Phase Three: STEAM Collaboration between NRC and North Carolina Museum of Art

                        Above:  Amulet of Isis and Horus North Carolina Museum of Art 305-30 B.C.E.
New Roberto Clemente School 6th grade students learned about the art of Ancient Egypt when they teleconferenced live with the North Carolina Museum of Art on 11/29/2016 and 12/7/2016 in what is "Phase Three" of this on-going collaborative project: "Gaining STEAM from Ancient Egyptian Artifacts."
 

This STEAM collaboration, organized by Art Professor in Residence Triada Samaras, is part of the STEAM initiative in the Paterson Public Schools District funded by the William Paterson University Geraldine R. Dodge STEAM grant, now in its fifth year.  Samaras met last June with with Acting Director of Education Michelle Harrell in Raleigh, NC where the museum is located. Later in the summer NRC Art Teacher Lauren Mandal visited the museum as well. 

                       Above:  Amulet of Nehebkau North Carolina Museum of Art 664-30 B.C.E.
The general theme of this STEAM art collaboration is: "Why Do Human Make"?  In "Phase Two" of this project, 6th grade social studies students completed their writing and wondering activities regarding two Ancient Egyptian Amulets owned by the museum:  the Amulet of Isis and Horus  305-30 B.C.E. and the Amulet of Nehebkau from 664-30 B.C.E.  To do this, they looked at the amulets on their NRC Smartboards, and then held replicas of the amulets in their hands (see below.)  Finally they watched a video on faience (the material of which the amulets are composed.) For example, the Amulet of Nehebkau (above) is made of faience, the oldest known man-made material.  Students wrote many interesting thoughts and questions about the amulets.  For example, they wondered about the reason for the amulets, the makers of the amulets, and the fluke that caused the invention of faience. 

Above: WPU Art PIR Triada Samaras holds 3D printed replicas of the amulets created at NRC by Mr. Baldwin, Technology Teacher, using 3D printers in his classroom and plans sent to him by the museum. (The Amulet of Nehebkau is left and The Amulet of Isis and Horus is right in the above photograph.)  

In this phase of the collaboration (Phase Three,) students “toured” the museum with Camille Tewell, Art Educator, and Emily Kotecki, Distance Educator, using the web conference program Zoom.  Koteki and Tewell displayed the two Egyptian amulets owned by museum using their video camera in Raleigh.  Having read NRC students' previous answers Ms Tewell asked the students more about their responses and elicited new answers from them. In other words, she engaged the students from where she stood in the Egyptian galleries at the museum even as the students sat at their desks in Paterson, NJ, where NRC is located.

                                Above: NRC Students engage with Ms. Tewell via teleconference. 
Students learned these Ancient Egyptian Amulets had special, magic powers and were often worn around the neck for protection. They could readily understand why humans "made" these objects long ago, and could easily see parallels with objects made by humans today for similar purposes.

Above: Mr. Fusco, NRC Social Studies Teacher and his student engage with the amulets via teleconference.
During the teleconference, students simultaneously re-handled 3D-printed by Technology Teacher replicas of these amulets that Technology Teacher Mr. Baldwin created in class from plans previously emailed to NRC from the museum.

Above:  NRC students handle 3D printed replicas of the Amulets create by #D printers in Mr. Baldwin's classroom. His students will begin their "Egypt" study in just a few weeks.


Next Ms. Tewell explained that the students would write about their plans for a new amulet, their own, with special powers and visual features ascribed to them.
They worked on sheets emailed to NRC by the museum for this purpose.
 

Above: Students make plans for their own amulets.

In Phase 4 of this project, students will return to their art classes with their plans, ready to design and create their own amulets, either using traditional media (e.g., paper, clay) or 3D printing technology.  Stay tuned!


This was a true STEAM activity that crossed several disciplines:  Technology (Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Selino), Art (Ms. Mandal and Ms. Senopole), and Social Studies (Mr. Fusco).