Curriculum Resource: Art, Science, Math, Art

We were having a discussion during our homeschool coop this week about our belief that one of the great benefits of homeschooling is our ability to study things in an interdisciplinary way.  Whereas in schools, usually what you are studying in English has no connection with what you are doing in History or Science, we can spend our time in Language Arts reading literature of the era that we are doing in History, plus we can supplement with Art History/Art projects and Music History and sometimes History of Science, etc.

When I stumbled upon the Fong Qi Wei's website for Exploded Flowers, it immediately made me think of this multidisciplinary approach to life.  Qi Wei is a photographer, apparently living in Singapore.  In the Exploded Flowers series, he carefully takes apart a flower and photographs it with all its stems, petals, pistons, and other components spread apart.  Here are some examples of his work:

Copyright © 2011 Fong Qi Wei

Copyright © 2011 Fong Qi Wei

Copyright © 2011 Fong Qi Wei

Copyright © 2011 Fong Qi Wei

Copyright © 2011 Fong Qi Wei

For all of these beautiful photos, or to buy a print or card of one, visit his website here.

I love these, because they are obviously beautiful art.  But they also help us learn about science, particularly what exactly goes into a flower.  I think it could help us explain to our students the components of the flowers and what pieces perform what functions in the whole plant reproduction process.  

However, it also lead to me to math, and the patterns of the petals and other parts.  I've written a number of posts about Fibonacci numbers, and my son and I have spent quite a bit of time looking for those Fibonacci sequences in nature.  But in real life, it is often hard to tell exactly how many petals there are in a flower, or segments in a pine cone, and such (believe me, we've tried).  So actually taking it apart and counting that way--that might be one way to solve the problem.  I have to admit, though, that I counted many of the petals in the photographs, and I didn't find too many examples of Fibonacci numbers.  But there were lots of interesting patterns to consider, once it was separated enough that you can definitely count different items.

But it doesn't just stop there.  Eventually, it occurred to Qi Wei that all those individual petals were similar to individual brush strokes in a painting.  So he created several of what he calls "floral paintings" out of petals.  For example, consider this one, which was inspired by a woodcut print called The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of the most famous pieces of Japanese art:

Veronicas, Hyacinths, Pom Poms, 2011, All Rights Reserved Qi Wei

I think that is incredible.  But I have to admit that my favorite of this series, which mostly reflects Asian art, is one inspired by a Western artist, Van Gogh:

Van Gogh Sunflower Remix, All Rights Reserved Qi Wei

So, so lovely and interesting!  And so we go from art to nature, and then from nature to art.  This makes me really want to go get some flowers and try re-creating some of our favorite paintings in petal form.  And thus these pictures extend into Art History, and even Social Studies, as we consider the difference between Asian art and Western art....

That how I think life really is--one topic and/or subject flows into another, which suggests another.  I'm just really glad that we can run with that in homeschooling in a way that traditional educational classes can't.  But even if your children attend a traditional school, this could be a fantastic project to do with them at home!

Math Trek at the North Carolina Museum of Art

Our Math Trek series has started up again for the new year.  This is one of the creative math activities organized by Maria Droujkova of Natural Math.  It is a multi-aged program where students of all levels take quests to find and photograph different math concepts.  We then share them with each other, whether by discussion, acting them out, or posting them on the web.

This week's Trek took place at the North Carolina Museum of Art, which has so many wonderful things to look at, whether mathematical or not.  Maria's colleague, Brad Herring, was there to capture the action on film, so that we could share it with other similar groups around the world so they could have their own Math Treks:

Our intrepid leader, Maria Droujkova

Our videographer, Brad Herring

Maria have the students various "quests" to find and photographs, including recording examples of fractions, proportions, and fractals.  Then we came together to discuss and recreate some of our favorite mathematical concepts/photographs:

Recurring Circles

Acting out the proportions of seats in a circular amphitheater

Making a human fractal

As always, it was a fun and educational outing.  Plus, the weather was beautiful this weekend.  But to see students discovering math in settings all around them--that was even more beautiful!

Finding Beauty Among Chaos

So we in the Raleigh area survived the hurricane without much destruction, or really much disruption for most of us.  The hurricane move the to east a bit at the last minute, which took us JUST out of the range for the really high winds and rain.  So we were lucky.  Oriental, where my husband has his boat, was not as fortunate, as the eye of the hurricane passed right over the town, resulting in 9 1/2 foot flooding on the main streets and structures by the waterfront.  But even so, there weren't many deaths, and not too much damage, so I think we were lucky.

As I stated in my Saturday post, I did venture out Friday night, which turned out to be a lovely night.  I saw some beautiful art, which was calming after a stressful day of getting prepared for the coming hurricane.  Then two things happened that helped me get a great spiritual message about this whole thing.

I went to the exhibits in the Town complex, which included shows at Page-Walker Arts & History Center, the Herb Young Community Center, and the Town Hall (where I often received personal tours by the artist because I was the only one of the public to be there--unfortunately, since the art was so good).  In walking from the Community Center to Page-Walker, I passed through the Page-Walker herb and sculpture garden. What should I see there but a hummingbird, sipping nectar from some of the plants!  I thought to myself, "A hummingbird in a hurricane?  How bad can it be?"  Then I remembered that among the Native Americans, hummingbird was supposed to be a totem animal representing joy.  So in the midst of all our worry and stress about the coming storm, there was also a symbol of beauty and joy.

My son had a lock-in at the library for his Newbery Book Club, so after viewing the art, I drove over to pick him up.  So I was driving along High House Road, when I saw one of the MOST gorgeous sunsets I have ever seen in Cary.  I was driving along, and when I hit a hill where I could really see it, I would think, "This looks like one of those American Illuminist paintings!"  Really, I was so struck by the sunset that I was probably lucky I didn't have an accident, except that, again, few people were on the roads.

I even tried taking some pictures as I was driving.  They don't nearly do it justice, but are shown below:

So it was just a great reminder to me that even in the midst of chaos and worry and the disturbance it brings to human egos that Nature is powerful and uncontrollable, there is also beauty and joy and wondrous human achievements and characteristics--if we take the time to notice them.

Behold: A Qualitative Creative Commons Image Search Engine

A wonderful new tool I have discovered recently is Behold, which is a search engine for images.

Of course, you can search images with a number of different search engines.  The things that makes Behold different are that:

1.   Behold searches among Flikr photos, particularly those that can be used freely (for non-commerical purposes) under a Creative Commons license (that is, people who are willing to share their photos for non-money-making purposes without the usual copyright restrictions).

2.  Behold somehow filters the photos, and searches among only the million plus photos it considers to be "high quality."

3.  Behold has a way of combining image search tags, so that after you bring up "buildings," you can search for "towers" or "skylines" or other subsets of that tag.

I don't know exactly how it does what it does, but I will say that every search I've done with Behold has come up with professionally-quality photographs, not just any old thing that anybody has taken with a cheap disposal camera.

More importantly, Behold is a source we can use with our students to help them appreciate intellectual property rights.  All too often, students feels like they can just take any image they want from the internet and use it in their own work.  So it is great to direct them to a search engine like Behold where they can restrict their searches to photos where people have agreed to share their creations (under the perimeters of the Creative Commons license).

Math Trek and Fib Poems

Yesterday was the last session of this academic year's version of the Math Treks, sponsored in the Triangle NC area by Natural Math.  The idea behind the Math Treks is to "grow math eyes" by trying to find math concepts, such as fractals and tessellations and golden ratios and such, in nature, or at least among the landscapes in which we live.  These concepts are captured in photography and shared via Flikr, and help students connect abstract math concepts with the concrete reality in which they live.  It's a really great program, and I'm so grateful that we were able to participate.

Since yesterday's session was the last one, it was a culmination of many of the treks that came before.  Find all of the items on the list, and you were designated as a "Super Treker."  We were looking for these items at the Arboretum at NC State, which was a rich place for both photography and natural math (and which I've written about before in this post).  Maria D. of Natural Math and I ended up working together, and eventually found all the items, winning ourselves the title of "Super Trekers."

One of the things we had to do was write a Fibonacci Poem, also called a Fib (which I've explained before in this post), which has syllables in the Fibonacci sequence.  So I wrote this Fib Poem:

Math
Trek
Super
Edition.
Find Nineteen Items.
Then You Are a Super Math Geek!

So here I am--a designated Super Math Geek!  Who would have thought it (especially given that Math is not my strongest discipline)?

My son did his own quest with other students of his age, so I didn't see his items until everything was over. However, as we were walking out, he did show me this thing that he had created:

Start of my son's Fib poem

Not only was it a public declaration (at the very entrance of the Arboretum), but it was the opening syllables of his Fib poem.  Here is his Fib:

My
Mom
Is The
Best Mother
In the Universe.
I Think that She Is Really Great!

So we all had a great day playing with math and photography on a beautiful day in a gorgeous setting, with a little bit of sadness mixed in because we were ending something that we've really enjoyed.  But I think I was probably the happiest mom leaving, thanks to the poetic tribute from my son.

Blogging for Middle Schoolers and Teens

My friend Maria of Natural Math and I are teaching a class on blogging for our local coop.  Today we visited a number of blogs by teenagers or younger that have won awards, gotten some important local or national coverage, and/or have helped their authors achieve their goals or have an impact on the world.  I thought I would list them for others who are looking for some inspiration for what young people are doing with their blogs.

I've divided them into several categories:

Personal/Diary-Like Blogs
These are blogs that basically deal with the life, interests, events, and musings of it author.  Here are two example that were nominated for national awards:
Castles, Quills, and Cameras:  This is written by an 8th grade homeschool students.  In addition to her interest in writing, other key passions she has are books (Quills) and movies (Cameras).  Castles contains everything else:  her schoolwork, her spiritual beliefs, and other random events or thoughts.
Oh Clementine:  (Warning--this blog does have some mild profanity, so don't visit if that offends you or is against your family's rules):  Clementine is a quirky, highly right-brained 16 year old Canadian high schooler who loves dinosaurs, video games, music, and neon.  She is passionate about her politics, which are liberal, but is not loving her high school education.

These examples illustrate some important points about writing interesting and successful personal blogs.  The main thing is, you have to have something interesting and valuable to say.  It helps to be humorous and  to provide helpful information, to be honest about yourself and your weaknesses or failures as well as your successes, and to include content or thoughts that are relevant to the experience or interests of your readers.

Project or Cause Blogs
These are blogs that done to chronicle some other larger project, fundraising, educational, or social or environmental cause.  Here are two by younger populations:
Team PyroTech:  Team PyroTech is a local team of high schoolers competing in the FIRST FRC national robotics competition.  While the primary emphasis of the project is the construct and program large robots to perform the tasks required by the contest, the teams get extra points for having exemplary supporting media, such as videos, websites, and blogs.
Wyatt Workman: Now, this one is just adorable.  A seven-year-old boy living in California who is concerned about the oceans decided to make a claymation film, publish a book, and sell his clay figures at an art show, with all the proceeds going to an environmental nonprofit.  His blog has updates about the media coverage of his work (he's been interviewed on television and national newspapers) and the funds he has raised (over $3,000 at last report).

Project or cause blogs generally support some larger effort, but are a great way to get media exposure or to get the word out to a larger audience than the ones who may be directly involved with the project.

Food Blogs
Food is one of the most popular topics for blogging, and that is true for teenagers as well as adults.  These two have both been nominated for national awards and mentioned in local media:
Foodie at 15 (Now 18):  Nick started sharing his recipe, cooking tips, impressions of great restaurants, and other food items when he was 15.  Now he is 18 and finishing up his senior year before heading to the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he plans to get the business acumen to go with his fantastic cooking and eventually open his own restaurant.  If you read his post on his ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, where he shares not only his personal experience with such cookies, his researching and adapting of the recipes of other famous chefs, his explanation of the science behind the changes he made, and the recipe itself, I'm sure you'll have no doubts that he will do exactly that.
17 (now 18) and Baking: Elissa, who is now a college student, doesn't plan a career in food, but is instead pursuing a journalism degree.  With the degree of professionalism her blog shows, she also seems assured of a bright future.  Her writing is good, her photographs of the food are GORGEOUS, and the recipes are luscious!

Personal Passion and/or Expertise Blogs
These two are example about how becoming an expert in a field that you love can really pay off:
Laura's Life:  When she was in second grade, Laura decided that she wanted to read all the Newbery Award winning books before she was in middle school.  Well, she did, and posted reviews of all of them on her blog.  Now she is working her way through the Fuse#8 Top 100 Children's Novels, as well as participating in Mock Newbery each year.  With hundreds of reviews on her site already, Laura is known by authors and people like the head of the ALA, and receives many free books now to review.  Oh, and she's only 10 years old.  Pretty amazing...
Style Rookie:  This is the queen of the successful teen blogs.  Tavi started blogging about fashion when she was 11, and has since been featured in the New York Times, Pop Magazine, French Vogue, and a number of other media.  This has led to her getting invited to front row seats at New York Fashion Week and the opportunity to write a Fashion Week article for Harper's Bazaar.  She also has designers sending her all kind of clothes and accessories.  Now 14 and in high school, Tavi is still going strong, sometimes getting 50,000 hits per day on her blog.

So there are some samples of outstanding blogs by teenagers or younger.  Have I missed any other teen or younger blogs that really stand out?  Add them to the comments below.

Checking for Spring

So it has been gorgeous here this week in North Carolina--mostly in the 60's, but one day up to 70 degrees.  It's hard not to get Spring Fever!  But to check out whether or not it is actually spring, my son and I went to the JC Raulston Arboretum--the working garden maintained by the horticulture department at North Carolina State University.

Because we humans can think it is whatever season we want....but plants know better.

One of the great things about this arboretum is that they plant vegetation that blooms during all season.  So, for example, the have a winter garden that thrives during the cold weather (given that the winters in North Carolina are relatively mild).  It is, in fact, a great educational thing, if you live in the Raleigh area, to walk around this garden regularly, because it is laid out so that something is displaying its beauty during each season of the year.

However, as much as we would like to believe that we have a really early spring here, the plants aren't buying it--at least yet.

Only the front runners of the daffodils, which are the earliest flowers in the garden to come back in the new year, are displaying flowers:

Other than that, no native trees are blooming.  The blossoms appear only in those transplanted Oriental trees that usually send forth their fruit earlier than native plants, such as the Japanese flowering apricot:

the Manchurian forsythia:

                                                                                                            

and my favorite (coming from the Washington DC area), the beautiful if ephemeral cherry blossoms:

This is a great place to teach our children that humans may desire that seasons have arrived early, but nature will tell us what the truth of the matter is. 

Geckos, Music, and Photos, Oh My!

Today we went to the National Geographic Museum, which had four terrific exhibits in one location.

• The main thing we went to see was the Gecko exhibit, where they have around 20 different varieties of live geckos on display.  Not only was it fun to see so many different types of geckos (which I didn't realize lived in so many different countries and environments), it was fascinating what scientists are learning about geckos, particularly about the unique way they attach themselves to trees or vertical surfaces.
• They were also showing an exhibit called "Wild Music," which explores sounds in natural and different human cultural envrionments and how they influence, contribute to, inspire, or can even be considered music.  It was a wonderful blend of nature and high technology about an artisitic subject (one of the panels discussed the wide difference in opinion about what even should be considered music).  This exhibit had actually already been displayed at our local science museum, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (one of the developers of the exhibit was the Music Research department of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro), but it was several years ago.  We enjoyed it a lot then, but enjoyed revisiting it today, especially since my son is now several years older and could appreciate things he didn't back then.
• Of course, National Geographic is famous for its fabulous photographs, and they had another display of wonderful photographs taken all over the world that ended up not getting into the article for which they were shot.  So we got to see photos of a water park in China, brightly painted boys undergoing an initiation ritual in Ethiopia, turquoise-clad women in Afganistan, and much more.
• Finally, they had one other photographic display, this time of American presidents.  They had a lovely collection of capturing presidents in candid poses that revealed a lot of their personality.  It 1was also a good review for my son's recollection of the last ten presidents.

Snowflake Photography

Now that we're done with both Christmas and Boxing Day, the big excitement around here is the SNOW.  My sister-in-law up North reports that the snow in Raleigh even made the front page of The New York Times.  We've just gotten in from driving around looking at pretty snow scenes, sledding, and having the obligatory snow ball fight.

I'm sure that the many of you all who are blessed with similar winter wonderlands have been out taking pictures of the snow.  But for something different, how about taking pictures of the snowflakes themselves?    Here is an article talking about how to take shots using a popular point-and-click camera, and here is another one with more specialized camera equipment.  Apparently the hardest parts are finding an individual snowflake, or else separating one from a clump without destroying it, and getting enough light without melting the snowflake.   If you are using things like tweezers (to capture a snowflake) or some kind of dark background to contrast with the snowflake, make sure to pre-cool them.

Of course, if all that is too much for you, Snow Crystals.com is a fantastic resource on snowflakes.  Not only do they have a photo gallery of wonderful pictures of snowflakes, they have information on photographing snowflakes (for dedicated photographers only), the science behind snow and ice crystals, snowflake classification, and even how to make your own snowflakes.

So there you go!  Your art and science activities for the day are all set now.