Wednesday, November 12, 2014

GOPA STEAM students go to WPU on an artistic adventure

On November 3^rd, STEAM students from GOPA/School of Government participated in a field trip to William Paterson University in which they learned about the work of Artist in Residence Maria Lux. Award-winning visual artist Lux has created artwork spanning a wide range of media from traditional drawing and painting methods, watercolor illustration, and scientific diagrams, to photography, dioramas, wooden constructions, and large-scale sculpture.

Lux provided a 45-minute lecture in the Cheng library auditorium, discussing her artistic practice and recent work. She explained her creative process: how her work begins with existing research and stories from other fields—such as evolutionary biology, medicine, agriculture, history, literature, film, and anthropology—and uses the tools of visual artistic practice to create cross-disciplinary, installation-based works.

Students then traveled to the Art Department’s Power Arts facility, where they visited the Center for New Art’s laboratories (which include a CNC mill, 3D printers, and 3D scanner). They also visited Lux’s studio, and viewed current exhibitions in the Power Arts Gallery (which include student artwork).

After lunch the students engaged in a walking tour of the WPU Outdoor Sculpture Program led by Kristen Evangelista, Director of the University Galleries.

Lux will be in residence at WPU from October 6 – November 14, 2014. The residency will culminate in a solo exhibition on view from January 20 – March 27, 2015 at the University Galleries with an accompanying publication. A follow-up field trip in February will take students to the University Galleries to see the outcome of her residency.

Back in the GOPA classroom in Paterson, NJ, Art Teacher Mr. Jones engaged the STEAM students in a thoughtful discussion about their field trip. A meaningful learning moment took place when one STEAM student stated he was surprised that Mr. Jones had expressed his reservatioms about what he had seen on the artist's website to the artist while on the field trip. Mr. Jones further encouraged the student to express his feelings, and the point was made that art discussions can provoke controversy. Mr. Jones explained that the expression of the true feelings of each person in an art dialogue allow for the honest dialogue that is essential to the art process.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

STEAM curriculum continues to grow at SOIT

The STEAM curriculum at SOIT/School of Information and Technology in Paterson, NJ has continued to evolve this year.

STEAM students in Mrs. Simon's Art Class are creating Cubist paintings using watercolor pencils and brushes on large-sized white paper. The c. 22 x 28 inch white papers are being drawn first with pencil by the students then painted later taking their inspiration from Picasso Cubist works.

STEAM students learned that Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement pioneered by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, joined by Juan Gris, Fernand Leger, and many other well-known artists that revolutionized European painting, sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature, and architecture. Cubism has been considered the most influential art movement of the 20th century. Arriving at the concept of depicting an object as seen from different viewpoints independently, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque soon became good friends and went on to develop the visual language of cubism in close cooperation, an alliance that Picasso would sometimes call a marriage.

In addition to creating artworks, students made a virtual tour via Smartboard to the Metropolitan Musuem of Art in New York City where a current exhibition of Cubism is on display. Art teacher Mrs. Simons pointed out the many connections Cubism has with geometric forms.

Dodge Funded STEAM Program is off to an enthusiastic start at CAHTS

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation funded STEAM Program is off to an enthusiastic start at the CAHTS/Culinary Arts, Hospitality, and Tourism School in Paterson, NJ this year!

STEAM students in Ms. Reyes’s Art Class are creating two point perspective cities using acrylic paint and brushes on canvas boards. The 12 x 16 inch boards are being painted on table easels by drawing a sketch first with pencil then painting later. The goal of this art project is for the students to understand how objects and buildings appear to get smaller in the distance, and how to create this effect artistically by using linear perspective methods created in Renaissance Italy by Fillipo Brunelleschi.

Around 1420, Brunelleschi demonstrated the geometrical method of perspective, used today by artists, by painting the outlines of Florentine buildings onto a mirror. When the building’s outline was continued, he noticed that all of the lines converged onto the horizon line. Ms. Reyes’s art students re-created these experiments in the classroom using a mirror before they began their paintings. In so doing, students understood the close connection between linear perspective in art and mathematics, especially geometry. Later in history Leon Battista Alberti, an Italian architect, added mathematics to Brunelleschi’s findings.

STEAM students in Ms. Reyes' CAHTS class are also learning scientific principles in this art project, or how an imagined light source in their artwork can create three dimensionality through color changes the students can utilize as they paint. Light plays a critical part in these artworks. Thus, students are learning to using mix colors that create three dimensions in their buildings and roads, and make them appear as though they recede in space toward the horizon line.

In addition these art students are learning to create both aerial and atmospheric perspective in there artworks. These techniques were used to make buildings in paintings look three dimensional in the Netherlands in the 15th century and even as early as 30 B.C.E. in Ancient Rome.

Monday, October 27, 2014

STEAM "Living Things" Project at School 2 in Paterson, NJ

At School 2 in Paterson NJ, fourth grade students engaged in a project-based learning activity (PBL) to learn about cells in their unit “Living Things.” Using diagrams of cells the students identified the various parts of the cell, and compared and contrasted the parts of plant and animal cells.

The vocabulary and concepts were reinforced by a hands-on art/science activity in which students, working in pairs, created 3D models of their cells.

Upon completion of the project students discussed their cell projects in front of the class, both in terms of the scientific concepts and terminology, and the elements of art.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Welcome Back to Our Blog!

We are looking forward to another exciting year of STEAM in the Paterson Public Schools. William Paterson University is now “STEAM-ing forward” in five schools in the district:

School 2, School 7, the School of Government & Public Administration (GOPA,) the School of Information Technology (SOIT,) and, newly added this year, the School of Culinary Arts, Hospitality, Travel and Tourism (CAHTS.)

Below are some highlights from last year.

School of Government and the School of Information Technology:

Making Art with Computers

Last year a major goal of the grant was to stress the “T” in STEAM. The two schools partnered with the WPU College of Art and Communications Center for New Art, which focuses on using technology to create art through the use of contemporary digital tools, to 3D modeling and printing. A three-part unit saw WPU Professor Rees and his graduate students first addressing GOPA and SOIT students on this theme, and subsequently demonstrating how a hand-held scanner can generate computer files from which 3D images can be “printed.”

Above Photo:

On the WPU website main page, Professor Michael Rees and Graduate Student Tyler Zeleny observe the creation of the 3D printed head of a Paterson student.

School 2:

Learning about Dinosaurs in Grades 1 and 2

The unit began with a series of lessons in which students created dinosaur fossils out of clay and plaster, recreated a dinosaur “dig” in their classrooms, and built 3D models of dinosaurs out of clay, cardboard, and paint. English Language Arts skills (e.g., word walls of relevant vocabulary such as dinosaur names, extinction, carnivore, herbivore) and math skills (estimation of size, creation of bar graphs of length of dinosaurs) were stressed. The unit continued with approximately 140 students and staff participating in a field trip to Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, NJ, where they applied their learning. By the conclusion of the unit, students could identify and describe the characteristics of common dinosaurs, including size, behavior, and food sources. They also explain how information on dinosaurs has been discovered and give possible reasons for their extinction.

Above Photo:

Students enter the Field Station Dinosaur Park.

Above Photo:

Students pass by a life-size, animatronic Apatousaurus

Above Photo:

Students participate in a learning activity about Tyrannosaurus rex.

School 7:

Creativity Night!

At the end of the 2012-2013 school year School 7 chose as its theme, “Designing for Creativity,” and as one of its goals for 2013-2014 to include all students in STEAM activities. Near the end of the school year (May 15, 2014) a Creativity Fair was held. This evening event showcased the creative and innovative work of the year for all stakeholders (students, staff and parents.)

Above Photo:

Students at School 7 admire a 6^th grade project entitled “Kingdoms,” in which the students researched and created a phylogenetic tree.

Above Photo:

8^th grade students researched the structure and function of plant and animal cells, and depicted those cells through the medium of watercolor painting.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Thanks for Viewing--See you in September!

This year has been an exciting first year for our blog. We have showcased the activities that are going on in those Paterson Public Schools in which we have implemented the William Paterson University STEAM grant. This grant, which has been funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, demonstrates that the integration of visual art with science, technology, and math increases student achievement. Above all, the work of the students, teachers, and professors in residence emphasizes the most important aspect of student learning, which is CREATIVITY.

We are happy to be able to report that funding has been renewed for the next school year, and that we will be continuing our efforts in 2014-2015. We will be planning new activities over the summer months.

We are putting our blog to sleep for the next two months, and will resume posting in September. Meanwhile, we leave with a few pictures that encapsulate the very essence of STEAM: some student portraits that evolved from their 3D printing experience, a three-part activity that took place on May 13th, May 19th, and May 27th.

Above: Crystal

Above: Richard

Above: Carmen

Above: Angeline

Above: Marisdel

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Paterson STEAM Program featured on Geraldine R. Dodge Website

The William Paterson University Paterson High School STEAM grant program has been featured on the Geraldine R. Dodge.org website under "Featured News"

"(June 3, 2014) Students at Eastside High School in Paterson recently worked with William Paterson University as part of a partnership to promote the traditional elements of STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — with the addition of art — STEAM. Read the Bergen Record story and view a photo gallery from the day here .

LINK
http://www.grdodge.org/about-us/featured-news/

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Paterson STEAM programs featured in New Jersey press

The Paterson, NJ STEAM programs are featured in the New Jersey press today at
http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/learning-art-for-math-s-sake-1.1027902?page=1

From the article by Minjae Park, Staff Writer, the STEAM prpgram—

"is the product of a partnership between the Paterson school district and William Paterson University that aims to promote the traditional elements of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – with the addition of art: STEAM. In the past two years, Schools 2 and 7 and Eastside High School have adopted science-and-art classes designed by their teachers and by William Paterson professors who spend a few days each week working at the schools".....

....."The partnership between the university and the Paterson school district is funded through a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, based in Morristown. In April the foundation approved $130,000 for the university to continue and expand its STEAM program next year, adding to the $200,000 from the previous two years."

For the complete article see this LINK

William Paterson University is featuring photos from the STEAM program at its Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1lXOixB

Above: Artworks created in GOPA Art Teacher Darryl Jones' class suing pastels and grids

(See article)

he class — part art, part math — is the product of a partnership between the Paterson school district and William Paterson University that aims to promote the traditional elements of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – with the addition of art: STEAM.
In the past two years, Schools 2 and 7 and Eastside High School have adopted science-and-art classes designed by their teachers and by William Paterson professors who spend a few days each week working at the schools.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/learning-art-for-math-s-sake-1.1027902?page=1#sthash.srh7cqKM.dpuf

is the product of a partnership between the Paterson school district and William Paterson University that aims to promote the traditional elements of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – with the addition of art: STEAM.
In the past two years, Schools 2 and 7 and Eastside High School have adopted science-and-art classes designed by their teachers and by William Paterson professors who spend a few days each week working at the schools.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/learning-art-for-math-s-sake-1.1027902?page=1#sthash.srh7cqKM.dpuf

In a college-high school cooperation, science and tech meets art

June 3, 2014 Last updated: Tuesday, June 3, 2014, 1:21 AM

By MINJAE PARK

STAFF WRITER

The Record

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It was a geometry lesson on ratios, but there was Tevaughn Grant, his fingers smeared in pink from rubbing soft chalk pastels onto his drawing of a rose.
"I drew up a grid, then I drew a picture, then I erased the lines and I started the pastel," said the 11th-grader at Eastside High School in Paterson, explaining a technique that employs math as well as art.
Beside him, Marque Champion, a 12th-grader, had taken an image of a face and drawn a grid of 36 one-inch squares on it – nine across and four down. On a larger canvas, he drew a similar grid, but with each square measuring 2 inches. Then he copied the original, box by box, to create a face that was quadruple the size.
"Instead of drawing what you see, it helps you focus on the boxes," he said, showing how each box helped keep the drawing in proportion.
The class — part art, part math — is the product of a partnership between the Paterson school district and William Paterson University that aims to promote the traditional elements of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math – with the addition of art: STEAM.
In the past two years, Schools 2 and 7 and Eastside High School have adopted science-and-art classes designed by their teachers and by William Paterson professors who spend a few days each week working at the schools.
"Creativity is key, and art tends to bring the creativity," said Dina Scacchetti, a William Paterson science professor often at Eastside High.
William Paterson art professor Triada Samaras, the other professor-in-residence at Eastside High, said art teaches students something other subjects don't.
"We say, 'Take risks and fail,' " she said. "Failure is expected in art and even encouraged, because through failures you eventually succeed, and this kind of thinking is very useful" for science- and math-oriented studies.
At Eastside High's School of Government and Public Administration, students in the science-oriented art classes also have calculated the volume of ceramic sculptures they craft, then measured how much water the sculptures actually hold; and they had their faces scanned at William Paterson to make three-dimensional Styrofoam cutouts, an experience that allowed them to experiment with complex software.
The infusion of art into math and science has seen some positive early signs in Paterson, Scacchetti said, with bilingual second-grade students who had studied in the curriculum outperforming their monolingual peers in math scores.
By boosting core subjects, art — often seen as more expendable than the subjects for which students are tested — is placed on a firmer footing in schools.
"It makes a powerful argument for the case that art doesn't take away from time in science and math," said Candace Burns, dean of William Paterson's College of Education.
The partnership between the university and the Paterson school district is funded through a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, based in Morristown. In April the foundation approved $130,000 for the university to continue and expand its STEAM program next year, adding to the $200,000 from the previous two years.
In addition to allowing professors-in-residence, the grant helps buy supplies and funds field trips to museums, said Scacchetti, the university's coordinator for the grant.
In a class at Eastside High's School of Information Technology, Marilyn Simon, an art teacher, demonstrated tessellation, in which copies of a shape are fitted together like a mosaic to cover a plane, with no overlaps or gaps.
"It was a regular square first, and then we cut it and we put it on the bottom," said Angeline Francois, an 11th-grader, as she finished drawing a sequence of sharp edges and winding curves. "And me, being complicated — I made this."
On their shapes, students transposed paintings of fish, butterflies, ducks — whatever the patterns could conceivably depict.
"Your job is to find something in this," Simon told students. "Keep turning it to see if you see something in it."
She compared the process to divining shapes from clouds.
Francois, a Picasso fan, said she mainly enjoyed the art but didn't mind the small math lesson.

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