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Scientific Illustration in Kindergarten

Posted in drawing, teaching & learning, Teaching & Learning on September 7, 2012|

Conversations about natural science illustration usually occur among adults interested in a broad range of topics pertaining to the fields of art and science.

However, younger audiences can also be found to engage in similar conversation. Take for example, the students of Kathryn Kaatz. A kindergarten teacher in Minnesota, Kaatz begins each school year with an activity that trains students to become observant science artists. Kaatz describes this activity in A Walk in the Tall, Tall Grass.

Early in the school year, Kaatz (2008) reads In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming to introduce students to the plants and animals living in meadows and grasslands. This introduction is followed by a field trip to a reclaimed prairie. The objective of this field trip is to do more than look for the plants and animals students learned about in the book. The objective is to prepare students to become thoughtful observers and scientific illustrators.

During their field trip, students look at the types of grasses growing in the prairie, inspect seed heads, and identify grass species by using the photographic field guide Kaatz (2008) created for parent volunteers. While in the field, Kaatz (2008) makes it a point not spend too much time telling students what to observe and how to observe. She says she is more interested in letting students make their own discoveries.

Back in the classroom, however, Kaatz (2008) carefully guides students when they sit down to observe grass plants in more detail. Her thoughtful and methodical approach to enhancing student observation skills begins with a reading of
What is a scientist? by Barbara Lehn and by emphasizing something of great importance that all scientists do — draw what they see. Aspiring to make students more thoughtful observers and recorders of information, Kaatz (2008) takes the time to discuss with students the differences between scientific drawing and artistic drawing. She then sits down with a vase of grass specimens and models how to observe and how to draw the grass specimens she brought into the classroom. In her article, Kaatz (2008) shares how she talks to herself during her demonstration. Kaatz (2008) says she says things like:

Hmmm….I can see the stem goes all the way to the bottom of the vase, so I guess I’ll make a line like this.

Oops, (the lines) aren’t so straight but I guess that’s O.K. When I look at the grass, I see things in nature aren’t perfect either.

Upon concluding her demonstration, Kaatz (2008) presents her scientific drawing to her students. She then instructs students to draw at least three different grass specimens and reminds students that scientists only draw what they see.

Having taught this activity for several years, Kaatz (2008) says she is always pleased with how seriously students observe the grass specimens and how thoughtfully they compose their scientific drawings. By showing students how to observe and how to create scientific drawings early in the year, Kaatz’s students are prepared to “draw as scientists” (Kaatz, 2008) all year long.

Learn more about how Kathyrn Kaatz teaches this activity in her classroom by buying a copy of her article online for 99¢ at the NSTA Learning Center.

Literature Cited

Kaatz, Kathryn. 2008. A Walk in the Tall, Tall Grass. Science and Children. 45(6): 28-31.

(Update June 26, 2024: The NSTA no longer sells this article. Membership is required.)

Also See
Making Connections and Inspiring Action to Preserve America’s Prairies

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Mapping the Trees of Central Park

Posted in teaching & learning, Teaching & Learning on August 24, 2012|

Today I want to follow-up last week’s article about art and botany needing each other, with an example of how the disciplines of art and botany can work together to change the way people experience a local park.

When artist and art director, Ken Chaya, was asked to make a map about the trees and landscapes of Central Park, little did he know he was about to become a botanist, an experienced hiker, and become intimately familiar with every square foot of New York’s famous park.

Over a two-year period, Chaya learned how to identify trees, created symbols for every major tree species, walked more than 500 miles, and represented 19,630 trees on a single sheet of paper to create the most accurate and detailed map ever published about Central Park.

Chaya tells his story at CentralParkNature and provides a behind-the-scenes look at how he created Central Park Entire, The Definitive Illustrated Map.

In six short documentary-style videos, Chaya explains how he learned to identify 172 species of trees, how he mapped every path in the park, and what he learned while creating the illustrations for his map.

Here is a great example of art and botany in action!

Chaya’s map is available as a wall poster ($35) and as a folded map ($12.95). Quantity discounts are available.

Related

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Do Art & Botany Need Each Other?

Posted in botany, Special Announcements, Special Events, Teaching & Learning on August 17, 2012| 1 Comment »

Drawing is not about making pictures, but it is about learning to see through drawing.

— Ila Crawford

In Art Instruction in Botany Lab, Lyn Baldwin and Ila Crawford investigated how drawing changed the way botany students learned in a traditional botany lab. This year, they are investigating the reverse — how students in a traditional art class will react to the study of botany.

In a recent article, Does the Science of Botany Need Art? Does Art Need the Science of Botany?, Baldwin and Crawford write about how the disciplines of art and botany can benefit from each other. To make their points, Baldwin (a quantitative field botanist) explains why “the science of botany needs the joy of art” and Crawford (a visual art instructor with 20 years experience) explains the reasons why plants have a “legitimate place in art education.” Their article is a must-read if you’re interested in how drawing can be used to encourage an interest in plants.

Written as a backdrop for their current research about incorporating botany into art class, it also serves as an announcement for an exciting new exhibition for which Baldwin and Crawford are the curators. The exhibition they have created explores the idea that “art inhabits the teaching and practice of botany, and conversely botanical subjects and scientific methods have a legitimate place in teaching and practicing art.”

Lyn Baldwin and Ila Crawford have announced the call for entries for this exhibition and they would like to invite you to participate. The wonderful thing about this exhbition is that it is open to not only artists, but to botanists as well!

Here is a summary:

Art and Science: Drawing and Botany
Canadian Botanical Association
June 5-25, 2013

Invited: Artists, botanists, and groups of artists and botanists working on special projects (10 or more individuals)

Submissions: Three maximum for individuals; one per member for group submissions. Only original work will be accepted, no reproductions. Sketchbooks will be accepted. Only digital images will be accepted for the jurying process.

Entry Fee: $10 per registration ($10 covers up to three works)

Deadlines: Individual submissions (March 29, 2013), Project-based submissions (January 15, 2013)

For additional information about digital submissions, artist’s statements, insurance and more, visit Art and Science: Drawing and Botany.

Literature Cited

Baldwin, Lyn and Ila Crawford. 2012. Does the science of botany need art? Does art need the science of botany? Canadian Botanical Association / L’Association Botanique du Canada. CBA/ABC Bulletin. 45(1): 10-13. Web. http://www.tru.ca/cba-abc/art.html [accessed 16 August 2012]

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How can classroom lessons about plants be made more exciting?

Posted in botany, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events, Teaching & Learning on August 10, 2012|

It is the beginning of a new school year. Today I asked Linda Ann Vorobik if she had any advice about how K-12 teachers can make their lesson plans about plants more exciting for students.

Here is her reply.

What do you think?

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Using Writing to Encourage Drawing

Posted in drawing, Teaching & Learning on August 3, 2012|

Concerned students have very little exposure to the outside world, middle school science teacher Janita Cormell and professor Toni Ivey created a curriculum that uses writing as a tool to reaquaint students with nature. In Nature Journaling: Enhancing Students’ Connections to the Environment Through Writing, you’ll discover that writing can be used as more than a tool for reflective thinking. Cormell and Ivey (2012) show that writing encourages people to share their thoughts, to engage in analytical conversation, to see the world around them, and to describe what they see through drawing.

To reverse the disconnect between youth and nature the authors feel is coming at the hands of technology and the fact that too much outdoor science is taught indoors, Cormell and Ivey (2012) created a research project that called upon students to discuss, illustrate, and write about issues affecting the environment and the relationship humans have with it.

The authors began their project by teaching students how to create their own journals. They then arranged for students to spend 30 minutes each week in the outdoor classroom at Cormell’s school. While outdoors, students participated in several learning activities. Some activities encouraged reflective thinking. Others were designed to enhance students’ listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills.

Cormell & Ivey (2012) observed that nature journaling increased the “depth of (student) understanding of the environment” and helped Cormell’s students “make better connections between science activities, writing and the environment”. In their article, they discuss eight journaling exercises, the rubric they used to assess student understanding of the environment before and after their study, and provide a list of resources for teachers.

Interpretive naturalists may find the activity Cormell & Ivey (2012) used to enhance students’ observation skills of particular interest. Students became so engaged with this activity, they took on the role of interpretive guide all on their own.

Cormell & Ivey’s article is available online for 99¢ from the National Science Teachers Association. Alternatively, you can look for their article at your local college library.

Literature Cited

Science Scope

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Art, Botany & Society: Plants in the Limelight

Posted in botany, Teaching & Learning, teaching and learning on July 27, 2012|

Writer, producer, photographer, and educator, Anna Laurent, connects people with plants through her writing, research, and design work.

A native of New England and Harvard graduate, Anna moved to Los Angeles four years ago. Soon after, she became

fascinated with the diversity of plants that could be found in California. Anna says it took moving to L.A. for her to notice plants.

And notice plants she has!

In 2008, Anna launched a personal project in which she began to collect seed pods (seeds and fruits) in her Hollywood neighborhood. Curious observers would occasionally ask her what she was doing. As Anna explained the seed pods she was collecting, she developed an interest in their diverse forms and universal functions. Her audience always appreciated the information she shared with them. That same year, Anna was approached by Print magazine to write a column. She chose to write a column about the form and function of seed pods and the role they play in a plant’s life cycle. She named the column Botany Blueprint and published articles about seed pods from September 2010 through June 2012. Her seed pod articles are now published on her website. Anna’s goal is to tell the stories of 100 seed pods and then publish this information, plus much more, in her new book, The Form and Function of Seed Pods (expected in 2013). The project’s geographic range has grown as she’s been partnering with botanic gardens and arboretums across the country, including Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, Genna Walska’s Lotusland, the Hawaii Tropical Botanic Garden, and Queens Botanical Garden.

Increasing public knowledge about plants is at the heart of everything Anna does. In addition to collecting seed pods and writing for Botany Blueprint, Anna writes two weekly columns for Garden Design magazine. Her Art + Botany column focuses on plant-related art themes and her Botanic Notables column brings attention to a wide range of interesting stories about plants. Other projects she’s pursuing include a digital field guide to botanical gardens that gardens can use to teach visitors about plants and their respective collections.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Anna about how she educates the public about plants through her creative projects.

ARTPLANTAE: How did you come to realize that botanical literacy was something you wanted to dedicate yourself to?

ANNA LAURENT: My projects now are a culmination of my previous work. I studied literature and biological anthropology in college, in particular, evolutionary mechanisms and behaviors. I spent the next years photographing, writing, and working on documentary media projects. Finally, when I moved to L.A., my interest in the natural world returned.

The diversity of plant life in southern California — species native to tropical, desert, temperate, and riparian (water) regions – blew my mind. I realized how little I knew about the plants around me, and that didn’t seem right. So I began taking lots of walks and hikes and just looking at plants. I was fascinated by the diversity of structures — flowers and seed pods — that work in different ways to accomplish the same ends; namely, attracting pollinators, repelling predators, and dispersing seeds. I also observed the way they interact with our built environment, and with each other. One of my favorite relationships was in front of my apartment – a wisteria vine embedded around a fig tree. They were battling it out through a gap in the pavement; neither had been planted by human hand. Both plants are really strong, which was fascinating, and appropriate. It was a tableau of botanic heavyweights. Plants are quiet and slow, so finding the drama requires a bit of patience, but it’s there. Botanic gardens are a fantastic place to learn about plants, of course, and I also love observing plants in the wild – observing species that make their way through sidewalk cracks, that populate disturbed areas, that crawl over fences in abandoned spaces. It’s so thrilling when you begin to notice it all.

AP: In what ways do you hope to promote botanical literacy?

AL: Every plant has a story, and I hope to encourage people to ask questions that begin to unravel that story. How did this individual plant happen to germinate at this particular location (e.g. Did the seed float by on a breeze?, Was it carried by an unwitting animal?)? When were the seeds of the species introduced into the region? What behaviors and structures has the plant evolved in its native habitat? What are the plant’s ethnobotanical uses? How has the plant been culturally referenced — have authors employed it as a metaphor, have countries adopted it as a national symbol?

Learning about plants offers a unifying perspective on history and space.

By following the historical arc of a plant’s evolution, and its cultural associations, we build unity between the modern era and our past. And plants also unify our disparate geographies. When I traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan last year, it was fascinating to see hollyhocks and oleander — plants I associate with southern California gardens — growing wild in the mountains and to learn about how people perceive them. Kurdistan is a pastoral region, which means that human settlements have evolved closely with plants. Knowledge is passed through generations, and plants are deeply embedded in the culture. I was told that the First Lady of Iraq was named for the hollyhock, and I heard a folk story about an early village that wielded oleander poison to defend against invasion. The oleander is still highly regarded today.

In the United States, there is a luxurious buffer between people and plants. We generally live amidst cultivated plants that don’t pose a significant threat, and we have pharmacies and markets that have packaged our plant-derived plants, so botanical literacy isn’t all that necessary for survival. At the same time, plants are nonetheless embedded in our lives, and it’s so important to understand how they behave, and what stories they carry with them.

In my seed pod project, I examine seeds and fruits, asking questions such as: Why is this seed red? (Often because birds are the plant’s preferred dispersal agent), Why does the seed pod stay attached to the parent plant for so long? (This often occurs in vines and plants that tend to grow on sloping areas, so when the seeds mature, they have a little momentum when they hit the ground, and will travel farther). After I collect the specimens, I photograph them and write about their form and function. I am thrilled to have partnered with botanic gardens, receiving permission to collect at their gardens. I then put together an exhibit of the photographs to promote the garden’s collection and educational mission.

AP: Your mobile field guide app project is very interesting. Can you describe briefly what you would like to accomplish with your guide?

AL: I wanted people to have access to the stories behind each plant. When you visit a botanical garden, you see a plant in a single cycle of its life,

and there is rarely room for more than a name label. The digital field guide will enable visitors to view all aspects of a plant’s life cycle and to learn more about the plant. Plants can be identified through a map of the garden, but the app can also be used off-site to browse plant profiles. I find botanic field guides to be lovely bedtime reading.

AP: How did you get started in journalism?

AL: I’ve always been a writer, and writing has been a significant component of everything I’ve worked on — companion content for photojournalism essays, grants for documentary films, typeface reviews for Print magazine. My writing now is really no different, I am just doing a lot more of it, and I am able to focus on one broad topic that I love. I’m really enjoying figuring out how to describe plants in new ways, and the process of writing about them inevitably gives me a greater appreciation of the species in particular and the plant world in general.

AP: What have you been working on lately?

AL: For the past year, I’ve been working on a documentary media project, The Iraqi Seed Project. Looking at the agricultural landscape in modern-day Iraq and Kurdistan, it asks why farming is disappearing in the land where it was born. We bring into focus the region’s botanic legacies and current efforts to restore the Fertile Crescent. We just launched a website with clips from three years of filming. The video player is poised over a farm with seeds of the region’s historically major crops. We call the site a collective garden; every time a video is watched, a plant grows a little bit. The idea is that by learning about Iraq’s farmers and plants, we are helping their crops grow anew. It’s a nice metaphor.

Links updated 8/22/19

In Memoriam – Anna Laurent (1979 – 2024)

https://www.instagram.com/anna__laurent/

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How to Integrate Art Across the Curriculum

Posted in drawing, teaching & learning, Teaching & Learning on July 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

There was much interest in last week’s article about the art strategies that can be used to enhance science communication, so I thought we’d take a few moments looking at the strategies that were used by Buczynski et al. (2012). The strategies they used came from Julia Marshall’s paper, Five Ways to Integrate: Using Strategies from Contemporary Art.

In her article, Marshall (2010) cites studies explaining how integrating art with other disciplines is worthwhile. She also provides teachers with specific ideas on how to integrate art into all subject areas.

The strategies defined by Marshall (2010) have one thing in common — they are strategies artists use “to manipulate ideas and imagery to make meaning” (Marshall 2010). Through the manipulation of ideas, artists re-frame information in direct or creative ways. Here is a quick look at these strategies and how they enhance learning.

Depiction

Extension/Projection:
This strategy calls upon artists to make predictions — to reflect on how a situation will change or to reflect on what might be possible. The implementation of this strategy aids learning because it requires learners of all ages to study an idea before they can think about how it could change (Marshall, 2010).

Reformatting:
This strategy requires learners to see things in a new context. Doing so is beneficial to learning because seeing a subject or a concept in a different way results in a new understanding of the subject or concept (Marshall, 2010). This strategy can be used in middle school and high school classrooms (Marshall, 2010).

Mimicry:
Mimicking the methods of others is simply doing what others do. Mimicking is beneficial because it provides an opportunity for experiential learning; this strategy can be implemented in grades K-12 (Marshall, 2010).

Metaphor:
The creation of metaphors requires identifying differences between similar entities. Creating metaphors aids learning because it requires analytical thinking and provides a way to identify connections between disciplines (Marshall, 2010). Marshall states this strategy is best used with high school students.

To learn more about each of these strategies, read suggestions about how they can be used in the classroom, and to view examples of art created through the use of these strategies, download a copy of Marshall (2010). A link to her paper is available on the website of the College of Performing and Visual Arts at the University of Northern Colorado.

Literature Cited
Marshall, Julie. 2010. Five ways to integrate: Using strategies from contemporary art. Art Education. 63(3): 13-19. Web.
http://www.arts.unco.edu/ciae/institute/documents/Articles/Marshall-Five%20Ways%20to%20Integrate.pdf
[accessed 19 July 2012]

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