Key stage 2: challenge pupils to communicate with Martians using only visual means, beamed electronically to their planet. Collect visual imagery from magazines illustrating key information about pupils’ lives, interests and environment. Assemble these fragments as a collage, copy using digital means and exchange versions with another school using the Web. Artistic references include Robert Rauschenberg and Kurt Schwitters.
Key stage 3: examine the depiction of alien beings in films, comparing hostile imagery (Alien and The Thing), with friendly versions (ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.) Note ways in which colour and form indicate mood and atmosphere. Pupils could produce two portraits of themselves, one which presents a threatening countenance and the other a welcoming one.
Link with QCA scheme; Unit 7a - self-image: www.teachernet.gov.uk
John Bowden
