Bone carving – Integrating socio-cultural practice with planning for practice and modelling
(Click image to enlarge)
Class: Years 7-8
School: Phillipstown Technology Centre
Teacher: Ian Mustard
Ian Mustard developed a bone carving unit for his 2011 Technology Māori immersion classes. The unit combined elements of Planning for Practice and Modelling with strategies picked up from Ministry of Education papers on teaching Māori students.
Ian worked as a Manual teacher in the early 1990s then spent 10 years as an ICT facilitator before taking on the role of Phillipstown Technology Centre's Materials teacher in 2011.
Phillipstown Technology Centre provides Technology classes for 30 client schools, including Māori immersion classes from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whakapumau i Te Reo Tuturu o Waitaha and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Whanau Tahi.
Ian first had the idea for the bone carving unit after reading the Ministry of Education-commissioned article Creating Culturally Safe Schools for Māori Students [MacFarlane, Glynn, Cavanagh and Batemen (2001)].
"Reading that article really made me think and brought it home to me that the cultural aspect is very important because I knew that the Māori immersion schools were coming to my class and I wanted to do the best job that I could," says Ian.
Ian also used Ministry of Education articles Ka Hikitia and Tataiako to help inform his teaching throughout this unit.
When asked about his goals for the unit, Ian stressed that the quality of outcomes came first.
"My main goal was to achieve work of a high standard and these other things were going to support that. Basically it means you are trying to improve student achievement by improving your relationships with them, particularly in terms of the learning and sharing of cultural knowledge. This has definite benefits for mainstream classes as well."
(Click image to enlarge)
Preparation
Ian prepared for the class by first learning some basic Māori greetings and vocabulary to be used in the workroom which he had laminated and stuck on the wall for his own reference.
He then sourced beef bones from a local butcher who supplied them for free in lengths cut to 20cm.
"They were in a pretty ugly condition and still had still had bits of meat and marrow attached," Ian explains. "So I boiled the bones for about two hours, dried them, scraped them, and then removed the final bone marrow with hot water. I then cut the bone into flattish pieces with a band saw."
Although Ian had taught bone carving when working as a manual teacher, he spent some time refreshing his skills before the class began.
"My bible for bone carving is Stephen Myhre's book, Bone Carving: a Skillbase of Techniques and Concepts (1987). It covers some of the cultural aspects, some of the history from the Pacific and different people who did bone carving and what it meant to them. And this was just as an important element for these classes."
Ian then created a demonstration model to a high standard of finishing, as an indicator of the level of completion he wanted from the students.
and the carved bone outcome.
(Click images to enlarge)
Process
The unit started with Ian handing the students a basic design brief, specifying that they must create a bone carving based on the traditional designs of the matua (fishhook) or toki (adze).
"I got them to take that away and consult with people at home or at school. So they could bring in any relationship they might have that would influence their design."
Students were also allowed to research existing carvings on the internet or in books to inform their designs.
The students then began the modelling/shaping process. The design is printed or drawn on paper, then transferred to 4mm MDF and cut to shape with a scroll saw. Refinements are made to MDF model until students happy with final design.
The designs are then transferred to bone using the MDF model as a template, which is then cut to basic shape with scroll saw. Further shaping is carried out with dremels and air-powered die grinders, and the bone is filed to its final shape ready for polishing and binding. Polishing starts with the students sanding the bone with 150 grit emery sandpaper, and then progressing through wet and dry grades 400, 600, 800 and 1200. The final polish is given with beeswax or furniture polish.The binding process involves plaiting a wax impregnated thread (to prevent rot) which is then attached through a hole in the carving.
Challenges
Ian says that one of the biggest challenges of the unit was student motivation, particularly in the shaping process which he admits can be 'quite a tedious process', requiring hard work, patience and repetition to achieve work of a high standard.
Ian had several strategies to engage the students in this area. "First of all I made one myself and tried to get the students to do their best to achieve the same quality. They were also quite intrigued by that the tools we used such as air-powered die grinders and dremels, because they made a lot of noise and shaped things quite quickly."
Improvements
While Ian has received good feedback from the students and teachers about the finished carvings, there are some things he would like to improve when he continues the unit in 2012.
"I think we need do more consultation and make sure that we are getting input either from the whanau and/or the school because I don't think we did that enough. As technology teachers we don't have the students all the time so it can be a little difficult to develop a relationship – we need to work at this aspect a bit more. So for next time I want to work on making sure that more connection is made."
To help create that connection Ian would also like to improve his Māori language skills.
Advice
Ian is positive that this unit could be easily put into practice in other schools. "Just give it a go! That's what I did – I saw some bone carving and thought 'I can do that'. And if you are a Technology teacher, you'll probably have the skills to do it. Classroom teachers might have to work at it a bit, but I could imagine you could do a simpler version of the unit."
Ian has already adapted the unit for special needs classes that come to the Phillipstown Technology rooms. "We do a simple pendant where we get them filing and polishing off-cuts of bone, and you could easily do that with a level 4 class, says Ian. You wouldn't even need to do much carving really, just a bit of shaping and you would only need basic tools."
What next
Ian wants to develop the project further by adding extra design elements. "For the next step I want to start decorating the bone itself by carving designs directly onto it. We have bought a much smaller handheld dremel which can use dental tips, so we can do finer work. I am going to experiment with that before the next immersion class."
RSS Feed