these elements in the selection of black and white copies.

      • divide the black and white copies (both landscapes mixed together).

      Check: Is their choice of landscape correct?

      Can they justify their choice?

      • cut out 7 different elements, at least 1 large and 1 very small

      Drawing paper is distributed.

      • arrange your cut-out elements from large to small on your sheet of paper.

      Check: is this working?

      • look together, validate and evaluate each other’s work.

      Critical thinking: is this correct? 

      Arrange now your cut-out elements from large to small on your sheet of paper, but with overlap (in front of and behind each other)

      • check: what happens to your image? Could this image be a real landscape? 

      Critical thinking: is this possible? 

      Drawing a landscape + making a collage with landscape elements

      You are now going to make your own landscape!

      • take your sheet of paper and lay it horizontally.
      • We will start by dividing the sheet into two parts (teacher demonstrates all steps)
      • this is the horizon line
      • you choose whether to place this line in the middle or at the top
      • you choose whether this horizon line is straight or curved 

      The sky goes in the top section. Below that is the ground, where the small and large elements go. (See appendix, teacher also demonstrates this on the blackboard.)

      Now arrange your cut-out landscape elements on your sheet of paper. 

      Remember, the large elements go at the front and the small ones at the back. 

      The pupils arrange their landscape with their elements on their sheet of paper from near to far (atmospheric perspective).

      Check: is this correct?

      • Students check each other’s work to see if it is correct. Can the image become a real landscape?

      Critical thinking: What was closest to your sheet/image?

      Feedback to blackboard diagram:

      • what was far away? 
      • where do large/small landscape elements come from?

      Once the teacher has checked it, you can stick it onto the sheet.

      Then continue drawing your landscape with a pencil.

      The teacher walks around and asks individual pupils various questions about the process.

      • why are you putting that element there?
      • why is this large element in front?
      • why is the small element behind?
      • what kind of landscape did you choose and why?

      The pupils draw their landscape with a pencil or black pencil, black markers until their chosen landscape is completely visible.

      • They only work in black and white, no colour!

      How does this develop particular SPIRIT skills

      Problem-solving and critical thinking: 

      Stage 3 is designed in such a way that students must put the knowledge they have acquired in the previous stages (1 and 2) into practice. Without critical thinking, they cannot solve this problem, which involves organising a specific landscape with its own elements into a perspective. It is about making problem-solving thinking explicit and at the same time giving them the tools to form their own answers. This is done in the form of a collage design. Further elaboration through drawing gives them even more opportunities to finish this creatively. Because their own input and the chance of success are high, you automatically have the involvement and motivation of the students in this Steam lesson.

      What do we want to achieve regarding SPIRIT skill development (student understanding and/or behaviour)?

      • Design a landscape using simple landscape elements (e.g. meadows, trees, houses, streets, squares, parks, rivers, forests, factories, etc.).
      • Describing the space and the location of objects in space using spatial concepts (large/small, near/far).
      • Creating an image (2D or 3D) by consciously placing objects in space.
      • Using spatial suggestion in 2D: using a horizon in a visual work.

      Academic/Curriculum Objective connection

      • Design a landscape using simple landscape elements (e.g. meadows, trees, houses, streets, squares, parks, rivers, forests, factories, etc.).
      • Describing the space and the location of objects in space using spatial concepts (large/small, near/far).
      • Creating an image (2D or 3D) by consciously placing objects in space.
      • Using spatial suggestion in 2D: using a horizon in a visual work

      Materials and tools needed for implementation 

      • black and white copies, scissors, A3 drawing paper, glue, drawing pencil, black pencil and/or marker, blackboard diagram.

      Preparation notes

      /

      Guided Questions

      • why are you putting that element there?
      • why is this large element in front?
      • why is the small element behind?
      • what kind of landscape did you choose and why?

      Stage Debriefing Questions (Optional)

      /

      Tips and Tricks for dealing with stage challenges

      • Allow the children to consider the sizes of their cut-out elements by letting them experiment with their landscape image. Therefore, allow them to lay out the sizes and variations before they continue working on their own pieces. 
      • Encourage them to observe how other groups create and develop their landscapes and consistently engage their critical thinking skills. Encourage them to carefully consider their choices and their consequences. 
      • Limiting or increasing the number of elements to be cut out makes the assignment easier or more difficult. Adjust this to suit your class.

  • Tips and Tricks for dealing with challenges (for the whole STEAM program)

    Leaving choices open (which landscape to choose, where and how the horizon line should run) can make the task more straightforward for the students. The fewer open choices there are, the easier the task becomes. However, it should be noted that making everything closed and not giving any freedom of choice also largely excludes critical thinking.

  • Difficulty level tailoring notes

    • the terminology should be adapted to the student’s language level. E.g. the choice of the term ‘plants’ over ‘vegetation’.
    • other landscape-shaping layers (glasses) can also be selected. E.g. water, relief, etc. The more landscape-shaping layers are applied in this assignment, the more challenging the Steam lesson becomes. 
    • when only natural landscapes or layers are considered, the processing material can also be adjusted. For example, only natural materials (leaves, grass, sand, pebbles, twigs, moss, soil, etc.) can be used to create a landscape. This transforms this Steam lesson to an excellent outdoor learning activity.

  • STEAM Program Debriefing and Reflection Questions

    • What can you see in the landscape?
    • Why did you choose this landscape?
    • What does the landscape look like?
    • What did you find difficult/easy? 
    • Which landscape would you like to walk around in? Why? 
    • Which landscapes are most clearly defined according to landscape criteria?
    • Which landscape has the most depth? Why?
    • Which landscape seems the most “real”? As if it could really exist. Why?
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