traditional views of art and culture” but which “celebrated the vibrancy and fun of American popular
culture” by humorously challenging the public’s view of what art is supposed to be. At various points,
the second grade teacher paused the video to allow students time to express what they liked and
disliked about the Pop art works featured. Students unanimously voiced that it was “weird” that Claes
Oldenburg would turn food into sculptures, and the class burst into laughter upon seeing Jeff Koontz’
Balloon Dog (figure 4). When an cartoon image of Warhol appeared in the video, several of the students
recognized him from his iconic, white, unkempt hair.
Art and math merge!
Next, the second grade teacher projected onto the whiteboard, one at a time, works of art created by
Warhol, which featured arrays. These masterpieces allowed students to experience the math-art
connection firsthand by seeing how Warhol arranged his art in rows and columns; that is, arrays. After
viewing each work of art and encouraging students to describe what they liked and disliked about the
pieces, the teacher challenged the students to name the array featured. Works of art viewed by
students included Quadrant Mickey Mouse (1981) (2 by 2 array), Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962) (4 by 8
array), and Twenty-Five Marilyns (1962) (5 by 5 array). With each successive work shared, the teacher
Figure 6
verbalized how a 2 by 2 array can be written as 2 X 2, and that 2 times 2 equals 4, and 4 was the total
number of images in the artwork. Similarly, a 4 by 8 array can be written as 4 X 8, and 4 times 8 is 32,
and 32 was the total number of images in the artwork. Finally, a 5 by 5 array can be written as 5 X 5,
and 5 times 5 is 25, and 25 was the total number of images in the artwork. This reinforced for students
that multiplication can be represented and expressed by an array model.
When viewing Green Coca-Cola Bottles (1962), the teacher asked the students not what the array size
was, but to “Count the bottles.” A student quickly responded, “Since there are 7 rows of 16, we would
need to add 16 + 16 + 16…” This student recognized the array model of 7 by 16 and then together, the
class added seven groups of 16 to get a total of 112 bottles (figure 5).
Now that students had developed a
sense for Warhol’s artistic use of
arrays, it was time for them to
become Pop artists themselves!
The second grade teacher
distributed to students a single 3”
sticky note. Students were
instructed to think of an “iconic
image” and to sketch it on their
paper square. The teacher then
collected all of the sketches,
adhered six paper squares at a time
onto a sheet of 8.5” X 11” white
Figure 5
Figure 7
STEAMed Magazine
19
April 2016 Edition