Imagine It - Phase Three: Action Plan
From STEM to STEAM - Integrating Art and Science
Identify Desired Results:
Quick, what are the most important skills needed for life in the 21st century? Companies have stated that one of the most important skills they look for in job candidates is creativity. Employers in all fields are in need of workers with a strong knowledge base who know how to innovate, communicate and collaborate. In the 1990’s the National Science Foundation combined Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math with the acronym “STEM” in an effort to prepare American students for the future (Woodruff, 2013). It became evident that STEM knowledge alone was not enough to propel us forward as a nation. Creativity was the important missing piece but how could it be taught? The gap can be filled by adding an ‘A’ for Art. Through the Fine Arts, students learn to observe, visualize, manipulate materials and develop the creative muscle to invent new possibilities.
The Fine Arts equip students with vital skills needed for life and learning and help to prepare students for competency in a rapidly evolving professional and academic world. At a June 4, 2013 hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives committee on Science, Space and Technology, Rep. Susan Bonamici stated, “Professors have found that there are 14 measurable skills linked to success in sciences that are directly linked to arts education”. Those skills include observing, imaging and visualization, abstracting, pattern recognition and pattern invention, dimensional thinking, transforming data into visual or graphic forms, converting theories into mechanical procedures and more (Rollfing, 2013)!
As a discipline, Science consists of making observations, forming hypotheses, designing and performing experiments, analyzing the data gathered from the tests and forming or revising understandings and theories based on the findings. In order to make the cognitive leaps required to go from analyzing facts to forming theories, creativity and intuition play important roles. Science pushes Technology and vice versa. Both fields are constantly being developed, refined and changed which often requires a shift in thinking and seeing things in new ways. Engineering, which relies heavily on Math and Science knowledge demands innovation to solve problems and create new things. STEAM integrates all of the subjects with each other in an interdisciplinary way and the ‘A’ adds the vital, creative piece.
My goal is to integrate Fine Arts into every unit of the Science curriculum in order to foster engagement, creativity, aesthetic learning, communication, deeper understanding and cross-disciplinary thinking. By the end of the year, I hope students will begin to consciously and subconsciously use the Arts and artistic skills as a way to help them understand, share and explain Science content. The desired end is to create an environment that generates confidence in Science abilities for all learners, creates space for individual growth, and inspires learning that is transformative in nature.
Determine Acceptable Evidence (performances of understanding)
Understanding, which is in effect taking knowledge (facts or evidence) and using it to produce or find something of significance is foundational to Science. According to John Dewey (1993), understanding is the result of facts acquiring meaning:
To grasp the meaning of a thing, an event, or a situation is to see it in its relations to other things:
to see how it operates or functions, what consequences follow from it, what causes it, what uses it can be put to...
The relation of means-consequence is the center and heart of all understanding. (pp. 137, 146)
A key component of understanding is transferability. In Science, ability to transfer learning from one setting to another is vital for forming connections, making sense of new information, and creating or refining theories. Being able to recognize similar processes in diverse settings is important also. Knowing when to use information and how it applies in various situations allows for growth, creation of new products and new learning. To determine if transferable learning is taking place, I would look for several things: the ability to share learning with others in a clear way, application of specific knowledge in various contexts, and understanding of content when questioned.
One of the desired outcomes for the upcoming year is for students to feel a greater connection with Science. I want them to think of themselves as amateur scientists and see possibilities for it in their professional future. In order to assess any change in attitude toward Science in my students, I will administer a survey at the beginning and end of the year and conduct interviews with selected students.
To evaluate understanding of content and encourage creativity, I will give students more ways to demonstrate comprehension using Fine Arts and technology. Some examples include: drama and movement (i.e, acting out a process such as adding energy to a system, creating a dance to show energy transferring through an energy pyramid), visual art (i.e., videos, flow charts, posters, sculptures, images), music (i.e., composing songs about a concept), and language arts (i.e., making a story to describe an element). Lab reports will be created and enhanced with photos, graphic representations of data and anything else that would help others to understand their work.
For each performance of understanding, the class would determine the grading focus. Criteria will vary but should always highlight clarity of content knowledge shown or explained, and some aspect(s) of the art form chosen, i.e, articulation, color, design, etc… Traditional quizzes and tests will also be used to assess learning and will be graded using a point system.
Finally, to apply their knowledge in other contexts, they will participate in several key projects including a personal Science Fair project, a Recycling project, building microscopes, and building model cars. Each project would have different target goals that would be decided by teacher and students. Learner success would be evidenced by reports and reflections submitted (knowledge gained), effectiveness of project (Did it work?), an increase in student efficacy (before and after surveys), and a completed artifact as outlined by public criteria. Students would receive feedback on their work from peers, target audience response, or via notes and individual discussion from the teacher.
Planning Learning Experience and Instruction
Context:
I teach middle school Science and serve as the Science Fair Coordinator at Franklin Fine Arts Center, and I am a Science Fair Co-Chair for our Network. I have two 7th and two 8th grades for the 2015-2016 year. I see each class of 32 students for an average of 55 minutes. The student body is diverse (35% Black, 33% White, 21% Hispanic, and 12% Asian or Multiracial) and from all parts of the city. Although we do not have any official ELLs, about 10% of the students speak a different language at home and about 20% from each class receive Sp.Ed. services.
Overall, parents want their kids to do well but vary in the level of support they give. The staff collaborates but time is limited due to the Fine Arts focus. In my classroom, there is a document camera and projector for classroom use which has an HP laptop attached. We have a MacBook and P.C. cart that are shared with the school and are not available during testing. The students only go to the Computer Lab one period per week which poses some constraints on what can be done with computer technology but still opens up possibilities for work. I plan to implement the Big Idea in both grade levels.
Content:
In 7th grade (Life Science), we cover:
- Scientific Inquiry
- Ecology and Evolution
- Human Body Systems
- Cells
- Genetics
- Chemistry basics through Materials Science and Water Testing
- Energy
- Waves
- Force and Motion
Although some aspects of Science are concrete in nature, much of what we study in middle school is abstract. Students come to the class with a wide variety of preconceptions that may be incorrect. Making the content knowledge understandable and helping students to grasp the underlying concepts in each topic and make connections between content areas can be a challenge. To combat this, I will employ the use of the Fine Arts and technology to help students visualize and connect to Science content.
The exercise of creativity in all subjects, particularly Science is something students may not have experienced much due to the nature of teaching and learning in America and Chicago. Testing dictates the subject matter that must be covered in a certain time which leaves little room for exploration and creating. Our students are frequently involved in creating during the Fine Arts classes but I feel that they fail to see the connection between the Arts and what they do in other subjects and I would like to see this change.
Pedagogy:
In my teaching, I plan to utilize projects that integrate learning with real-world applications and various forms of multimodal composition that allow students to show their grasp of content in a unique and purposeful way. Students can conduct research and interviews with experts to build their knowledge base. Group reports by student committees will allow them to share insights gained from research and work. I would also like to provide opportunities for students to develop and show understanding through the Arts.
Assessment probes will be used to determine student conceptions before and after covering a topic. These will be graded using rubrics and public grading criteria. I will also incorporate aesthetic teaching and learning by helping students connect to content through videos, analogies, simulations and various sensory experiences. Field trips will help them form a bridge between school and the outside world.
Direct instruction, assigned readings and group discussion will be a part of my teaching to ensure that students learn the key concepts in each unit. Journals will be used to record learning. Collaborative work will be included so that students gain confidence and learn from one another before independent assessment. Participating in projects will enable them to transfer learning to other contexts. As a part of this, I want to have them publish some of their work in the halls, via e-mail, on my class webpage or another digital format allowed in CPS so that parents, school staff and other students can see their work and give outside validation to their efforts.
Technology:
The specific technologies that will be appropriated are as follows. Students will use digital cameras (or phones) to record video and images. They will create and share work and weekly blogs on a class webpage. Computers will enable students to create movies, cartoons, lab reports or other work using Google Drive applications, and any writing that will be shared with others digitally. Other ideas may arise as the year progresses.
Teaching Demonstration:
Objective: Students will define density, determine the density of an object qualitatively and quantitatively and prove that density is an intrinsic physical property.
Lesson Outline:
- Show a video of me and branch going into the lake, what would happen if the tree I took it from fell in the water? Give students assessment probe with same question to determine their concept of density in a large and small amount of the same material.
- Review the concept of mass vs. weight (show Brainpop video).
- Demonstrate how to use a balance.
- Introduce the concept of density and teach students how to calculate it using the formula: d=m/v.
- Students will practice determining density on several objects.
- Return to the original question, will the tree sink or float?
- Students will make a video as a group proving that density is intrinsic. They can use any materials they choose (I will have wood, tubs of water, clay, plastic, styrofoam, etc… available or may allow them to bring in their own materials).
- The students will finish with another assessment similar to the first assessment probe.
References
Dewey, J. (1910). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process (p. 153). D.C.HEATH &. Co. In
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Chapter 2. Understanding Understanding. In Understanding by design (Expanded 2nd ed.).
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Rollfing, P. (Ed.). (2013, September 18). Movement to integrate science, art education gathering STEAM. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
Woodruff, K. (2013, March 12). A History of STEM – Reigniting the Challenge with NGSS and CCSS. Retrieved August 12, 2015.