Community-Word Project staff presented their training on Surreal Science at the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development’s conference, Cultivating Curiosity: Inquire! Explore! Create! on Friday, February 28 at the New York Hilton Midtown. The event provided an interactive learning opportunity where program leaders and youth professionals from around the country experienced exploratory learning firsthand, including in STEM and literacy.
Our staff members, David King and Pamella Allen, demonstrated how creative skills in poetry and visual art can be combined in a science lesson. In their proposed lesson plan, students are led through activities with scientific “mystery images” that they use as a source of inspiration for both poems and spontaneous sketches.
Children learn foundational sketching techniques and new vocabulary in a fun way. They take part in a culture of collaborative invention. They also develop curiosity around the building blocks of poems, and learn about the Surrealism movement in art. In one science lesson, we are merging both text and visual art.
Thank you, Beck Band Jain, for volunteering your superb writing skills.
Image: A frontal section of Phalangium opilio (Daddy Longlegs/Harvestman) eyes. The lenses (two large ovals), retinas and optic nerves are visible. The image is a depth color-coded projection of a confocal image stack. First Prize, 2010 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®.
