Einstein Comes Alive at NRC!

Recently a fascinating STEAM project was created at NRC/New Roberto Clemente School by art teacher Monica Aramayo.

While some NRC students were busy taking an assortment of mandated tests, Ms. Aramayo, who was teaching from an "art cart" for the duration of testing, and her art students created a startling, large-scale, collaborative work of STEAM art. She documented this process for WPU STEAM Art Professor in Residence, Triada Samaras.  
This new STEAM project now hangs near Assistant Principal Maria Francisco's office. Students engaged in creative art-making, math calculations, and science/history research to complete this innovative art project. (See image below.)

Ms. Aramayo's success demonstrates the ability of the WPU Dodge-funded NRC STEAM program to co-exist within a testing milieu, and to provide students with an educational experience, a creative challenge, and an emotional release during the stress of test-taking.

To begin this project, Ms. Aramayo taught her students the "grid method", an art-making method that allows any artist to create a large-scale work of art based on a much smaller scale image using a simple transfer method that relies on math.  Students learned this grid method is used by the well-known, contemporary American artist, Chuck Close.

Ms. Aramayo and her students found and printed an image of Einstein from the internet. Later they created a mathematical grid on top of the image, creating an 11 by 11 grid. Then, this piece of paper was cut into 121 smaller pieces, all the same size, and given to the students to work from.

On another day, Ms Aramayo and her students calculated a grid on much larger scale but proportional to the original grid. They determined the size of the squares of construction paper needed to fit each blank space of this grid. 

Above:  Ms. Monica Aramayo stands in front of the larger grid.

Next they cut blank construction paper into this same size. (See grid image above.) 
Ms Aramayo instructed students to replicate the main lines and composition of the smaller square they were given onto their new, larger blank squares, but she gave them the freedom to use any colors and patterns that they wished to complete their artwork.  The result was a total of 121 completed student squares in a wide variety of colors, patterns and textures. 

In the final installation process, Ms. Aramayo brought her art students to the site where the final piece would hang.  She instructed them to find the correct place for their square and to install it there, using a numerical system.  Students made a short, stop animation video of this exciting process. (See video below.)

The final image of Einstein at NRC is extraordinary and is inspiring teachers throughout this STEAM school to consider working in a similar way using their own content areas.  

King Tut Part Two

King Tut, or the sculpture that began as part of an ancient Egypt study at SOIT, has continued to develop as an increasingly sophisticated and complete work of art. 

As we blogged earlier (see this LINK) King Tut emerged as a student-centered STEAM art project after Mrs. Simon's STEAM students created two-dimensional works of art while studying ancient Egypt. This sculptural project and creative process have proceeded with minimal assistance from SOIT Art Teacher Marilyn Simon and STEAM Art PIR Triada Samaras.  

While Mrs. Simon has made some suggestions, and Ms. Samaras has participated with the students to work on King Tut at times, the sculpture is a testimony to the ability of high school students to conceive of and implement a large-scale collaborative STEAM work in the classroom on a low budget on their own.

This work has generated an enormous amount of classroom and school pride.  Many on-lookers have marveled as this sculpture has gotten closer to completion.


King Tut also caught the eye of Chief Educator, Michelle Harrell, at the North Carolina Art Museum and she provided these STEAM students with some resource materials from the museum having to do with ancient Egypt as a result.  (See LINK.)

Look for the completed version of King Tut in the near future!

Sustainable Village Ecosystem STEAM Projects at School 7

At School 7 over the past few months, Science Teacher Marla Arrington, Woodrow Willson Fellow and Student Teacher Sue Denardo, and WPU ART PIR Myra Winter co-created a sustainable ecosystem project that integrated science, engineering, art and math.

Ms. Arrington and Ms. Denardo jointly developed this STEAM project, integrating the ecology unit of their 7th grade science curriculum with town planning.  Working in groups of four, the students first brainstormed the requirements of  self-sustaining villages.  The students created blueprints of their sustainable villages. They then worked in groups of four building their village, using corrugated board, clay and balsa wood pieces.
 
Guest speaker Mr. Steven Winter, Director of Engineering at DVL Engineers, visited the students early on to share some of his expertise with them, and to guide them in their understanding of this creative/scientific problem.

The students discussed what to include in their village and how to present their findings.  Students had to consider all aspects of sustainability. For example, they had to determine what potable water sources - rain water cisterns, well water, river water, melting snow, reservoirs, and/or desalinized sea water - could be made available for their towns.
 

Students also came to understand that there had to be plans for water storage, water quality, and a water delivery system.  Such a system had to provide water for bathrooms, kitchens, clothes washing, and irrigation for gardens and farms.  Next, students had to conceive of and create water saving devices, waste disposal/decomposition systems, and storm water drainage systems. 

Students also had to consider that if their village was actually to be sustainable, then plans had to be made for garbage/solid waste disposal and recycling systems, as well as for sources of power, ideally clean energy with zero carbon emissions. 

 After each group's blueprint was completed, students had to plan what art materials to use to create their final project.  They considered the available materials and discussed the possibilities with their teachers and with Art PIR Winter.  Then, in groups of four, they built their eco-villages, using corrugated board, clay, balsa wood, and paint.  As they built from their original blueprint, students saw their abstract ideas become concrete models.


This STEAM project required students to engage in higher order thinking skills, to work collaboratively, and to integrate concepts learned in all core subjects.  In addition, they learned to use art materials to express and communicate complex ideas.
  

Egyptian Art Study at SOIT and Engineering King Tut

 Above image:  Art instructor Mrs. Marilyn Simon with a student from her STEAM class.

The latest STEAM project at SOIT is a study of ancient Egypt in two and three dimensions.  

 

For the first part of this comprehensive project, Mrs. Simon's art students read about ancient Egypt, focusing on ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Students learned that hieroglyphs emerged from the preliterate artistic traditions of Egypt.  These hieroglyphs, students read, were also called, "G/god's words", and "were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements.  Early hieroglyphs date back as far as 3,300 BCE, and continued to be used up until about 400 CE, when non-Christian temples were closed and their monumental use was no longer necessary."  Link

Students noted questions about their readings into their writing journals, and then researched these questions using the internet in the classroom. They paid close attention to the types of art prevalent in ancient Egypt noting, for examples, colors, lines, shapes, and forms common to that era.  Students learned the elements of art are present in artworks of every era.

Next, students began their projects using pencil on large white paper.  They created unique compositions including: their names written in hieroglyphs, their favorite items from ancient Egypt, a profile view of a person from that time and place, and hidden messages embedded in their art works written in hieroglyphs.  Subsequently, they added watercolor pencil and metallic marker effects to their projects.

Some of their artworks in progress are depicted here.  Many of the students embedded messages in these artworks using hieroglyphs.  They wrote words or phrases that are typical of contemporary high school students, but written in the ancient system, for example:

"Don't do drugs." 

"Life is art; Art is life." 

"I love cookies." 

"Not safe." 

"Hope."

"I hate dogs." 

"I love my friends." 

"Passion is life."

"Art is everything." 

"Shy."

After the two-dimensional projects were completed, the Art II class brainstormed together and decided to create a three-dimensional project, a sarcophagus of King Tut.  For this project, the students brainstormed solutions in groups before embarking on a common solution.  These students acted as engineers using their knowledge of science, mathematics, appropriate experience, or tacit knowledge to find suitable solutions to the sarcophagus problem. 

 

They learned engineering is the "application of mathematics, empirical evidence and scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to invent, innovate, design, build, maintain, research, and improve structures, machines, tools, systems, components, materials, and processes."  LINK

 

The Art II students came to appreciate that multiple reasonable solutions usually exist, so engineers must evaluate the different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best meets their requirements.  Engineers must consider multiple design choices and pick the best one.  Thus brainstorming took on a whole new meaning for these students.

Mrs. Simon's students began with a strong armature, or support beam. They then created cylinders from newspapers and tape to build up the work.  They planned for strength and paid special attention to weight.  They used spheres instead of cylinders to fill in and shape rounded areas.  

"Genrich Altshuller, after gathering statistics on a large number of patents, suggested that compromises are at the heart of "low level" engineering designs, while at a higher level the best design is one which eliminates the core contradiction causing the problem." LINK

Mrs. Simon’s students learned that engineers typically attempt to predict how well their designs will perform to their specifications prior to full-scale production. They use, for example, prototypes, scale models, simulations, destructive tests, nondestructive tests, and stress tests. Testing ensures that products will perform as expected. LINK

 

On a recent trip to North Carolina, WPU STEAM Art Professor in Residence Triada Samaras met Michelle H. Harrell, a former K-12 art teacher in Raleigh, NC, and now Chief Educator at the North Carolina Museum of Art.  Ms. Harrell has an on-going interest in STEAM and arts integration and was awed by the student art works on ancient Egypt being done by Ms. Simon's STEAM class.  Ms. Harrell provided some resources for Ms. Simon's STEAM students.  (See images below.)

Ms. Samaras and Ms. Harrell hope to create a collaborative STEAM project in the fall with Paterson STEAM students and the North Carolina Museum of Art.  As Ms. Harrell explained to Ms. Samaras, part of the mission of the museum is to invite interactions among diverse communities, and foster collaborative partnerships.
The North Carolina Museum of Art is publicly funded by the state of NC and offers free admission to the park and permanent collection.

More progress on King Tut coming to this blog soon!

7th Annual New Jersey PDS Conference Features STEAM Efforts

The 7th Annual New Jersey Professional Development Schools Conference held on June 2, 2016 at William Paterson University featured speaker Travis Allen, founder and president of iSchool Initiative.  Mr. Allen’s keynote speech, “Becoming a Lifelong Learner,” was thoroughly enjoyed by the gathering of WPU administrators and professors, and PDS principals and teachers.

 The keynote address was followed by three breakout sessions, two of which focused upon STEAM.  

 

Art PIR Simone Sandler and School 2 second grade teacher Belinda Casais McBride (pictured at left) jointly presented “STEAM on the Cheap: Lessons Using Repurposed Styrofoam.” Ms. Sandler’s and Ms. Casais McBride’s presentation presented projects that encourage and motivate students to ask thought-provoking questions and to work creatively to problem-solve.  On a practical note, these lessons can be done with inexpensive materials, such as the Styrofoam lunch trays that are thrown away every day.

Below Ms. Sander describes and demonstrates some of the lessons in which she and the School 2 teachers have engaged.

 Ms Casais McBride has been a member of School 2’s STEAM team since 2012, the first year of WPU’s Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation grant.  She recently completed her work a to obtain her M. Ed. and Principal’s Certificate through WPU’s USDOE Leaders as Learners Grant, and has stated that when she becomes a principal, her school will be a STEAM school.

Art PIR Triada Samaras, art teacher Monica Aramayo, and art teacher Wendy Roche presented “Using the PDS/PIR Model to Enhance Collaboration across Content Areas.”  This hands-on workshop demonstrated how the art of paper sculpture can be used to reinforce concepts and vocabulary, and increase student engagement and achievement.  Paper sculpture was used effectively at New Roberto Clemente Community Middle School during this school year.  A major work entitled ”Racimo” resulted from the collaborative efforts of Science, Math, Technology, ELA, ESL, and Art classes, and was displayed at the Paterson Museum Student Art Exhibition held during the month of March.

Raw material for the sculpture was collected as conference participants arrived for the morning session.  Below, Professor Samaras and art teachers Aramayo and Roche greet participants and request that they put their name and affiliation on a paper strip.  These strips were later used in the workshop.

 

 At left, participants plan how to produce the paper sculpture created using the paper strips.

 At right, Dr. JoAnn Cardillo, Superintendent of Passaic Valley Regional High School, enjoys her STEAM experience.

STEAM Art Project at GOPA: Math, Science, and Art

In Mr. Jones's art classes at GOPA, students have been studying both 2-D and 3-D painting on masks, incorporating aspects of mathematics with art.  Students began this intriguing project by creating their 3-D masks using wet, plaster bandages to wrap over the forms of original plastic face masks. They next attached these masks firmly to a background made out of chipboard. 

 

Next the students copied the facial features of their mask onto a piece of white paper.  Using geometry, they made sure that the proportions were the same as the original.  Next, Mr. Jones asked them to experiment with paint on this paper to determine how they wished to eventually paint their 3-D masks.  

Using the mathematical concepts of ratio and proportion, they mixed pigments using various proportions and combinations to find the colors they wanted to use on their final mask.

When they were ready, they applied paint in precisely the same manner to the plaster-bandaged masks.  They re-created their colors using the same proportions of pigments for each color as they had used previously on paper.

In addition, Mr. Jone's art students have been working in the medium of pottery. Their small pot study (pictured below) requires them to learn about science as well as art.  Students initially observe while dry clay from last year gets re-cycled and re-conditioned to become moist, usable clay.  All discarded clay, except that which comes into contact with plaster or other contaminants, is recyclable and reusable.

LINK

To make symmetrical clay pots, students use geometrical measurement to calculate how much clay belongs on both the right and left side, and the top and bottom of their vessel.  In addition they must calculate the opening and how wide it can be.  Later, In the firing process of the small clay pots, students learn more science as they come to understand the difference between low-fire and high-fire glazes, and the process by which the glaze melts in the heat of the kiln.  In addition, students learn that leaving even small air bubbles in their clay vessel will cause it to explode in the heat of the kiln.  Below Mr. Jones is pictured with some of his students' clay works.

Acrylic Paintings of Trees Create a Science/Art STEAM Project at CAHTS

In Ms. Reyes's classes at CAHTS, art students have been learning about trees and creating acrylic landscape paintings in a science/art STEAM project.  Students first researched on the Internet to find landscapes of trees they admired.  This research also involved learning about the types of tree in each landscape:  its natural habitat, its reproduction, its life cycle, and other important features.  For example students learned that one large tree can provide an oxygen supply for two people.  Students were impressed to learn the net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.  LINK

Next students sketched their landscapes onto white paper using pencil.  Their drawing skills have been increasing all year with Ms. Reyes' instruction.

Later students learned how to mix and match colors with acrylic paints.  Previously they had learned how to create a color wheel and color charts in Ms. Reyes' class.  This color theory knowledge gave them the skills to create the acrylic colors for their landscape paintings that they wished.  

Color theory is a science, as colors not only have different hues, but also different tints and tones.  For students to find a particular green, for example, they must consider the hue, lightness or darkness and the color intensity of the green they desire. Each type of paint pigment handles differently.  LINK
Ms. Reyes introduced an acrylic retardant to the class and students experimented with this medium to delay the drying times of the paint.  

Next students investigated more deeply into the types of trees in their landscapes. Again, they used the Internet.  From their notes, students created a research paper for this project, using their new knowledge about trees to inform this paper. Eventually, students will display their finished paintings and papers in a glass display case at CAHTS.