Did you know that learning science through art makes it interesting for those who may not be normally engaged by it?
Many creative-minded folks think they’re not good at science. The formulas and principles don’t click for them and they quickly grow bored with the material. But that’s not the only way to learn science.
Creative people thrive on a more hands-on approach. This is the magic behind arts-integrated education.
The Arts Academy in the Woods Approach
As it turns out, science and art are not all that different. They both require inquiry and questioning while emphasizing the importance of exploring, discovering, critical thinking, and inventing.
So it makes sense that art can be used to teach science. Arts Academy in the Woods utilizes arts-integrated education to help students understand the real-world application of science through the arts.
By integrating art into science, students understand the interrelatedness of everything they learn to gain scientific literacy. This may sound like a fancy term, but it’s merely the understanding of the impact science has on anything and everything – from history to philosophy, physical education to geography, and even the arts.
In a world that places a premium on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) topics, gaining scientific literacy is highly advantageous for young people preparing to go into the world.
So how might we achieve this at AAW? The following are a few ways.
1. Making Sense of the Science Behind Chemical Reactions
Many of the students at Arts Academy in the Woods use chemicals in their work. They may not necessarily think of them that way though. For example, they may use resin or epoxy when attempting to get a shiny finish for a piece or to cast objects.
Both epoxy and resin start in a liquid state. But they turn solid when a chemical hardener is added. When students take advantage of this chemical reaction, they can make interesting pieces.
While demonstrating chemical reactions, a teacher might have students pour resin into a mold and then place small objects into the mold. Once the student has the objects in place, they carefully mix equal parts of the resin with a chemical hardener to get just the right mixture so the resin will harden. Any bubbles that appear can be popped with a toothpick or smoothed out with a blow dryer – offering a potential lesson on how heat works in chemical reactions.
After 24 hours, the resin should be hard and the pieces ready to be removed from their molds. If it’s sticky after 48 hours, that means the resin didn’t properly cure. The student now has an opportunity to explore what happened in terms of the chemical reaction.
2. A Hands-On Understanding of Sound Waves
Students are good at making noise. But how much do they really understand noise and what it is? At Arts Academy in the Woods, we help students understand sound waves in a new way.
Using specialized software, they record themselves saying a sentence, singing a song, or playing an instrument. The software then shows them the one-of-a-kind sound waves they’ve created. They can then use that recording to create artwork that is more like portraiture through voice.
To drive home the point of just how unique each student’s voice is, they’re then instructed to say the same words and then look at how different the sound waves appear from one another. No matter how similar they may have sounded.
3. Combining Chemistry with Ceramics
Taking chemistry into the clay studio is another way science looks different at an arts-integrated school like Arts Academy in the Woods.
When clay goes from one state to another, it experiences a serious chemical change. To see this, students place both a bisque-fired piece of clay and a greenware piece of clay in water. They first observe how the greenware starts to dissolve. The piece that’s been fired does not.
From there, students are fully educated on the transformation of fired clay at different temperatures in the kiln and the terms that apply to these changes. For example, dehydration occurs at about 350 degrees C (662 degrees F). This is when the water that was part of the molecular structure disappears and the clay can no longer be reconstituted.
As things get hotter, organic and inorganic materials such as sulphates and carbon, begin to burn off. After full dehydration comes quartz inversion. This is when the quartz crystals rearrange themselves into a slightly different order. The piece will also slightly and temporarily increase in volume.
Finally, vitrification happens at the next level and shrinkage occurs as a result of fusion. Eventually there is hardening, tightening and then partial glassification of the clay. If the kiln is allowed to get hot enough, the clay will melt and cool as a glass.
Chemical reactions as artwork! They’re an everyday occurrence.
Learning Science Through Art Helps Students Engage
The above is just a sampling of the many ways students at AAW are learning science through art.
Curious about seeing for yourself how students can more easily comprehend science through art? Then contact us and request a tour of our school to see our middle school and high school students in action.
Arts Academy in the Woods offers the same quality education and curriculum, but in a way that speaks to students who see the world in a more visual way.