Arts, Aesthetic Learning, and Science
My ImagineIT project has been in progress for several months now. Students have been able to experience Science in a new way through the addition of the arts and aesthetic learning to our class work. I have been challenged to think of new ways to integrate the arts into our Science lessons in meaningful ways. I have also been trying to give the students more choice to allow their creativity to flow and give them opportunities to collaborate with others.
To further this process, I want to continue using various artistic forms of expression in lessons that I have done before and new lessons that we are trying this year. In 7th grade, the students do a Cell Biology Unit. To add more aesthetic appeal to a culminating project called "Maracondo Fever", I will have them role play as a doctor, veterinarian, epidemiologist, or ecologist. They will use Google Drive to collaboratively work on data analysis and write their final reports on findings. The room will be decorated as a jungle and I have created a slide show complete with jungle noises to add to the aesthetics. This year I wrote a grant to obtain supplies to create cells on shrink dink plastic. Students can trace them or draw their own. They will make small booklets highlighting each part of the cell with brief descriptions of the organelles that they draw. I hope through the process of making them, learning the parts of the cells and their functions will stay with them longer and make more sense as to how they are all arranged. I also plan to have the students write and perform songs sometime during the Ecology Unit as an artistic way to show what they have learned.
For my 8th grade, I want to allow them more opportunities to collaborate, design and create in Science. They designed their own experiment in groups to prove or disprove conservation of mass which was a great experience for them. They experienced more autonomy and had to be very inventive. I will also have them create their own fuel burning system for measuring energy in food. They will be able to use the items I have available and anything else they may need for this process.
By late April, I want to begin some cross-disciplinary work with colleagues. I want students to see the relationship between skills they are learning in the Fine Arts and skills they need to excel in Math and Science as well. I also want them to begin making connections between the subjects as a way to help them process and understand what they are learning in Science. I also want to gather some data from the students on the methods we have been using. How have their feelings changed about Science? Do they feel as though they are remembering and understanding more?
By the time my MSU-Wipro fellowship is over, I want to expand my learning beyond my classroom. I am setting a goal for myself to begin sharing what we are doing with others. That will require me taking more photos and since I am very inclined to forget this essential item, I need to make conscious plans to get them taken regularly. This will also mean writing more about what I am doing and making it public.
To further this process, I want to continue using various artistic forms of expression in lessons that I have done before and new lessons that we are trying this year. In 7th grade, the students do a Cell Biology Unit. To add more aesthetic appeal to a culminating project called "Maracondo Fever", I will have them role play as a doctor, veterinarian, epidemiologist, or ecologist. They will use Google Drive to collaboratively work on data analysis and write their final reports on findings. The room will be decorated as a jungle and I have created a slide show complete with jungle noises to add to the aesthetics. This year I wrote a grant to obtain supplies to create cells on shrink dink plastic. Students can trace them or draw their own. They will make small booklets highlighting each part of the cell with brief descriptions of the organelles that they draw. I hope through the process of making them, learning the parts of the cells and their functions will stay with them longer and make more sense as to how they are all arranged. I also plan to have the students write and perform songs sometime during the Ecology Unit as an artistic way to show what they have learned.
For my 8th grade, I want to allow them more opportunities to collaborate, design and create in Science. They designed their own experiment in groups to prove or disprove conservation of mass which was a great experience for them. They experienced more autonomy and had to be very inventive. I will also have them create their own fuel burning system for measuring energy in food. They will be able to use the items I have available and anything else they may need for this process.
By late April, I want to begin some cross-disciplinary work with colleagues. I want students to see the relationship between skills they are learning in the Fine Arts and skills they need to excel in Math and Science as well. I also want them to begin making connections between the subjects as a way to help them process and understand what they are learning in Science. I also want to gather some data from the students on the methods we have been using. How have their feelings changed about Science? Do they feel as though they are remembering and understanding more?
By the time my MSU-Wipro fellowship is over, I want to expand my learning beyond my classroom. I am setting a goal for myself to begin sharing what we are doing with others. That will require me taking more photos and since I am very inclined to forget this essential item, I need to make conscious plans to get them taken regularly. This will also mean writing more about what I am doing and making it public.
Spring ImagineIT Update #1
This is fun! The kids really enjoyed working on this project. It got them to look at cells more thoroughly than I ever could have just using a typical textbook. Bringing in visual arts and other means of assessing learning has made class more enjoyable for the kids and many of them look forward to coming to class. We have used skits, songs, improv, dance, models, and drawings interwoven through through their learning experiences this year and it seems like they've taken a shine to it!
Spring ImagineIT Update #2
Toward the end of our Ecology unit, we needed one more quiz. Instead of a typical paper version, students created songs to explain their understanding of how energy flows through an ecosystem. The idea was to give them an alternative way to review and to synthesize the material that we had been covering. The students really enjoyed the process and amazed me with their creativity. It also helped us to pinpoint areas where they may have had misconceptions. Check out a couple of the songs they wrote below.
Carry on the Energy from the Sun - (Parody of “Carry On” by Wayward Son)
Chorus - ALL Carry On the energy from the sun To the producers it will go The consumers will eat them And then you’ll decompose V - 1- Louie Once a rose gathered energy from the sun. Then it started to use photosynthesis. It can use that to make food. But it grew too high! V - 2 - Panayotis The consumers ate the plants that were too high They did not get as much energy as producers They thought they were at the top of the food chain But they began to die! Chorus - ALL V-3 - Jacob The decomposers ate the consumers that died They recycled the energy back into the ecosystem The decomposers waste helps plants grow but then they grew too high! V-4 - Amachi That's how energy flows through the ecosystem That’s how organisms stay alive That’s how energy goes That’s how energy flows!!! Chorus - ALL |
Plant Energy Song: Remake Stitches by Sophie, Yasmira, and Prescilla
I thought that I would die before But now I’ve found another way to store Cellular Respiration is the key Without it the consumer could not feed Pre-Chorus: The consumer is going under The decomposer is getting food Now the energy is moving through the ecosystem, Move Onnnn Chorus: Thanks to photosynthesis I make glucose and nutrients And when IIII dieee Consumers will survive Verse 2: Photosynthesis requires sunlight And w/out the sunlight we would not survive The producers give a helping hand Then the consumers get food Now the decomposers get food Chorus: Thanks to photosynthesis I make glucose and nutrients And when IIII dieee Consumers will survive Bridge: Energy is coming and I’m getting stronger, Energy is coming and it’s flowing through |