Permanent STEAM Art and the Pirate Pit Crew at NRC

Recently at NRC, Art Teacher Mandal's students have been thinking about how to create permanent STEAM art installations for their school building. This idea has been inspired partly by the Peace for Paterson Project that they placed throughout the building earlier this year.  The latest student installation is an innovative combination of construction materials and paint.   

First, Ms. Mandal asked the students to envision paintings for the ceiling using the existing white tiles as "blank canvases".  Thanks to the new NRC custodian, Mike, students were able to acquire a number of these tiles for their classroom where they set out designing their compositions,  Ms. Mandal urged them to think about inspirational slogans and images from visual culture and recent art history.  "What would you like to see on the ceiling of your school hallway?" she inquired.

Ms. Mandal then taught students how to mix and apply colors using acrylic paints to their compositions on their ceiling tiles.  

Students worked collaboratively both designing and painting the tiles.

When the tiles were finished, Mike was on-hand for the ceiling tile installation.  Ms. Mandal and her students directed him where to place these colorful and visually animated artworks.  

The result is a an awesome combination of engineering, science, and art that is now beautifying the NRC building in the public space between Principal Montez' office and the NRC library.  

Ms. Mandal and her STEAM Art students were thrilled to see these impressive results!  Furthermore, as this blog post is being written, more tiles are being installed.....Stay tuned!


In the meantime, NRC Physical Education Teacher Mr. Bonadonna is continuing a fascinating STEAM project using art to help teach his small engine repair class. Named the Pirate Pit Crew this class meets Monday thru Friday 3:20 PM to 4:00 PM in the gym.  Roughly twelve students from grades 6-8 regularly attend to work hands-on with small engines.

Each day students learn how to identify and trouble shoot engines that are not running properly. Once the diagnosis has been complete, the necessary repairs begin. Last year Mr. Bonadonna and his "Pirate Pit Crew" began discovering how color (an element of art) could help identify engine parts.  "Color coding helps students to organize their thinking," Bonadonna explained recently to STEAM Art Professor in Residence, Triada Samaras.  "Students can use color coding to help them troubleshoot and problem solve," he continued.

In addition, by using color, students can distinguish between the different components of an engine.  Bonadonna has also devised a method so that students can identify, for example, the variety of nuts and bolts that belong with a carburetor, a cylinder, a muffler, etc.  

In a recent project, students learned to repair a small engine because the power hose was clogged with the wrong type of fuel:  "Mud!"  They experimented until they could understand what was wrong, and corrected the problem. They also observed how the manufacturer used color to code the buttons for the user!

In another project, students learned how to save the valuable parts of a broken bicycle to use for another time.

In a variety of ways, students in the "Pirate Pit Crew" learn about science, math, technology, engineering and art (STEAM) seamlessly.  In addition they learn the valuable skill of salvaging and re-using and/or recycling what others might pass off as 'trash'.
It is no wonder Mr. Bonadonna is such a popular STEAM teacher!