Meaningful Professional
Development and
Innovative Teaching
Strategies
Britta Culbertson
Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow
Washington, DC, USA
Who am I?
• High school teacher in 9th and
10th integrated science and
visual arts
• 10 years of classroom
experience
• Taught for 8 years at an artsintegrated high school in
Seattle, WA
• Currently serving as an Einstein
Fellow at National Oceanic
and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) in
Washington, DC
What do I do at NOAA?
• Give presentations at NSTA, work at
NOAA booth in exhibit hall
• Science on a Sphere (SOS) curriculum,
teacher professional development,
help organize network meeting
• Review space weather poster and
curriculum
• Collect government resources for APES
• And more!
Meaningful Professional
Development
India Summer Teacher Program
• Short-term, exchange
opportunity for U.S. HS teachers
of English, Mathematics and
Science
• Collaborate and team-teach
in your subject area with an
Indian counterpart in a school
in Kolkata
• Medium of instruction is English
• U.S. and Indian educators to
work together on issues of
mutual interest to their
communities, schools and
students
India Summer
Program
KV Rangpuri, New Delhi
India Summer Teacher Program
Eligibility:
• U.S. citizen, full-time employee in a U.S. school
• Minimum of 3 years teaching experience (at time of
application)
• High school teacher of English, Math or Science
Details:
• Length: ~5 weeks including orientation in Washington, DC
• Price: Grant includes airfare, per diem, accommodations, and
shipping stipend for materials
This year’s timeline:
• Application opens in fall, application deadline: January 7, 2013
• Selection: February-April
• D.C. Orientation: June 27-28, India: June 30-August 4
• Website: http://www.americancouncils.org/program/44/ISP/
Other PD Opportunities that
Have Shaped My Teaching
• Toyota International
Teachers Program in
the Galapagos
• Local PD at NW
Association for
Biomedical Research –
Bioinformatics in Seattle
• Worked on Powers of
Minus Ten App
Innovative
Teaching Strategies
What skills do scientists need?
Scientist’s Habits of Mind
Museum of Paleontology (UC Berkeley) NSF
Funded Project called “Understanding
Science” (2012)
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Question what you observe
Investigate further
Be skeptical
Try to refute your own ideas
Seek out more evidence
Be open-minded
Think creatively
What are Artist Habits of Mind?
Harvard’s Project Zero presents the following
eight artist’s habits of mind (2003):
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Develop Craft
Engage and Persist
Envision
Express
Observe
Reflect
Stretch and Explore
Understand Art World
Research Supports Arts Integration
DeMoss and Morris (2002) discovered
that arts-integrated lessons compared
to non-integrated lessons promoted:
• intrinsic motivation
• learning for understanding
• greater problem solving opportunities
for students
#1
Use Art To Articulate
Science Concepts
Use Art To Articulate Science
Concepts
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Botanical illustrations
Physics of balance - mobiles
Design a species
Comic strips
Illustrated timelines and flowcharts
Analogy projects
Children’s stories
Illustrated field guides
Theater, vignettes, tableau
Infographics
Botanical
Illustration
(and
Invention)
Alexander Calder Inspired
Mobiles
m1d1=m2d2
Design a Species with Adaptations
Newton’s
Laws
In comic
strip form
Illustrated Flow Charts
Cell City Analogy
Students used favorite pop culture
topics to create analogies (e.g. LOST
and Harry Potter’s Marauder’s Map)
Cell Factory
Drawing
Fritz Kahn – Man as
Industrial Palace
Translate Complex Ideas into
Children’s Stories
Project-Based Learning:
Field Guide Development
Galapagos
Vignettes
Student defined
roles and
student created
props
Creating Infographics
Rachel Zupke’s students created infographics
in Chemistry class on various topics with help
from Kelsey King (a guest graphic designer)
and Suzi Tucker (chemist, graphic designer
and set designer)
Photos courtesy of Rachel Zupke, The Center School
Infographics: Final Product
Images courtesy of Rachel Zupke, The Center School
FREE!
Online Infographic Generators
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easel.ly
visual.ly
infogr.am
labs.good.is/
piktochart.com/
Infographic found on easel.ly
#2
Bring Science into the
Art Classroom
Bring Science into the Art
Classroom
• Anatomical drawings
• Drawings from microscope images
• Investigate artists’ depictions
scientific topics and
environmental messages
The Science Skeleton Visits Art Class
Creating Abstract Art from
Magnified Images
Japanese Woodblock
Prints of Cells
Guest Artist: Francesca Lohmann
Use Art to Communicate About
the Environment
#3
Deconstruct and
recreate through
trial and error
Deconstruct and Recreate
Through Trial and Error
• Use the design process to build a
sculpture or mechanical object
• Create something from scratch –
original ideas
• Create an emulation – work through
the design process to recreate a piece
– Find inspiration from TED talks, Pinterest,
Blogs, museum sites
Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests
A student was inspired by
a TED talk and built his own
beast using trial and error
Emulation
Van Gogh, Starry Night
#4
Collaborate to Create an
Artful and Innovative
Lesson
Collaborate with an Arts Instructor,
Another Teacher, or a Guest to Create
an Artful and Innovative Lesson
• Art teacher teaches the techniques,
science teacher provides content
• Can collaborate with the art teacher
or a guest artist
• Have the art teacher teach the skill
and use art students to teach your
students
Arctic Information
Poster Project:
Reference Material
Kenojuak Ashevak
Theresa McFarland
Mitzie Testani
US Office of War, 1943
Trompe L’Oeil Sidewalk Art
Teachers Wyn
Pottinger-Levy
and Nathan
Chipps used
art in math by
using the
principles of
geometry to
create
perspective
drawings
Bonus: Integrate Science, Art,
and Technology
• Bring in experts!
• My students worked
with visualization
expert Laura Lynn
Gonzalez in the
development of the
app “Powers of
Minus Ten”
• They were
introduced to a
career possibility in
the process!
Challenges
“But I can’t draw”
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Collage from magazines
Use Photoshop or clip-art
Cut construction paper shapes
Use word processor to print words
Have student propose an alternative
How Do
You
Assess
Art?
Arts Integration Research
"Artist Habits of Mind." Minneapolis Public Schools (host Site): Artist Habits of Mind.
Project Zero of Harvard University, 2003. Web. 04 Feb. 2013.
<http://opd.mpls.k12.mn.us/uploads/T-ARTIST_HABITS_OF_MIND.pdf>.
DeMoss, K. & Morris, T. (2002). How arts integration supports student learning:
Students shed light on the connections. Chicago, IL: Chicago Arts Partnerships
in Education (CAPE).
Grotzer, T.A. (1996). Math/Science matters: Issues of instructional technique in
math and science learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Project on Schooling
and Children, Exxon Education Foundation. [Essay #1: Learning the Habits of
Mind that Enable Mathematical and Scientific Behavior].
Stevenson, L. & Deasy, R.J. (2005). Third Space: When Learning Matters.
Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership.
Tishman, S., Jay, E. & Perkins, D.N. (1992). Teaching thinking dispositions: From
transmission to enculturation. Theory into Practice, 32(3), 147-153.
Winner, E., Hetland, L. Veenema, S., Sheridan, K., Palmer, P., Locher, I. et al. (2006).
Studio thinking: How visual arts teaching can promote disciplined habits of
mind. New directions in aesthetics, creativity, and the arts, 189-205.
Thanks for coming!
Please contact me with any questions!
culbertsonb@einsteinfellows.org