Creative Endeavors: Using Science Fiction to Teach Creative Thinking, Part Two: Hybrids

This is part two of the Science Fiction Series.

Sci Fi Hybrid Monster by artist Kate Rah

You can always count on science fiction authors to come up with some pretty fantastic creatures. Most of the creatures in Sci-Fi are made of pieces and parts of already existing creatures. Hybridization is an old standby for creative idea generationSwitch Zoo is a game you can play on your phone or online that students can use to play with hybridizing animal parts together. I wanted to push my students a little further by encouraging them to think outside of the "animal only" mode.

. Take two or more disparate objects or ideas and Voila!, you have a creative beginning to a work of art.

We had only one week to devote to this exploration and experimentation with clay as a media.

How we played with hybridization:
1. Students by table groups of four make 4 lists. Each table made lists of 10 animals, 10 foods, 10 modes of transportation and 10 everyday objects/tools.

2. The students cut up their lists and put all of their little strips into a paper lunch bag.

3. We traded bags among the tables.

4. Students had to draw two or more words from the bag as inspiration for a hybridization.

Toaster Spider

5. Students made several wacky quick drawings of the new hybridizations and shared their results with the class. It was pretty fun to see what everyone came up with.

After a day of playing with ideas, students developed their favorite blend and set to make it come alive using clay and the pinch/pull method of construction. For most of my students, this is their first or second experience with clay ever. I am pretty happy with the results considering they only had four class periods to have their hands in the clay!

Students self assessed the quality of their work by asking students who they did not sit by if they could guess what objects they were combining in their work. If the body parts were not discernible to their particular character in mind, then it meant that they needed to keep working on it until they had enough details to describe their creation. This was a nice way to encourage collaboration in the classroom and it also helped students reach a more sophisticated level of craftsmanship. All works are low fire white clay, painted with acrylic paint.