This rich, arts- and spatial-thinking-integrated project examined the effects of making three-dimensional dioramas of traditional African cultures on Black fifth graders at an urban school on students' racial identities, knowledge of cultural universals, and spatial thinking skills. Pretest and posttest attitudes measured with the Multidimensional…

"Invention through Form and Function Analogy" is an invention book for teachers and other leaders working with youth who are involving students in the invention process. The book consists of an introduction and set of nine learning cycle formatted lessons for teaching the principles of invention through the science and engineering design…

This practical article features an arts-integrated science unit on fossils of the Burgess Shale for fourteen elementary/middle school students at a weeklong summer day camp. The day camp had a theme of recycling, reduction and reuse; all of the fossil models had substantial recycled components to support this theme. Next Generation Science…

This article describes an arts- and spatial thinking skill--integrated inquiry project applied to life science concepts from the Next Generation Science Standards for fourth grade students that focuses on two unifying or crosscutting themes: (1) structure (or "form") and function and (2) use of models. Students made observations and…

In the lesson on which this practical article is based, third grade students constructed a "lift-the-flap" page to explore food webs on the prairie. The moveable papercraft focused student attention on prairie animals' external structures and how the inferred functions of those structures could support further inferences about the…

Arts integration in science has benefits of increasing student engagement and understanding. Lessons focusing on form and function of animal skulls provide an effective example of how handicrafts integrated with science instruction motivate students and support learning. The study involved students ages 9-12 during a week-long summer day camp.…

Young children need to develop creative problem-solving skills to ensure success in an uncertain future workplace. Although most teachers recognize the importance of creativity, they do not always know how integrate it with content learning. This repeated measures study on animal and plant lifecycles examined student learning of vocabulary and…

Nonfiction stories of animal compassion were used in this literacy-social studies integrated lesson to address both efferent and aesthetic stances in transmediation of text from picture books to maps. Preservice early childhood and elementary teachers chose places from the nine recent children's stories, symbolizing them on a map while…

Today's children are often separated from the natural world, developing fear and aversion to wild creatures. This humane education program used curriculum-blended science lessons that focused on eight generally disliked animals: bat, skunk, snake, mouse, spider, centipede, cockroach, and mosquito. First and second grade students participated in 6…

Instilling an appreciation of nature in our youth is an important precursor to environmental protection and support for sustainability. Research has shown that involving students in environmental projects improves their motivation, skills, and achievement on standardized tests, This document contains images of the body parts of small mammals with…

This study examined the self-efficacy in science, art, dance, and music; attitudes concerning contributions of people of various ethnic/cultural groups; and science learning of students involved in an after-school arts-integrated science enrichment project. Students dramatized three traditional animal legends from African, Native American, and…

This repeated measures study examined second graders' (n = 21) performance in creating inventions related to animal adaptations for simple products under two conditions that alternated each week for a six-week period. In the analogy condition, students used form and function analogy object boxes to learn about animal adaptations, applying these…

This document describes a game that provides students with practice in learning vocabulary and concepts associated with wolves. Directions for play and play cards (four to a page) are included. (ASK)

This study examined the use of form and function analogy object boxes to teach second graders (n = 21) animal adaptations. The study used a pretest-posttest design to examine animal adaptation content learned through focused analogy activities as compared with reading and Internet searches for information about adaptations of animals followed by…

Integration of subject areas with technology and thinking skills is a way to help teachers cope with today's overloaded curriculum and to help students see the connectedness of different curriculum areas. This study compares three authentic approaches to teaching a science unit on bird adaptations for habitat that integrate thinking skills and…