CAN DATA EVER BE FREE OF BIAS?

For this project students used data which they collected in Math 4 to determine the shape of sculptures that they fabricated in Physics. They each proposed two sculptures and ultimately collaborated with a partner to realize one of them.

LINK TO SYLLABUS.
LINK TO STUDENT WORK.
​LINK TO TEACHER THOUGHTS.

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Sculpture 1: Alex Calder inspired Wall Sculpture

With this wall sculpture students will transform their data into dimensions and relationships between shapes to make an engaging assembly.

In my example, I drew heavy inspiration from a work of Alex Calder, but transformed the interior shapes. The black/red rectangle has a perimeter equal to 66% of the perimeter of the blue rectangle and the white/yellow rectangle has a perimeter equal to 54% of the perimeter of the blue rectangle. These correspond eligible voter participation in 2000 (54%) and 2020 (66%). 

Alex Calder, Blue Panel, 1936

Philip Estrada, Blue Panel, 2021

Sculpture 2: Isamu Noguchi inspired lanterns

By making a lantern whose profile is informed by data from math, students will express information from their research in political data in a volumetric way. Our inspiration for this object is Isamu Noguchi

​The lanterns transform linear data into a rotated volume. At right is my proposal model, the full scale version will be much larger. 

Isamu Noguchi, Akari UF4-L6, 1951

Philip Estrada, Akari Proposal, 2022