Last Year's STEAM Grant

This year’s STEAM program at GOPA and SOIT is made possible by William Paterson University’s grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.  The current work at the secondary level builds upon the success last year at the elementary and middle school levels. The Dodge Grant has funded the Art Professors in Residence, art supplies and field trips.

Last year at Paterson School 2, a grade K-8 school, first and second grade bilingual students, working with Art Teacher Beth Porto in the school art studio, created a five-foot by ten-foot mural that depicted the four seasons, and that integrated art, math and science. Begun in September, the mural was gradually added to throughout the year, and finally completed in June.  First Grade Teacher Norma Menchon, Second Grade Teacher Belinda Casais McBride, and Art Professor in Residence Simone Sandler co-taught math topics (counting, odd and even numbers, and addition and subtraction) and science topics (seasonal changes affecting animals and plants, the phases of the moon, and weather) keyed to the district curriculum. These lessons generated artwork that was incorporated into the mural.  The mural now hangs in the hallway of School 2, on permanent display.

At Paterson School 7, a grade 5 to 8 middle school, Art Professor in Residence Myra Winter worked with Art Teacher Vernon Nealy, Math Teachers Rosa Kopic and Melissa Bensh, and Science Teachers Marla Arrington and Mary Bertino.  Team teaching among these educators brought art into the other content areas.  For example, on a field trip to the American Museum of Natural History, students attended a special program, “Spiders Alive!”  Upon their return they created spider presentation boxes using chipboard, binding fabric, and decorative papers.  This required detailed measurement to achieve the correct angles and proportions.  They included all the scientific information they had learned about spiders, and used the boxes as 3D graphic organizers to write a research paper about spiders. 

Another lesson focused upon the concepts of volume and surface area.  Students made a variety of sizes of rectangular prisms using colored paper, and then built a 3D sculpture with those prisms.  They calculated the volume and surface area of their prisms, and calculated the relationships between them.  They then did the same with their final sculpture.

The culminating event of School 7’s STEAM program was a “Creativity Fair” held in May, in which parents and community members were invited to an evening program to view the student work.

                         

Evaluation by the WPU Geraldine R. Dodge Grant coordinator showed improved results on math assessments and improved attitudes toward math and science at both schools.