“that ‘wow’ moment when children first see these unique images, similar to how I remember photographic prints being developed in the darkroom.”
Summary
Junior school students learn about Aboriginal Mythical Creatures. They then chose a creature to represent.
They are then tasked with coming up with adjectives to describe how they think the creature might look.
After writing these descriptions, the students draw their creature.
The teacher works with the students using an AI image generator such as Midjourney to do the following:
Use the students adjectives as the prompts for the image generator
Have the students choose an art style for the output. I used this website to simplify examples that the students could choose from
Make sure the students are able to see their images 'come to life' on the screen. (This is the ‘wow’ moment)
If the image generator creates more than one image or allows variations, then have students choose and suggest adjustments
Print each image an laminate the images if necessary
Create a large backdrop of the Indigenous flag with an outline of an Australia map and student hand prints.
Stick the images in relevant locations (if known) where these mythological creatures are said to have existed on the map.
Put the work on display on the campus outside or in a classroom.
Include names of students and their descriptive work in planning these images.
Scroll down to see a selection of the images created when this project was taught to Year 1 students and the display of their work at Scotch College, Adelaide.
Possible adaptions & variations
This project could be adapted to suit other indigenous perspectives, or for just a general look at mythology and the creatures that can be represented. To my mind, it is better to have the students use as much of their imagination as possible but the use of existing images and having students ‘rework’ would also be very powerful.
This was done with Year 1 students but could easily be adapted and is powerful with other year levels. It could also serve as part of larger projects for example involving creative writing in Senior school.
I could also see variations of this being engaging in teaching History, Geography, Art and Languages (looking at culture)