Critical_Thinking Creative_Problem_Solving Effective_Communicating

CHAPTER 12
Strategies for Incorporating the Arts and Kinesthetic Movement

What Is It?

On February 2, 2016, John Maeda, the former president of the Rhode Island School of Design, gave a speech at the fifth annual Governor Victor Atiyeh Leadership for Education Awards. The speech told his story of leading the national movement to integrate the arts into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) so it would read STEAM (Concordia University, 2016).

Maeda's message is that the arts teach students to design creatively, which leads to innovation (Gunn, 2017). Incorporating the arts into science means there is purposeful integration of “humanities, language arts, dance, drama, music, visual arts, design and new media” (Wade-Leeuwen, Vovers, & Silk, 2018). Kinesthetic movement is not simply students moving but is “the use of creative movement in the classroom to teach across the curriculum” (Griss, 2013).

Why We Like It

Art and kinesthetic strategies can be an effective way to engage students who have a passion for dance, music, drawing, and sports. In our experience, students have a deeper understanding of new content why we incorporate the arts and kinesthetic activities into our teaching.

Supporting Research

Research has found that arts-integration strategies can lead to increases in science achievement along with the other content areas (Ludwig, Boyle, & Lindsay, 2017, p. 43). Incorporating the arts in content instruction can also have positive impacts on student attitudes, critical thinking, and social-emotional learning (Ludwig et al., 2017, p. 43).

Studies show that using arts-integrated lessons to aid in teaching science can increase student long-term retention of content, especially for students who are at basic reading levels (Hardiman, JohnBull, Carran, & Shelton, 2019, p. 30).

There are also numerous studies showing how kinesthetic learning increases motivation and retention for students (Lai, Luong, & Young, 2015, p. 49; Novak, 2017, p.125).

Skills for Intentional Scholars/NGSS Connections

All of the Skills for Intentional Scholars are being practiced when using arts-integration and kinesthetic strategies. Students can think critically and use problem-solving skills when transferring knowledge into an art form or utilizing movement while learning content. They also can improve communication skills by using arts and movement to express new knowledge.

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) incorporate eight Science and Engineering Practices, one of which is Developing and Using Models. They define models as, “diagrams, drawings, physical replicas, mathematical representations, analogies, and computer simulations” (National Science Teaching Association [NSTA], 2014). Many of the lesson plan ideas we share in this chapter incorporate diagrams, drawings, and/or physical replicas.

Application

We've shared ideas throughout this book that incorporate the arts and kinesthetic movement. See Table 12.1: Where to Find STEAM and Kinesthetic Lesson Ideas in Other Chapters for a quick reference of where to find these lessons.

This chapter will provide additional specific lesson plan examples that incorporate the arts as they are defined by Wade-Leeuwen, et al. (2018): humanities, language arts, dance/music, drama, visual arts, design, and new media. We will also include lesson plans that purposefully get students moving out of their seats. The lesson plans target middle school classrooms; however, we provide ideas for modifying each plan for elementary and high school students. See the Technology Connections section for specific STEAM resources, such as how to become a STEAM certified teacher.

Table 12.1 Where to Find STEAM and Kinesthetic Lesson Ideas in Other Chapters

Chapter Lesson ideas
Chapter 1: Strategies for Teaching Lab Safety Visual Arts: Draw a cartoon and create a poster
Digital and New Media: Produce a video
Drama: Write and act a skit
Chapter 3: Strategies for Teaching the Scientific Method and its Components Digital and New Media: Publish a blog, Prezi, Google Slides, or PowerPoint presentation
Chapter 5: Strategies for Using Project-Based Learning Digital and New Media: Create a press kit, Animoto slideshow, PowerPoint, Prezi, or Google Slides Presentation
Drama: Create and share a public service announcement video or a skit
Chapter 6: Strategies for Teaching the Engineering Process Humanities: Share historical stories of inspiring scientists
Kinesthetic Movement: Make a mousetrap catapult, drop an egg from a significant height, and mail a potato chip without it breaking
Chapter 7: Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary Linguistics: Teach prefixes and suffixes
Chapter 8: Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Visual arts: Create cause-and-effect graphic organizers, concept maps, and chalk drawings
Kinesthetic Movement:4×4 reading strategy
Chapter 9: Strategies for Teaching Writing Visual arts: Create a comic strip public service announcement
Chapter 10: Strategies for Discussions Humanities: Debate scientific topics
Kinesthetic Movement: Four corners activity
Chapter 11: Strategies for Teaching Math Kinesthetic Movement: Measure objects
Chapter 16: Strategies for Reviewing Content Kinesthetic Movement: Play Quizlet or the Box Game
Chapter 17: Strategies for Assessing Student Learning Visual arts: Create models
Chapter 18: Strategies for Co-teaching Kinesthetic Movement: Create the tallest structure and use Station Teaching

HUMANITIES

Here we share a lesson plan that integrates history with the engineering process, which is discussed in Chapter 6: Strategies for Teaching the Engineering Process.

We first teach the engineering process and have students complete a simple engineering challenge. Then, they complete the lesson in Figure 12.1: Engineering Process: A Case Study in Inventions.

We provide each student with a copy of Figure 12.1 because students work on their case studies individually; however, we do allow students who require extra support to pair up with a peer.

We introduce the lesson by reading the directions aloud: “The engineering process became a systemic approach to design in the 1970s.” We then stop reading and tell the story of Filippo Brunelleschi, the designer of a cathedral in Florence, Italy, around the year 1420. The story we tell comes from an article entitled, “An Extremely Abbreviated History of Engineering Design” (Salustri, 2003). We also show an easily available online image of him.

Our story begins,

It was around the year 1420 and one notable architect in Italy was Filippo Brunelleschi. He had been hired to design and build a dome for the Florence Cathedral. Prior to this time, architects would begin building without a lot of planning. If their design started to fail and they couldn't fix the flaws, they would destroy what they had built and then begin building all over again. Architects weren't known for being creative and rarely tried anything new to avoid this waste of time, materials, and money.

Brunelleschi wasn't all that worried about the waste of time, materials, and money, but he was worried about something else. Can anyone guess what he would be nervous about?

We allow students to share their guesses and then we continue.

He was worried that other architects would steal his ideas, so he put a lot of effort into brainstorming different ideas. He kept a journal that contained sketches and mathematical calculations. He kept the journal very well guarded.

As he sketched and planned, he realized that some of his ideas wouldn't be successful so he brainstormed more designs. Once he decided on what he thought was the best design, Brunelleschi encountered a problem. If he gave his design to a construction crew, they would know all of his design secrets. So what did he do to solve this problem? What do you think?

We allow students to share their guesses and then we continue.

He drew sketches that included only parts of the dome and sent each of the sketches to a different construction crew. These crews built the individual parts without knowing they were constructing a dome.

When all of the parts arrived in Florence, Brunelleschi hired a small crew of men who promised to keep his design a secret. They worked to put all of the dome's individual parts together to construct one full dome. They did encounter a few minor design issues that Brunelleschi had to solve, but ultimately the dome was complete and, 600 years later, is still standing in Florence, Italy.

At this point, we show a picture of the Florence Cathedral. The photo can be found online using these search words: “filippo brunelleschi florence cathedral image.”

We explain that Filippo Brunelleschi had unknowingly been the first person (that history remembers—there may very well have been others) to plan and document the construction of a building, which would eventually become the foundation for the engineering process. We then put the steps of today's engineering process on the board and ask students to identify which steps he used. Here are the steps for the current engineering process:

  1. Ask a question.
  2. Perform research.
  3. Brainstorm solutions.
  4. Choose one solution.
  5. Build a prototype.
  6. Test the prototype.
  7. Reflect on the results and redesign.
  8. Communicate results.
  9. Begin again with step 1.

If students struggle to identify all of the steps that Brunelleschi used, we go through each step individually and ask guiding questions. For example, we point to Step 1 and ask students, “What question did Brunelleschi ask?” We allow students time to think and answer that his question was “How do I design a new dome for the Florence Cathedral?” By the end of this exercise, students will have identified that Brunelleschi used all of the steps to build the dome except for Step 9: Begin Again with Step 1. However, when he designed future projects, he certainly incorporated his learning from the dome project, meaning that he ultimately used Step 9: Begin Again with Step 1. Here is how he used those first eight steps:

  1. Ask a question—“How do I design a new dome for the Florence Cathedral?”
  2. Perform research—Brunelleschi knew of previously designed domes.
  3. Brainstorm solutions—in his journal, he kept sketches of possible designs.
  4. Choose one solution—he eliminated some of his ideas and ultimately chose one.
  5. Build a prototype—this was the dome.
  6. Test the prototype—while putting together the individual pieces, the dome had issues and failed the test.
  7. Reflect on the results and redesign—Brunelleschi had to solve the issues that were identified in Step 6.
  8. Communicate results—we can assume the Church celebrated that they finally had a roof.

We continue reading the directions in Figure 12.1: “In order to apply your new knowledge of the engineering process, you will choose an invention that was created after 1870.” We explain that we prefer inventions post-1870 because there is sufficient documentation available for them to research. Additionally, we want them to choose an invention that was created prior to 1970 because this is when the engineering process was introduced to most engineering degree programs and became a standard in engineering practices (Mathes, 2017). Therefore, these earlier inventions are more likely to have been designed using only parts of the engineering process, which makes for a richer learning experience. In other words, it is more likely that they might find that a step was missed along the way.

We continue to read the directions and review the checklist with students. They then perform research using library books, the Internet, or phone interviews. See Chapter 3: Strategies for Teaching the Scientific Method and Its Components for resources that help students to research effectively.

We allow students to choose the media they will use to present their research. Their options are included in Figure 12.1. One option includes building a website. See the Technology Connections section for several website-making tools for students.

Here are options for modifying this assignment for elementary school students:

  1. Provide a list of vetted inventions that have plenty of information online or in the school library. Students choose from the list. We've found these are the easiest to research:
    1. Airplane
    2. Microwave
    3. Gas-powered car
    4. Telephone
    5. Wireless phone
    6. Radio
    7. Handheld camera
  2. Allow students to work in pairs (see Chapter 2: Strategies for Teaching Lab Procedures for ideas of how to effectively pair students).
  3. Remove the requirement of how the invention's improvement followed the engineering process.

Here are options for modifying this assignment for high school students:

  1. Require text evidence and a bibliography.
  2. Require the history of the patent including the patent number, year, and a copy of the submitted diagram.
  3. Require that students propose an improvement to the current design and that they include a diagram of what the new design would look like and how it would be different.

Additional science lesson ideas that incorporate the humanities include:

  • Studying human evolution by learning about fossils and archeology. Many archeological lesson plans are available online, including from the Archaeological Institute of America (Archaeological Institute of America, n.d.).
  • Reading excerpts from well-known novels such as Silent Spring (Carson, 1962), On the Origin of Species (Darwin, 1859), or A Brief History of Time (Hawking, 1988) and then discussing their impact on society today.
  • Researching the work of James Hannam, who has a PhD in the history and philosophy of science. His work focuses on the collaboration of scientists and religious leaders to achieve a common goal: to explain the unknown.

LANGUAGE ARTS—POETRY

We enjoy adding poetry to our lesson plans. Our favorite poet is Shel Silverstein, who authored Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) and A Light in the Attic (1981). Prior to Silverstein's death in 1999, he recorded himself reading his poems in Where the Sidewalk Ends, which is available online and on CD.

The following activity uses Silverstein's poem entitled, “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” (Silverstein, 1974). Although we don't describe the entire lesson plan here, this portion can be used to launch several different types of activities—depending on the grade level.

In elementary and middle school, we use the poem to introduce a lesson that teaches the NGSS's disciplinary core idea of ESS3.C (Earth and Space Science): Human Impacts on Earth Systems. The focus in elementary school is on what happens to garbage after it leaves our houses, and in middle school we use this to introduce the difference between decomposition, incineration, composting, and recycling. In high school, this activity is used as a hook to introduce the laws of conservation of matter and mass at the macro level so students can more easily understand what occurs at the atomic level, which is the NGSS of HS-PS1: Matter and its Interactions.

We put the poem under the document camera so students can follow along as we play the CD twice (of course, teachers could read it themselves, instead). As students listen to Silverstein dramatically read his humorous poem, they are instructed to write down the items in Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout's garbage can. Students then share their lists with their learning partners who write down any of the items they were missing.

Students are next instructed to brainstorm with their learning partner the answer to this question: “If Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout had indeed taken the garbage out, where would it have gone and what would have happened to it when it reached its destination?” Students document their answer by drawing a sketch, which may include any of the following ideas, depending on the students' background knowledge about garbage:

  • dumped in a landfill
  • sent to a recycling plant
  • incinerated
  • dumped in the ocean
  • deposited in a composting pile

When teaching elementary students, we then launch into a lesson about the purpose of landfills and how they negatively affect the environment when they release gas and leach into the soil and groundwater. We next teach a lesson about composting to make garden fertilizer as an alternative to landfills. After that lesson is complete (usually a day or two later, depending on the specific plan), we ask students to pull out the list of items that were in Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout's garbage can and circle all of the compostable items. For example, they would circle the bananas, peas, and potato peelings, but they would not circle the cottage cheese because it's a dairy product, which attracts pests that will eat the fertilized garden.

When teaching middle school students, we use their sketches as a pre-test to determine what students know and don't know about decomposition, incineration, composting, and recycling. We use this information to plan our Human Impacts on Earth Systems unit because it teaches students the positive and negative effects of garbage decomposing in landfills, burning in incinerators, composting for fertilizer, and recycling.

High school students who are about to learn the law of conservation of mass or the law of conservation of matter are asked to use their sketches to indicate what happens to the garbage after it reaches its final destination. Here are some options for their answers:

  • At a recycling plant—the garbage is broken down and reused.
  • In a landfill—the garbage decomposes, releasing leachate and methane.
  • At a composting plant—made into fertilizer for agriculture.
  • Is incinerated—becomes ash and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrous oxides.

If students struggle to determine what happens to the garbage, we pair them up with another group who sketched the same destination so they can work through the problem together. We aren't too concerned that they know exactly what happens to the garbage, but we do want them to realize it's being changed into something else: Garbage doesn't stay garbage forever.

We then ask the class, “Clearly garbage doesn't simply disappear just because it leaves your house. Will it stay garbage forever? Why or why not?” We provide students the opportunity to brainstorm with their learning partners and then ask some to share with the class. As students explain that garbage is stored or changed, we introduce the laws of conservation of mass or matter, depending on what we are teaching. We explain that garbage being recycled, composted, burned, or decomposed are macro examples of the law. This law is also obeyed at the atomic level.

At some point in the unit, we can return to the poem and ask students to pull out their list of items that were in Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout's garbage can. We explain to them that carbon is included in all food and ask the class to circle any items they listed in Sarah's garbage can that contained carbon. Then we ask, “If that food was eaten, where would the carbon have gone?” Students should be able to explain that it was used by the body and/or excreted as waste: The carbon doesn't just disappear. The amount of carbon in the food that was eaten equals the amount of carbon that was received by the body after digestion because of the law of conservation of mass. The law states that the products must equal the reactants.

Additional science lesson ideas that incorporate poetry include:

  • Reading and discussing poems about specific content, such as J. Patrick Lewis's Chromosome Poem, Said the Little Stone, and The Loneliest Creature (Robb & Lewis, 2007).
  • Writing haiku or tanka poems about the specific content students are studying.
  • Analyzing the accuracy of historical poems, such as An Anatomy of the World, written in 1611 by John Donne, Sonnet—To Science by Edgar Allan Poe in 1829, and The Horrid Voice of Science by Vachel Lindsay in 1919.

DANCE/MUSIC

This lesson plan can incorporate dance, music, and design and new media. The basic idea is that students first learn a new concept and then “show off” their learning by writing a song about the concept.

In our example, we first teach about the life cycles of stars, how scientists measure distances in space, and the layers of the sun. Students are then divided into groups of three. See Chapter 2: Strategies for Teaching Lab Procedures for ideas on creating student groups.

Each group is provided with a copy of Figure 12.2: Rewriting a Song, which instructs them to rewrite the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We focus specifically on this song for two reasons. First, the chorus has many incorrect statements. After teaching about stars, we ask students to identify the errors in the song, which are:

  • Stars don't twinkle.
  • Stars aren't diamonds.
  • Stars aren't little.
  • We don't “wonder” about them as much as we did when the song was written because we've learned a lot about stars since 1806, the year the song was probably composed.
  • Stars aren't located solely above our location on Earth.

The second reason we focus on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is because it is a universally known tune, so there is a very high chance that every student will have some familiarity with it. The same melody is used to sing a version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in China, the Philippines, most English-speaking countries, and in some nations where Arabic is the primary language. Germany and the Netherlands also use the melody in a popular Christmas carol (Doggart, 2011). Several years ago, we had a student from Japan who didn't speak English. As we were singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the class, without prompting, she stood and sang the song with us in Japanese. It was the first time she spoke in class voluntarily and the students erupted in applause when she was done. That moment offered a special connection among her, the other students, and us.

Each member of the group is responsible for writing his/her own stanza, but they work on them together so that all the lines complement each other as a full song when the assignment is complete. We provide the groups with a list of concepts that must be covered in each stanza. As an example, in the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star lesson, we put students in groups of three and instruct them to write about these three concepts in their stanzas (one person in each group chooses a different concept):

  1. Layers of the sun
  2. Life cycle of the sun
  3. Light years and astronomical units

As students are working on their stanzas, we walk around the room to keep students on task and help anyone who hits a roadblock. Many students want their lines to rhyme but we remind them that this is not a requirement of the assignment.

We also give groups the choice of how they will perform their new songs. In Figure 12.2: Rewriting a Song, we list the options given to students for the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star lesson. They can create:

  • a music video
  • a live presentation with vocals and/or instruments
  • a pre-recorded presentation with vocals and/or instruments
  • an interpretative dance that is performed while someone dramatically reads the song lyrics

See the Technology Connections section for applications students can use to make music videos or record a performance at home.

Figure 12.2: Rewriting a Song also includes the scoring guide we use to grade the groups' performances. See Figure 12.3: Example of the First Rewritten Stanza for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for an example of what the first stanza may look like.

With modifications, this lesson can be applied to many other songs. An online search of “science songs” can provide a good start for other ones to use.

Additional science lesson ideas that incorporate music include:

  • students creating parodies. For example, they can choose their favorite song and rewrite the lyrics to reflect a science concept and perform their creation.
  • watching parodies others have created that are available online, such as AsapScience's parodies. Our favorites are their parody of Star Wars entitled, “Science Wars”; Dua Lipa's “New Rules” titled, “Lab Rules”; and Taylor Swift's “Style” titled, “Science STYLE Cover.”
  • changing a common children's song, such as Humpty Dumpty, into a parody and then creating a dance that accompanies the new lyrics.

DRAMA

This lesson plan incorporates drama into the science classroom.

We love to tell students stories and students enjoy hearing them. But sometimes the story is so long or complicated that students would become bored if we told it. To simplify a story and make it more engaging, we break it into parts. Each part is then assigned to a small group. In this lesson, we have eight “parts,” so there are eight groups with four or five students in each one.

The purpose of this lesson is to teach students the story of how scientists' discoveries over several centuries contributed to the cell theory and germ theory. We begin by listing all of the scientists who will be the focus of student learning. Here are the scientists we chose, including each person's contribution:

  • Hippocrates—believed incorrectly that bad air made people sick.
  • Athanasius Kircher—blamed the bubonic plague on microorganisms he saw in a microscope.
  • Robert Hooke—credited with inventing the microscope and coining the term cell, after seeing cells in a piece of cork.
  • Francesco Redi—disproved the belief of spontaneous generation.
  • Anton van Leeuwenhoek—improved the microscope and was the first to document microbes.
  • Marcus Antonius Plenciz—theorized without proof that specific “seeds in the air” (today these “seeds” are known as microbes) cause specific illnesses.
  • Matthias Schleiden—concluded that all plants are made up of cells.
  • Theodor Schwann—concluded that all animals are made up of cells.
  • Karl von Siebold—concluded that all microbes are made up of one cell.
  • Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis—a doctor who, when he washed his hands, had a lower death rate.
  • Rudolf Carl Virchow—discovered that cells come from other cells.
  • Louis Pasteur—identified microbes as the cause of milk spoiling and that these microbes could be killed if the milk was heated to a minimum temperature.
  • Florence Nightingale—improved sanitary conditions in military hospitals.
  • Joseph Lister—used chemicals to kill microbes.
  • Robert Koch—proved that specific microbes cause specific illnesses.
  • William Stewart Halsted—a doctor who used rubber gloves.

We group the scientists into pairs, which creates eight groups. They are paired together based on the year of their contributions; the two earliest years are paired together, then the next two years are paired together, and so on.

Each pair of scientists is then assigned to a group of students. We've found that younger students usually need help dividing the work among them, so we visit each group individually to model how a division of labor can be accomplished. Older students are more likely to have the social skills to divide the labor among themselves as long as we provide whole class instruction for a suggested process. With student groups of four, we suggest that two students work together to research one scientist. If there are five students in a group, then two students can research one scientist and the remaining three students can research the other scientist. By pairing students in this fashion, they are receiving support from a peer “buddy,” which is especially useful for students who have learning challenges or who are English language learners.

For this lesson plan, the groups research the following questions for their assigned scientists:

  1. What time period was it? When did your scientist make their contribution? What important dates pertain to your scientist?
  2. What important discovery did your scientist make?
  3. What process did your scientist go through to make his/her contribution? How did they make their discovery? What proof (if any) did they provide to prove their contribution was valid?
  4. How accurate was your scientist? What was the response from the rest of the scientific field (did people believe him/her or not)?
  5. How did your scientist's contribution advance the cell and/or germ theory?

See Chapter 3: Strategies for Teaching the Scientific Method and Its Components for resources to help students effectively perform research.

After students complete their research, they are instructed to create a skit they will perform in front of the class to teach their peers about their scientists. We provide a copy of Figure 12.4: Rubric for Cell and Germ Theories Skit to each group so they know grading expectations for the assignment. We have many of the props students may need for their skit, such as flasks and petri dishes, so the day before their performance, we ask each group to write their desired props on an index card and turn it in. This assignment gives us ample time to collect the props from our supply room, other teachers' supply rooms, the drama teacher, the cafeteria, and from anyone else on campus who may be able to donate.

On the day of the performances, each student receives a copy of Figure 12.5: Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories. As students are watching the other groups' performances, they complete the timeline. At the end of the lesson, we display the answer key on the board, which we've provided in Figure 12.6: Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories–Answer Key. In addition to ensuring that students have captured the correct information on their timelines, this also provides an opportunity for students to practice their critical thinking skills. They analyze their timelines to discern differences between their versions and ours. They then update their timelines for accuracy. This activity can easily be differentiated for students with learning challenges. We provide these students with a hard copy of the answer key. Some students' challenges make it difficult for them to copy from the board so they use the hard copy to analyze and improve their timelines and we collect the answer key from them when they are done. Other students benefit from keeping the answer key as an attachment to their timeline.

See Table 12.2: Ideas for Telling Stories Through Skits for specific stories that can be told in each of the NGSS disciplines. Each story will take some research and preparation by teachers, but after the initial preparation, it can be used for many years with minor adjustments. The steps to create and execute these lessons are:

  1. Determine which scientists could be included in the story and identify each of their contributions. Create a list like the one above that shows those involved with Cell and Germ Theories.
  2. Determine the number of student groups you want. Then we typically group scientists into pairs based on the dates of their scientific contributions. For example, above we wanted 8 student groups, so we paired the 16 scientists.
  3. Group students and assign each group the scientists they will be researching.
  4. Provide student groups with these questions to guide their research:
    1. What time period was it? When did your scientists make their contributions? What important dates pertain to your scientists?
    2. What important discoveries did your scientists make?
    3. What process did your scientists go through to make their contributions? How did they make their discoveries? What proof (if any) did they provide to prove their contributions were valid?
    4. How accurate were your scientists? What was the response from the rest of the scientific community (did people believe them or not)?
    5. How did your scientists' contributions advance … (insert the specific idea they are learning about here)?
  5. Use Figure 12.4: Rubric for Cell and Germ Theories Skit to assist students in planning their skits. This rubric is general and can be used for any concept by just changing the title of it. Go over the rubric with the student groups and give them two to three 50-min class periods to prepare their skits. Have them list any props they require on an index card and collect them from storage rooms, the theater room, cafeteria, and anyone else who is willing to donate.
  6. On performance day, provide students with copies of a timeline graphic organizer. See Figure 12.5: Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories for an example. Students should fill in their graphic organizers while groups are performing.
  7. Once all groups have performed, display a timeline answer key for the class to be sure all students have them filled out correctly.

In addition to the ideas in Table 12.2, the NGSS suggest the teaching of specific scientists. While teaching these historically significant scientists, we intentionally identify a female scientist or scientist of color that can also be incorporated into the lesson. This strategy is an example of culturally responsive teaching, which is discussed further in Chapter 14: Strategies for Cultural Responsiveness. Table 12.3 couples the NGSS's suggested scientists with women scientists and scientists of color who made important contributions in the same areas and can be easily integrated into lessons.

This lesson is naturally differentiated for elementary and high school students by its content.

Table 12.2 Ideas for Telling Stories Through Skits

NGSS discipline Story to be told through skits
Earth Sciences History and current effects of climate change
Earth Sciences Chicxulub lands on Earth, alters the Earth's surface and climate, which ultimately kills the dinosaurs
Physical Sciences Evidence of plate tectonics, beginning with Alfred Wegener and ending with satellite images from the late twentieth century
Physical Sciences Discoveries of fission and fusion and how they lead to the invention of the atomic and nuclear bombs
Life Sciences How cadavers have been used throughout the history of the United States
Life Sciences Evidence of evolution and survival of the fittest, including Darwin, fossil record, embryology, and DNA
Technology, Engineering, and Applications of Science Causes of the Chernobyl explosion, focusing on the differences between the designs of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and other nuclear power plants around the world
Technology, Engineering, and Applications of Science How fishing technology has evolved, causing overfishing in today's lakes and oceans

Table 12.3 NGSS Scientists Paired with Women Scientists and Scientists of Color

NGSS scientist and contribution Women scientists and scientists of color
Nicolaus Copernicus—proved heliocentrism and studied planetary movement A list of women in planetary science, including Natalie Batalha, can be found at https://womeninplanetaryscience.wordpress.com/profiles
Maria Cunitz, who furthered Kepler's work to determine a planet's location as a function of time
Isaac Newton—established Newtonian Mechanics A list of Black physicists, including John McNeile Hunter, can be found at http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/physics-peeps.html
Charles Lyell—developed the Doctrine of Uniformity Adriana Ocampo, NASA's leading geologist, studies new impact craters on Earth and other celestial bodies
Carol Gardipe, a geologist who maps and studies geography and natural resources
John Dalton and Antoine Lavoisier—proposed that all matter is made up of atoms Maria Goeppert Mayer, a physicist who identified the structure of the atomic nucleus
Charles Darwin—used evidence to establish the theory of evolution Nancy A. Moran, an evolutionary biologist who studies the mutualistic relationships between insects and bacterial species
Louis Pasteur—discovered that heating milk kills its microbes Florence Nightingale, a nurse who established sanitary procedures and increased the survival rates of soldiers
James Watson and Francis Crick—discovered that DNA is a double helix Rosalind Franklin, whose X-ray data inspired Watson and Crick's discovery

VISUAL ARTS

A popular lesson plan in physics classrooms instructs students to use their learning of simple machines to build a Rube Goldberg machine. The six simple machines included in a Rube Goldberg machine are:

  1. lever
  2. pulley
  3. inclined plane
  4. screw
  5. wheel and axle
  6. wedge

The purpose of a Rube Goldberg machine is to use a chain reaction of the six simple machines to accomplish a simple physical task, such as opening window blinds, popping a balloon, starting the microwave, or closing a door.

We share our Rube Goldberg lesson plan here and provide additional online resources in the Technology Connections section.

Rube Goldberg machines are notorious for being silly and fun. To emphasize this, we encourage students to choose a personal interest, such as their favorite song, sport, or hobby, as a theme for their machine. Elementary and middle school students incorporate the visual arts into their machine by drawing a cartoon that depicts how their machine works.

The NGSS of 5-PS2–1 for fifth grade includes the requirement that students know that “gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects” (NGSS, 2013h, MS-PS2). When we use this lesson plan for elementary students, we emphasize the simple machines that depend on gravity: level, pulley, and inclined plane. In middle and high school, all six simple machines must be included. The Rube Goldberg machine lesson is done after we have taught students about the simple machines.

We begin the lesson by showing them a video of a Rube Goldberg machine in motion. See the Technology Connections section for video resources. Prior to viewing the video, we tell students that after the video is complete we will ask them, “What was the purpose of building the machine?” After the video, we discuss how much work went into creating a machine to perform such a simple task. We then show them a second video and tell them that after the video is complete we will ask, “Which of the six simple machines were included in the machine?” After the video, students share which simple machines they did (or did not) see.

Students are then paired with a learning partner. Each pair receives a copy of Figure 12.7: Directions and Scoring Guide for Rube Goldberg Cartoon. We read the directions as a class and answer student questions.

Students work with their partners to draw the six simple machines. We walk around to check for understanding. Then, students complete the Brainstorming section of Figure 12.7.

When students are done with the Brainstorming section, each pair is given a blank sheet of paper. We show the class one example of a cartoon, which can easily be found through an Internet search using the terms “Rube Goldberg cartoon images.” We only show one cartoon because we want students to develop their own ideas. Student pairs are instructed to work together: (1) to sketch the Rube Goldberg machine, labeling each of the simple machines; and (2) to write an explanation of what is happening from one machine to the next.

The NGSS of HS-PS3–3 for high school requires students to “Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.” The “clarification statement” for this standard specifically mentions Rube Goldberg machines as an example (NGSS, 2013i). Taking this point into account, we require high school students to include how energy is changing form when they write their explanation of what is occurring at each simple machine on their diagram. For example, they would explain that mechanical energy is changed to sound energy when a ball hits a wall and produces the sound of “thud,” and how electrical energy is changed into heat energy when a lightbulb is lit.

We challenge our high school students (and some in middle school) to build their machines. After drawing their sketches and writing their explanations, they use recycled materials to build them. To obtain all of the necessary materials students need, we ask our administration to send an email to the community asking for donations of recycled materials, nails, screws, plywood, toilet paper/paper towel rolls, cardboard, aluminum foil, etc. We then ask our friends and family to borrow their hammers and screwdrivers. Marbles can be expensive. Instead, we've used golf balls donated from local courses. For an example of an eighth grade student's constructed Rube Goldberg machine, see Figure 12.8: Picture of a Student's Constructed Rube Goldberg Machine, which was made using only recycled materials.

Additional science lesson ideas that incorporate visual arts have students identify the many connections between science and art. There are many examples of how science influences art and how art influences science. When students recognize these connections, we've found that their perception of science can change. Instead of generalizing a scientist as a person who works in a lab, wearing a white coat and lab safety goggles, students can realize that science influences many fields.

To help students make this connection between science and the arts, we assign them one of the following challenges:

  • Analyze art pieces like Edvard Munch's The Scream, Luke Jerram's glass models of microbes and viruses, and Fabian Oefner's photographs of natural phenomena, such as fire and centripetal forces, to determine how science has influenced artists.
  • Analyze historical art pieces like Maria Sibylla Merian's sketch of a tarantula eating a hummingbird and Anna Atkins' photographs of algae, to learn how science influences the field of art.
  • Describe how art and science can intersect by studying people who have been both artists and scientists, such as Samuel Morse (the inventor of Morse code), Leonardo da Vinci (studied human anatomy), and Maria Sibylla Merian (documented the interactions between animals and plants).
  • Identify careers that integrate science and art, such as those that contribute to NASA's Art Program, graphic design, architecture, video game design, and art restoration.

Students complete research to identify the interdependence between art and science and then either write a paragraph explaining the connection or, as an enrichment assignment, they can create their own art piece and write a description that explains how their artwork was inspired by science.

DESIGN AND NEW MEDIA

In our experience, students enjoy building their own websites, and technology has made it simple to create them. A website can be built to effectively communicate any concept, but is especially useful when highlighting concepts that have a visual element, such as diagrams, pictures, and videos. Websites can also provide students with an authentic audience. See the Technology Connections section for resources that help students identify authentic audiences with whom they can share their websites.

The focus of this lesson is examining the benefits and drawbacks of dams. We require students to create a website because we've found that students' understanding is deeper when they have access to pictures and videos that depict the effects of dams. Additionally, many of the solutions that engineers and farmers have created to make dams less destructive are more appreciated if students can see them through pictures or videos. For example, we've found that students are more amazed by the effectiveness of fish ladders, which allow fish to swim upstream and over a dam, when they see a video of one in action.

We begin this lesson by dividing students into pairs. With our colleague, Melissa Posey, we developed Figure 12.9: Dams! Are They Constructive or Destructive? We provide each student with a copy of Figure 12.9 and explain they will ultimately be designing a website that states, with evidence, whether dams are constructive or destructive.

As a class, we read the directions and checklist in Figure 12.9. We define the terms constructive and destructive. We ask students, “What does it mean to construct something?” Students often answer “to build” or “to create.” We affirm their answer and then explain that when dams are built, they construct lakes so in that sense they can be considered constructive. Then we ask students “What does it mean to destroy something?” Students typically respond “to demolish” or “to hurt/injure.” Again, we affirm their answer and then explain that the rivers below the dams are destroyed so in that sense dams can be considered destructive. Their task is to perform research about dams around the world and determine if they are constructive or destructive. Then, they must support their position with evidence.

We answer student questions regarding the directions and checklist in Figure 12.9 and then provide time for them to perform their research. See Chapter 3: Strategies for Teaching the Scientific Method and Its Components for resources to differentiate for students while they are researching, along with other resources that can be applied to this activity.

We walk around the room as students are researching on their devices and provide support. We encourage them to research several of the dams listed in Figure 12.9 because no one resource is going to provide all of the information they need to complete this task.

Table 12.4 Topics for Website Projects for the Four NGSS Disciplines

NGSS discipline Website lesson plan idea
Earth Sciences How buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes
Earth Sciences Differences between a lunar and solar eclipse
Physical Sciences Structure of electron shells and how they determine chemical bonds
Physical Sciences Use vectors to solve real-life problems, such as throwing a football to another player or landing an airplane
Life Sciences Benefits and drawbacks of natural disasters, such as forest fires and floods
Life Sciences How life survives in the depths of the ocean, especially in the absence of sunlight
Technology, Engineering, and Applications of Science A chronicle of how a specific technology has changed from its inception to today
Technology, Engineering, and Applications of Science Design a city layout that minimizes vehicular traffic jams and maximizes foot and bicycle traffic

We offer many resources when students are ready to begin building their websites. Google Sites is one option but there are also many other tools. See the Technology Connections section for resources that students can use to make their own websites and for videos they can watch to learn how to use Google Sites.

Table 12.4: Topics for Website Projects for the Four NGSS Disciplines lists lesson plan ideas that have students create their own website. As we previously mentioned, the topics that are most appropriate for websites are content areas that are better understood with a visual tool. For example, the first earth science lesson plan idea is to have students make a website explaining how buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes. On their website, students can include two opposing videos: one video of a building with base isolators swaying during an earthquake and another video that shows a building without base isolators swaying during an earthquake. The comparison of these two videos greatly enhances a student's understanding of how engineering is improving structures during natural disasters. The topics are broken down by the NGSSs' four disciplines.

This lesson plan is naturally differentiated for elementary and high school students by its content.

KINESTHETIC MOVEMENT

The term kinesthetic relates to a person's awareness of their body movements.

Researchers have concluded that when students are moving, their learning can be deeper and longer lasting (Bauernfeind, 2016, pp. 42–55).

We use kinesthetic movement in two types of “mix-and-match” activities.

Posted Answers

This type of lesson plan requires some planning on our part. Prior to meeting with students, we create a worksheet that includes questions or incomplete sentences. An example of a worksheet we use is shown in Figure 12.10: Meiosis vs. Mitosis Review. The questions we ask on the student worksheet can be new or previously taught material. When we are teaching new material, we only use 10–12 answers. However, we use as many as 30 answers when we are reviewing material that's already been taught.

We print each question's answer on one sheet of paper and hang the answers around the perimeter of the room in a random order. Students receive copies of Figure 12.10: Meiosis vs. Mitosis Review and are instructed to work in pairs. We tell them they will be walking around doing a “mix-and-match” review activity. They are told to begin at any one of the posted answers. They read the answer, match it to the related question on their worksheet, and then copy the answer below the question on their worksheet copy.

During this activity, we periodically monitor student learning using kinesthetic movement. Every time we “check-in” with a group, we instruct students to act out a mitosis or meiosis stage. For example, we look at the phases they've already addressed in the activity and then ask them to act out one of those stages, such as the anaphase stage of mitosis. Students are provided a few minutes to prepare their kinesthetic movement. By the end of an hour-long class period, every group will have acted out approximately three stages.

Table 12.5: Purposeful Kinesthetic Movement in the Four NGSS Disciplines includes ideas of content that can be taught or reinforced through purposeful body movements.

Table 12.5 Purposeful Kinesthetic Movement in the Four NGSS Disciplines

NGSS discipline Content to be taught or reviewed with purposeful body movements
Earth Sciences Plate boundaries: using two flat hands students demonstrate subduction, divergence, and convergence
Earth Sciences Water and/or wind currents: students demonstrate the Coriolis Effect in the Northern Hemisphere by moving counter-clockwise around the classroom
Physical Sciences Types of chemical reactions: students move chemical equations to opposing sides of the room that represent exothermic and endothermic reactions
Physical Sciences Electrical circuits and their components: on the floor, students use tape to draw the path of an electron in a circuit and then walk the path, describing each part of the circuit; they can also compare/contrast series and parallel circuits
Life Sciences Photosynthesis and respiration: students represent sunlight, water, glucose, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, acting out both equations
Life Sciences Functions of cell parts: each student represents an organelle and uses their body movements to depict the organelle's function
Technology, Engineering, and Applications of Science Students randomly choose two technologies out of a hat and act out how they are connected; the class must guess the two technologies
Technology, Engineering, and Applications of Science Complete an engineering challenge, such as building the tallest structure, but constraints are added to the challenge every 10 min

QR Codes

A fun and different way to present answers is to use QR codes. A QR code is a black and white array of cubes that can be read by a device, usually a smartphone. There are many free apps available on both Android phones and iPhones, in addition to tablets, Chromebooks, and laptops. The only requirement is a connection to the Internet for the apps' download and a camera so the device can scan the QR code.

When the QR code is scanned by a device's camera, it translates the code into a message, which can be any number of items such as a URL, sentence, song, or video. Here is an example of what a QR code looks like. If you can scan it, the translation will state, “This is an example of a QR code.”

Illustration of a QR code.

We use a free QR creation website such as QR Code Generator (https://www.qr-code-generator.com) or QRCode Monkey (https://www.qrcode-monkey.com) to make an individual QR code for each of the worksheet's answers. For example, the first question on Figure 12.10: Meiosis vs. Mitosis Review stated, “There are some very large differences between somatic cells and gamete cells. In fact, there are __________ differences we will be reviewing today.” The associated QR code, once scanned and translated, says “five.”

As each QR code is generated, we copy it onto a document, which will be printed after all of the QR codes are made. Each QR code receives a random number. In our meiosis/mitosis example, we use the numbers 1 through 28 because that's how many questions are on our review worksheet. We then populate the randomly assigned number into the answer key so we know which QR code contains the answer. As an example, question one on our worksheet is assigned QR code 26.

After all of the QR codes are made, we print the document, cut out each QR code, and randomly tape them around the classroom. Students walk around the room, scanning each QR code with their device, determining which QR code completes which review question, and then writing down the answer. And, of course, we still monitor students and ask groups to act out a stage of mitosis or meiosis.

We have found that we must tell students that the QR code numbers were randomly assigned. Some believe the numbers are associated with the worksheet's questions and attempt to use them as a shortcut. We are proactive with this disclosure by announcing it at the beginning of the activity because it's not a good use of their time to find out the real purpose of those numbers, which is our answer key.

These types of kinesthetic lesson plans are naturally differentiated for elementary and high school students by their content. The most difficult challenge with using QR codes is a lack of smart devices. In some circumstances, we've had so few devices that we had to put students into groups of three.

DIFFERENTIATION FOR DIVERSE LEARNERS

Each lesson includes differentiation strategies.

Student Handouts and Examples

  • Figure 12.1: Engineering Process: A Case Study in Inventions (Student Handout)
  • Figure 12.2: Rewriting a Song (Student Handout)
  • Figure 12.3: Example of the First Rewritten Stanza for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
  • Figure 12.4: Rubric for Cell and Germ Theories Skit (Student Handout)
  • Figure 12.5: Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories (Student Handout)
  • Figure 12.6: Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories—Answer Key
  • Figure 12.7: Directions and Scoring Guide for Rube Goldberg Cartoon (Student Handout)
  • Figure 12.8: Picture of a Student's Constructed Rube Goldberg Machine
  • Figure 12.9: Dams! Are They Constructive or Destructive? (Student Handout)
  • Figure 12.10: Meiosis vs. Mitosis Review (Student Handout)

What Could Go Wrong?

Many of these lesson plans require students to perform online research. In our experience, students often enter search words into a search engine and read the summaries of the websites that are listed on the first results page. If the answers they are looking for aren't in those summaries and aren't on the first page, we often hear them say, “I can't find it” or “It's not on the Internet.” We help them broaden their search by instructing them to click on one of the websites listed on the results page. Then we teach them to hold the “CTRL” key and the “F” key at the same time to open the Find and Replace dialog box. In this box they can type in one or two key words, which will be highlighted when they hit the “ENTER” key. This shortcut helps them to quickly identify if this specific website has the information they are researching. By using this procedure, students often find useful information on a website that was not included in its summary on the results page.

Storytelling is an art. If teachers are going to tell a story, it's important to practice it beforehand. Nothing can kill engagement more than forgetting the details of a story and having to look them up.

When students are free to move around a space, they are more likely to stay on task if we set behavioral expectations prior to the activity. We preface every kinesthetic activity with a reminder that students are expected to remain on task, keep their hands to themselves, and be respectful of their peers. When a classroom is too small to accommodate a large group of students, we attempt to use other sites on campus, such as a hallway, the gym, or a sports field.

Technology Connections

Teachers who want to become STEAM certified can access all necessary resources for certification through All Education Schools, which is available online at “Resources for Current & Future STEAM Educators” (https://www.alleducationschools.com/resources/steam-education).

See “The Best Ways for Students or Teachers to Create a Website” (https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/12/12/the-best-ways-for-students-or-teachers-to-create-a-website) for easy website-creation tools.

Music videos can be made on multiple applications, such as the five that Matthew Lynch lists in his article “5 Movie Making Apps for Student Projects” (https://www.thetechedvocate.org/5-movie-making-apps-student-projects). In Larry Ferlazzo's blog post, “Making Instagram Videos with English Language Learners” (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/10/22/making-instagram-videos-with-english-language-learners), he offers suggestions and tips for using Instagram.

The official site for everything Rube Goldberg is https://www.rubegoldberg.com and includes many lesson plan resources and videos online of Rube Goldberg machines that can be used as examples to show students. TeachEngineering (https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_simp_machines_lesson05_activity1) also offers a two-part lesson plan and a video for Rube Goldberg machines.

When we have difficulty finding an expert, we use the resources in Larry Ferlazzo's blog entitled “The Best Places Where Students Can Write for an Authentic Audience” (http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/04/01/the-best-places-where-students-can-write-for-an-authentic-audience). He includes links to online resources where students can publish online books, make maps, share stories, and contact experts.

Students can watch online videos to help them build a website using the Google Sites tool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnr-_0UC50Y). Google also provides step-by-step directions (https://support.google.com/sites/answer/6372878?hl=en).

Erin Macpherson, an author for WeAreTeachers, offers sample STEAM lesson plans that are broken down by grade level. Her lesson plans can be found at “15 Ways Art Can Increase Innovation in Your Science Class” (https://www.weareteachers.com/15-ways-art-can-increase-innovation-in-your-science-class-2).

Jenn Horton, an editor at WeAreTeachers, offers “50 Tips, Tricks, and Ideas for Teaching STEAM” (https://www.weareteachers.com/teaching-steam).

Attributions

Thank you, Melissa Posey, for helping us to develop the lesson plan entitled, “Dams! Are They Constructive or Destructive?”

Our sincerest gratitude to Taryn Mazanec, who allowed us to include a picture of her 8th grade Rube Goldberg machine.

Figures

Figure 12.1 Engineering Process: A Case Study in Inventions (Student Handout)

Figure 12.2 Rewriting a Song (Student Handout)

Figure 12.3 Example of the First Rewritten Stanza for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Figure 12.4 Rubric for Cell and Germ Theories Skit (Student Handout)

Illustration of a Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories.

Figure 12.5 Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories (Student Handout)

Illustration of an Answer Key for a Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories.

Figure 12.6 Timeline Graphic Organizer for the Cell and Germ Theories—Answer Key

Figure 12.7 Directions and Scoring Guide for Rube Goldberg Cartoon (Student Handout)

Figure 12.8 Picture of a Student's Constructed Rube Goldberg Machine

Figure 12.9 Dams! Are They Constructive or Destructive? (Student Handout)

Figure 12.10 Meiosis vs. Mitosis Review (Student Handout)