Imagine It - Phase 2
Professional Context
I teach middle school Science at Franklin Fine Arts Center, serve as our School Science Fair Coordinator, and as 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 very 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 middle school students speak a different language at home and about 20% from each class receives Sp.Ed. services.
Overall, parents want their kids to do well but vary in the level of support they are able to give. The staff collaborates but time is very limited due to the Fine Arts focus. 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.
Key Idea of My Imagine-It Project
My goal is to integrate Fine Arts into every unit of the Science curriculum in order to foster creativity, aesthetic learning, communication, deeper understanding and cross-disciplinary thinking. By the end of the year, I hope students will begin to subconsciously use the Arts and artistic skills as a way to help them understand and explain Science content.
Content to be Covered/Uncovered
In 7th grade (Life Science), we cover:
With every unit, I would like to see Art in various forms used as a means of going deeper with the content. My students have frequently mentioned the issue of recycling and its absence at our school. Ecology and Materials Science are excellent units to create a joint project for both grades. Students would use Art to promote the idea of recycling to the school community. This will allow them to see Art as a method of communication for sharing ideas in Science with others outside of the Scientific Community. I would also like to incorporate more creative methods of sharing Science Fair projects by using video, story, and images in presentations.
In addition to the Recycling Project, I intend to have the 7th grade build $10.00 smartphone microscopes to give students ownership in their learning and allow them to explore the world of the microscopic and share that with others. My dream is to do a model car project with the 8th grade students where they can work in teams to create vehicles that are functional and aesthetically pleasing. I would like to pull in repurposed materials as a way to connect the recycling project. Makersapce could be a fantastic way to let the students combine creativity and Science knowledge but remains to be explored.
In class, I hope to integrate movement and music as a way to explore and show understanding of a topic or process. There will be an emphasis on visualizing concepts in ways that will help the content become meaningful to the students, shareable with others and easier to understand. Video and photography would be incorporated through the use of videos, blogs and images. At this point, I envision a classroom webpage or website with the students taking turns documenting the work done in class. An effort will be made to connect skills used in one content area to another. I also want to work closely with the Drama, Art, and Music teacher to gather ideas for teaching concepts and perhaps work on joint projects if time allows.
Professional Context
I teach middle school Science at Franklin Fine Arts Center, serve as our School Science Fair Coordinator, and as 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 very 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 middle school students speak a different language at home and about 20% from each class receives Sp.Ed. services.
Overall, parents want their kids to do well but vary in the level of support they are able to give. The staff collaborates but time is very limited due to the Fine Arts focus. 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.
Key Idea of My Imagine-It Project
My goal is to integrate Fine Arts into every unit of the Science curriculum in order to foster creativity, aesthetic learning, communication, deeper understanding and cross-disciplinary thinking. By the end of the year, I hope students will begin to subconsciously use the Arts and artistic skills as a way to help them understand and explain Science content.
Content to be Covered/Uncovered
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
With every unit, I would like to see Art in various forms used as a means of going deeper with the content. My students have frequently mentioned the issue of recycling and its absence at our school. Ecology and Materials Science are excellent units to create a joint project for both grades. Students would use Art to promote the idea of recycling to the school community. This will allow them to see Art as a method of communication for sharing ideas in Science with others outside of the Scientific Community. I would also like to incorporate more creative methods of sharing Science Fair projects by using video, story, and images in presentations.
In addition to the Recycling Project, I intend to have the 7th grade build $10.00 smartphone microscopes to give students ownership in their learning and allow them to explore the world of the microscopic and share that with others. My dream is to do a model car project with the 8th grade students where they can work in teams to create vehicles that are functional and aesthetically pleasing. I would like to pull in repurposed materials as a way to connect the recycling project. Makersapce could be a fantastic way to let the students combine creativity and Science knowledge but remains to be explored.
In class, I hope to integrate movement and music as a way to explore and show understanding of a topic or process. There will be an emphasis on visualizing concepts in ways that will help the content become meaningful to the students, shareable with others and easier to understand. Video and photography would be incorporated through the use of videos, blogs and images. At this point, I envision a classroom webpage or website with the students taking turns documenting the work done in class. An effort will be made to connect skills used in one content area to another. I also want to work closely with the Drama, Art, and Music teacher to gather ideas for teaching concepts and perhaps work on joint projects if time allows.