Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Arts for Academic Achievment: Observational Drawing
I came across this video, and it gives an interesting picture of a teacher who incorporates drawing in her biology class. The students were able to gather specimens from field trips to the stream, and as the students observed them in the lab, they drew in depth pictures. An art teacher was brought in to help show students how to draw in more detail, and to show students how to pick up on small details. One of the things that I found most interesting is the way that drawing enhanced the way that the kids were thinking about the subject. This teacher found a way to engage children, and she stated that kids didn't need a specific amount of drawings for a certain grade. This is a part that I liked best about the video, and although the students didn't have a specific amount of pictures to draw, the ones that were drawn were very detailed.
After watching this video, what do you think about the teacher and her way of introducing art into the classroom? Do you think that this is something you can see yourself doing? Lastly, what other things would you try to do in order to get the kids involved in a similar manner?
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I think it's great. It really shows how you can easily incorporate art into other subject areas and make subjects more interesting for children. Not all children understand biology by reading text books and listening to explanations from teachers. This is a great way to help children understand biology, and it's helpful for those children who may not find biology as their strong subject and/or find art to be an area of greater strength. In addition, drawing helps children to see things from a different perspective than they might from simply reading and taking a test on the material. Since this is more of a hands on activity, it will help the concepts to stick with the children. I can definitely see myself doing this. Any activity that is hands on and activity oriented is a great way to get kids involved in the subject matter. Kids like activities and the material is retained better.
ReplyDeleteI think this is great! Most kids like art, but hate science. It is a cool concept to "trick" them into having fun in science! They can now retain the information because they were able to apply it. I would love to do stuff like this- I am myself a science nerd, yet lack artsy skills.
ReplyDeleteI think that this video was great. It showed how a teacher easily, without much effort, integrated art into her classroom, and the students really seemed to benefit from it.
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoyed the students perspectives on how drawing enhanced their learning biology. They said that it made it more interesting, more fun, because it allowed them to be creative and was not something that they did very often.
This is a perfect example of what all of us can do when we are teachers, to help our students further their excitement about learning.
I also really think this is an excellent concept. Bringing art into the biology classroom helps the subject come alive for students. They are able to explore and pay attention to detail at a deeper level. Students who enjoy biology will benefit by looking deeper into the details of the micro-organisms, while students who are more drawn towards art will hopefully become more interested in biology while they observe the complexities of the sample. It truly brings a "hands on" element into the classroom, which will engage more students in science. The students stated that they got to "experience" what scientists do and that it "connected them to what they were learning." By bringing in an artist, it helped the micro-organisms become real and more tangible for the students. This is a very cool concept I hope to use in the future.
ReplyDeleteI loved this video, because it shows how teachers can incorporate the arts into any subject. Students are so responsive to art, music, etc. and they are hardly ever used in concert with what some consider the "more academic" subjects.
ReplyDeleteSomething that really struck me was that the Biology teacher brought in an Art teacher to help her incorporate drawing into the classroom. This shows us that even though we as teachers may feel more comfortable teaching certain subjects than others, we should make an attempt to incorporate all kinds of different learning experiences for our students, even if it means asking for help from another teacher. I think I will definitely do things like this is my future classroom. Each teacher comes with his or her own strengths, just like students do, and if I can find teachers who are willing to help me out with subjects that I feel uncomfortable with, I know I can help them out with the subjects that I love and feel confident in. By collaborating with other teachers, students get the best of both worlds, and are able to take part in a variety of learning experiences.
I think what the teacher is doing in the classroom is a great idea. Incorporating art can give students more confidence and help them understand the subject matter more deeply. I also like how each student had a science notebook. In my Integrating Science and Math class my teacher went over the importance of a science notebook and I think it is a really great idea. It gives the student freedom to write down what they see and do and know that they have this book as a resource. I believe the teacher, in this clip, is onto something really great.
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