In this session, educators from the Public Schools of Brookline will share a successful interdisciplinary learning experience for 8th graders. Based on Arthur Ganson’s mechanical artwork at the MIT Museum, students integrated learning from science, engineering, visual arts, and technology to create their own kinetic sculptures in a public display of project-based learning. This innovative project brought about high levels of student engagement and achievement.
In this session, we will share details of all stages of this project (including photos and video), from preparation to classroom lessons to the final showcase. The stages include movement drawings, visiting MIT, observational drawings, brainstorming, sketching, building (and persisting), and reflecting. We will share successes, challenges, and lessons learned in thinking about future iterations and implications for our own practice as educators. Time will be built in for questions from attendees. We believe this session would benefit all teachers in grades K-12, with a particular emphasis for middle school. We are hoping that participants would leave with an inspiring opportunity to integrate content in an engaging relevant manner. We also hope the audience would take away the relationship among student-directed learning, persistence, and engagement, and that these skills will remain with students forever.
