Lesson: The Exploration of Rocks, Crystals, and Fossils Through Cartooning- 2nd Grade (Science and Visual Art)

Cartooning Your Way to Student Motivation

Lesson: The Exploration of Rocks, Crystals, and Fossils Through Cartooning- 2nd Grade (Science and Visual Arts)

Science Scope. July 2009.

Lesson: The Exploration of Rocks, Crystals, and Fossils Through Cartooning- 2nd Grade

Unmotivated, underachieving students pose a huge challenge for teachers. One way to motivate and stimulate student interest in a topic is to use humor. Humor can help students make new connections in learning and improves retention of information (Garner 2006). In this article, the authors describe how they integrated art and literature with science to encourage curiosity through the exploration of rocks, crystals, and fossils; to fuel interest with science trade books; and to translate newly acquired science information into funny cartoons. The cartoon-making activities engage students while they learn Earth science concepts and develop their abilities to visualize and combine ideas in new ways.

Lesson: Writing Scrapbook- 2nd to 4th Grade (Visual Arts and Technology)

Education Closet: Lesson: Writing Scrapbook- 2nd to 4th Grade (Visual Arts and Technology)

Summary

Students create their own Artful Journals and use them to write persuasively on a chosen topic.  Using visual art to drive the writing, students gain a richer perspective on their topic and take more ownership of their final product. 

It is suggested that the Journal Entries be uploaded to LittleBirdTales.com for a digital resource.