Inclusion

Inclusive education is important as it tells all students, regardless of any disabilities or hardships they may experience, that they matter and are wanted in the classroom. Art may seem like a very visual medium, however, there are many artists who use textural experiences as their form of art. Maurice Orr is a Northern Irish artist who uses may textural and natural materials to create touchable art (Orr, 2011; Personal Communication, July 25, 2014). In his art exhibit for the London 2012 Olympics, Screaming Silence of Wind, he used fish skin and fish leather to create a rich textural canvas. As this interdisciplinary project will be exploring the use of combustion and chemical reactions, students that are seeing impaired have the option of creating a similar art piece but with a focus on how thermodynamics can introduce novel textures.

Students will also be placed in strategically-formed studio groups to ask questions and receive help from group members if a concept is not understood. Resources such as video links, online access to documents, images, technological tools, and complementary resources will also be available to support the wealth of diversity that exists in the classroom. Student-teacher group check-ins will be in place to monitor student understanding and if they require more help, the teachers will be able to help students during studio work periods. Different forms of learning will be used throughout the entire unit such as pictures, videos, texts, audio, group learning, hands-on experience and experimentation, and lecture-based learning. This will ensure that ELLs, students with learning disabilities, and other students who need accommodations will be fully included in the classroom.

Link to Indigenous understandings

Currently, there is a huge and necessary push to be more

inclusive of Indigenous ways of knowing. Science is a

particular area where drawing links to Indigenous culture

and ways of knowing is easy to come off as a token attempt

or contrived way to introduce Indigenous learnings. This

interdisciplinary project will supplement chemistry with

Indigenous ways of knowing through its conjunction with art.

One aspect of Indigenous education that can be brought

into the classroom in an organic matter is the notion of

intrinsic processing of knowledge (Ermine, 1995). The

interdisciplinary nature of our unit challenges students to

make meaningful connections to disciplines that are typically

segregated in order to have a holistic understanding of both

subjects. Through our unit, we hope to challenge Western

thinking and demonstrate to students the interconnectedness

of all of the subjects they study and also, the world around

them.

Students will also do a case study on the composition styles of Indigenous artwork. Students will take a field trip to the Glenbow Museum: The New Sun Gallery of Aboriginal Art and Culture, or an art museum that includes Indigenous art, and focus on the curation, style, and artist synopsis. This exploration of Indigenous art will allow students to understand the social impact of artwork and understand how it can be a vehicle to tell rich cultural stories. There is also an opportunity for students to connect with the Glenbow Museum's Indigenous artist in residence, as the Glenbow Museum is currently featuring an Indigenous art resident. Students will also understand how traditional Canadian Indigenous art is characterized by large shapes, simplified objects, and limited colour palettes. They will then understand the focus of Indigenous ways of knowing and find links into how they can connect their own lived experiences to the chemistry and art curriculums being explored in the classroom.

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