Art in Biology

This is something I would defintely try if I teach Biology next year. I find that the 9th grades are so active, so eager to move around that they don't take the opportunities to reflect. For... See More

This is something I would defintely try if I teach Biology next year. I find that the 9th grades are so active, so eager to move around that they don't take the opportunities to reflect. For most of the year, I had students develop a "vocabulary set", where they had to illustrate an important concept and then define it. It was almost like a glossary. I saw many of my students taking the time to not just to illustrate it, but to put in color. To do this, they had to think about the concept. The idea of drawing in a 9th grade science class will foster patience and understanding. This is something I would definitely implement into my biology curriculum.

Improving observations through drawing

The author feels that the act of drawing does two things: 1) makes students slow down and focus on the object of study and 2) improves observation skills such that a drawing can be made. I h... See More

The author feels that the act of drawing does two things: 1) makes students slow down and focus on the object of study and 2) improves observation skills such that a drawing can be made. I have read elsewhere that the act of drawing also helps students to develop focus. I must admit to being one of the self-proclaimed "non-artists" the author refers to, and yet I know that observations and sometimes even procedures are better with sketches. I encourage my students to draw and sketch to the best of their abilities, but I have not emphasized it to this point. One of my co-teachers swears by drawing, however, so it is something I have been including more and more in my instruction, both as a way to get better observations and as a way to reach out to students who learn in other ways. I am not sure how much the drawing fits into new biology standards that place less emphasis on individual organisms, but I am sure there is a place for it in any science.