School 7 Seventh Grade Students Consider How to “Nurture Nature”

On March 31st, seventh grade students from Paterson School 7 spent the day at William Paterson University's Ben Shahn Art Galleries engaging in activities that integrated art and science.  They were accompanied by Science Teacher Marla Arrington, Student Teacher and Woodrow Wilson Fellow Sue DeNardo, Art Teacher Vernon Nealy, ScienceTeacher Tracy Pearson, Art PIR Myra Winter, and Geraldine R. Dodge Grant Coordinator Dina Scacchetti.

The day began with a tour of the current exhibition, Living Together: Nurturing Nature in the Built Environment.  This exhibition features living plants as well as photography, drawing, and collage, and addresses, “our complex, mediated, and often fraught relationship with the natural world.”  The exhibition ties in perfectly with a project-based learning effort that the seventh graders are engaged in:  the development of a sustainable village ecosystem, in which criteria such as food/water sources, energy sources, waste disposal/decomposition systems, habitat conservation, and architecture all have to be ecologically sound.  In the pictures below Director of University Galleries Kristen Evangelista leads the discussion about the exhibition.

In the picture at the right students interact with a “beanbag” chair created from recycled materials that mimic artifacts of nature.

 

After seeing the exhibition, the students adjourned to a classroom where Adjunct Professor Gina Miccinili, Gallery Manager Emily Johnsen, and Gallery Interns Kristina Sternesky and Mitchel Sybesma led the students in an art activity.  Each student was supplied with a terracotta flowerpot, and access to acrylic paints of various colors.  They were invited to paint the pots in individual and creative ways.  Some students’ work was very representational, while others developed abstract designs.

                

While the paint on the pots was drying, students toured the   College of Science and Health’s greenhouse, in which different rooms mimic different ecosystems.  Professor Michael Wyrwa showed students plants that have adapted to different environments in various ways.  For example cactus plants have adapted to desert environments by reducing their water loss.  Certain plants that grow in poor soil have developed means to “capture” insects and “digest” them to obtain needed nutrients.

The students also viewed some of the campus sculptures with Ms. Evangelista. In the process they identified and reviewed math vocabulary and concepts that were used in the creation of these artworks






Next, students returned to the classrooms, where the gallery interns gave a brief lesson on seed germination. 

 
The students then found their individual pots, filled them with potting soil, and planted seedlings of herbs, e.g. dill and/or basil.  They were provided with instructions on how to “nurture” their plant.





 
 
At the end of this highly productive and fascinating day, each student left with a painted pot in which a seedling had been planted.  Let’s hope they grow! Transportation for the trip was provided through William Paterson University’s Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Grant.