This summer, a publication I led was published in the academic journal Natural Sciences Education. Like other resources I’ve shared, this article aims to ‘demystify’ the use of drawing for teaching and learning in science classrooms.
While the paper reports on ways of doing this in university classes, the advice, examples, and resources in the article will be equally useful for K-12 educators.
I trust this finds you enjoying the weather and doing a bit of sketching. It’s hot in my corner of the Mountain West. I’m writing you from my basement – the only space where it is cool enough to think. But, happily, along with the heat comes garden season, complete with loads of the pollinators I so love to watch and draw. Speaking of which, this is my third year gardening at 7,200 feet above sea level, and it’s a garden in a new part of town.
As a result of my transition to a new job and all this other busyness, I’m shifting this newsletter from monthly to quarterly. That will ensure I can still connect with you, and share ideas and field experiences, while also giving attention to this new work. Meanwhile, I’ll be posting material on the blog more frequently. I will reference some of it in the newsletter each quarter.
If you’d like to keep up as material is published, and don’t want to miss any of it, please subscribe to my blog. Just visit the website, scroll to the bottom, and provide your email address in the subscription bar! Thanks in advance for subscribing there.
As always, feel free to share* this newsletter with your friends & colleagues. And do share your sketches & SciArt adventures with me via email or social media!
Happy sketching,
Summer 2017 Table of Contents
Insight: E.O. Wilson on drawing & creativity
Sketching tip: Drawing on windows
Artful Classrooms: Using resin sculptures and drawing to learn about cichlid (fish) phylogeny (genetic relationships)
Artful Science: A best-practices primer for using images
Sketchbook Snapshot: A mystery moth
News & Events: Upcoming science communication graduate course; field sketching workshops for the Wyoming Outdoor Council; recent publications, including a book featuring my illustrations of bighorn sheep; get your summer sketching kits while they’re still in stock
The longer I am involved with art-science integration, the more time I get to spend teaching teachers — teaching them how to use drawing in science education.
In June, I co-taught a Summer Teaching Institute focused on “Exploring Art & Science.” The institute was organized by the University of Wyoming Art Museum’s Education Curator Katie Christensen, along with Master Teacher Heather Bender, and Artmobile Coordinator Erica Ramsey. Together, they and the rest of the Art Museum team are great advocates and partners for art-science work on campus and beyond.
During the institute, my teaching focus was drawing-based science learning and assessment strategies. We started with basic drawing techniques. I walked participants through a toolkit development session which involved lots of practice drawing.
The weather is getting warmer and warmer. In addition to obvious shifts in the garden, migratory critters are coming back to the high plains.
My favorite are the turkey vultures that roots on campus. On warm breezy afternoons, they cruise low over the cottonwoods around our neighborhood.
In recognition of the vultures, bluebirds back out at our favorite hiking spot, and all the plants leafing out, this month’s newsletter looks at some familiar things from some fresh angles.
Keep reading. This month’s newsletter focuses on a mixed media sketching/pring-making technique, the launch of an image-use best practices blog series, and lots of news and events.
Happy sketching,
April Table of Contents
Insight: How and why migrations speak to us
Sketching Tip/Artful Classrooms: Solvent transfers (a printmaking technique)
Artful Science: Ethics of using reference/source images for art making and science communication
News & Events:
Drawn to Science plenary talk at American Fisheries Society’s western division annual conference scheduled for 5/23
Drawing for Science Communication symposium talk at American Fisheries Society’s western division annual conference also scheduled for 5/23. See the conference program for details.
Get your portable sketching kit, plus spring greeting cards and gifts from me! 🙂
Reproducing or presenting an image in an artistic way can help you catch the attention of a wider or different-from-usual audience.
One such method is the packing tape sticker I mentioned in my October 2016 newsletter. If you want to create something more permanent, though, you might try solvent transfers.
Bethann Garramon Merkle, MFA 