Connections in a River Ecosystem
Grade Level: High School
Number of Sessions: 10 (including river trip)
Time Per: 45mins
Vocabulary:
Ecosystem - A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Abiotic Factors - A nonliving part of an ecosystem that shapes its environment.
Biotic Factors- A living organism that shapes its ecosystem.
Supplies Needed:
Underwater Camera
Waders
Fishing Nets
Acrylic Paints
Watercolor Paints
A variety of brushes
Paper Plates
Watercolor paper
Canvas boards
National Art Content Standards for the Art Making:
VA:Cr1.2.Ia - Shape an artistic investigation of an aspect of present day life using a contemporary practice of art or design.
Rationale for Lesson:
The learning objectives are important for the student to learn because it will teach them how a river ecosystem works as well as how it can be translated into art. With this painting project they will learn how art can interact with other subjects and they will also be able to take this sort of integration with them into their future art making. This is appropriate for a high school level art student because in this “Period of Decision '' in their creative development, they are exploring a more abstract and problem-solving oriented thinking. This is perfect since they’re required to figure out how they can represent a unique relationship between components in a river’s ecosystem. They’re also likely to focus more on the principles of design and things of that nature which will help them formally represent what they’re trying to convey. Not only that, but since this is a period of decision the students that might not be as interested in art get the chance to learn something about our everyday life which is connected to a different subject other than art. This can be a big motivating factor for their art making and creative process.
Artmaking:
Based on their online research and river experience, students will create a painting that communicates what they learned about the relationship between abiotic and biotic components of a river ecosystem. They may choose to either use acrylic or watercolor paint with any size canvas larger than 12 x 12 in.
LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT FOCUS:
Student Learning Objectives and Assessments:
LO1: Given online resources, students will analyze and identify the relationship of at least 3 abiotic and 3 biotic factors of a river ecosystem and record what they discover in their journals using image and text.
Assessment 1: The teacher will check each student's notebooks to make sure they have taken notes and identified at least 3 biotic and abiotic factors of a river ecosystem. (Formative)
LO2: While at the river, students will explore, observe, and gather at least 6 abiotic/biotic components of the river ecosystem, by way of photos, samples, sketches, and/or notes.
Assessment 2: The teacher will check the student notebooks to make sure they have a total of 6 photos, samples, sketches, and/or notes for abiotic or biotic components of the river. (Formative)
LO3: Given the student’s research and river experiences, they will synthesize what they learned and brainstorm at least 3 ideas for their final painting that represents a relationship between at least 1 biotic and 1 abiotic factor in and around the river.
Assessment 3: The teacher will check notebooks to make sure the students have written down at least 3 ideas to choose from for their final project. (Formative)
LO4: Given a choice of acrylic or watercolor paints, students will create a painting that expresses their interpretation of a relationship or interaction between abiotic and biotic factors from the river.
Assessment 4: The students turn in a one page written self reflection about their piece. In the reflection they will talk about the abiotic/biotic factors they included and why. Along with that they may include anything about the principles of design or elements of painting (color, value, depth, etc.). (Summative)
LO5: Students will evaluate and reflect on the successes of their artwork based on how it represents the relationship between abiotic and biotic factors of the river ecosystem.
Assessment 5: The students will get into groups of 3 to discuss their artwork with their classmates with each student talking and responding with each other. They’ll talk about what the painting represents, why they chose it, and at least 2 comments (something they like and a recommendation) on the other two classmates’ paintings in the group. (Summative)
LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
Learning Activities and Instructional strategies:
Hook: When the students show up to the first class there will be a number of images on the projector (these images will be of rivers with examples of paintings and photos representing some abiotic and biotic relationships). (Teacher and Student Activity)
The teacher will lead the discussion about the photos and lead into an introduction about a river ecosystem. (Teacher Activity)
The students will then do their own research on 3 different biotic and abiotic factors and their unique relationship. The research consists of taking notes on these 6 abiotic/biotic factors and then pair up with a partner to discuss their findings. These notes will also be their ticket out of the door for day 2. (Individual & Paired Student Activity)
For day 3 everyone will take the trip to the river to explore, observe, and identify (possibly collect) some of these abiotic/biotic components they previously researched. They will get to take turns using an underwater camera as well as using nets to catch things from the river. (Collaborative Student Activity)
There are two things to get done on day 4. First, the teacher will introduce the painting project to the students and show examples of a few painting artists (Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, & Carol Sweetwood) who utilize some of these unique relationships. (Teacher Activity)
The second half of day 4 and and first half day 5 the students will get time to synthesize their experience and research to figure out what abiotic/biotic factors they want to represent. They will be doing this individually for day 4 and getting into groups to share ideas on day 5. (Collaborative Student Activity)
The students will then get a total of 4 class periods to create this painting. (Individual Student Activity)
Elements and principles?
On the last day for the lesson, the students will split up into groups of 3 to talk about their individual paintings as well as a short critique between them. They’ll talk about what the painting represents, why they chose it, and at least 2 comments (something they like and a recommendation) on the other two classmates’ paintings in the group. (Collaborative Student Activity)
TEACHER REFLECTION:
I chose to emphasize the workings of the river’s ecosystem (abiotic and biotic factors) because I feel that understanding this will give the students an overall general take away from the whole experience rather than learning something extremely specific that is less likely to be of value or interest to them in the future. This seems like it will stick better or at least give them an understanding of how interconnected the river ecosystem actually is. I connected the scientific information by having them put together a painting that depicts the interaction or relationship between a biotic and abiotic factor of a river ecosystem. Possible challenges for this project might be time given to the students since I haven’t put this lesson plan into practice, or possibly getting the students to take enough observation drawings, photos, and references from the river could also be a challenge. It seems that this lesson plan will really work well especially after introducing them to the unique interactions that go on in the ecosystem and then traveling to the river to see and notice these interactions in action. In the future, although it may be a big mess, it might be worthwhile to have students pick their medium of choice to help them convey this idea to the best of their ability since painting is not everyone’s strong suit. This would also give them more motivation to do their best and possibly a more meaningful experience overall.