Penders Grove Primary School

The students in grades five and six at Penders Grove Primary School were to study the ecology of pond life during term two, so I seized the opportunity to create art from science, a subject I am very interested in as I have a back ground in science and a keen interest in art. I was overwhelmed with ideas for artwork but I had to be realistic - I wanted to begin the unit with a scientific investigation but I only had the resources that were available within my school.
At first, I thought of painting frogs in the Pointillist style, frogs being a colourful amphibian, but I wanted more than frog pictures for inspiration - I particularly wanted the students to undertake the role of both scientist and artist. I rummaged through our science equipment and found an ancient, but perfectly adequate, series of slides of the various body parts of a bee and some of pond insects: water skaters, mosquitoes, etc. The pond insects were rather skinny in shape and I wanted to use something with a beautiful form. I am passionate about dragonflies so I decided, slides or no slides, their role in the ecology of pond life would be the subject of our study. I used the slides of the bee sections under the microscope as an introduction to the body parts of insects in general, and then, along with pictures and books of dragonflies, attempted to inspire the 'scientist' in the students. I knew this would work, as the students at our school are very responsive and would be interested in a paper bag if you presented it to them in the right way!
The drawback was having only two microscopes available. However, I put the wing of a bee under one microscope, which I then connected to the laptop, and the other slides of the bee's anatomy were viewed with the other microscope. The students were able to view the slides of pond insects by holding them up to the light. Because any study of this kind requires detailed observation, I regretted the fact that we had no stereomicroscopes. In an ideal world, each student would sketch directly from the view under a microscope.
The first step of the artistic process or component involved the students familiarising themselves with the topic by sketching parts of dragonflies from photocopied pictures. I explained that drawing a whole dragonfly was a waste of precious time, as symmetry in nature ensured that one side would be the same as the other! Students were told that they would be choosing a section of the dragonfly which, when viewed through a viewfinder, would create an interesting contour line design on paper. It was important that they understood they did not have to choose something that their audience would recognise as part of an insect, rather, something they saw as a pleasing design within the frame. Students were given a cardboard viewfinder that had two viewing frames cut out, one smaller than the other. The choice of viewer depended on the size of the photocopied picture they chose.
Students traced the frame onto scrap paper or in sketchbooks and, with a finely sharpened 2B or HB pencil, drew a detailed contour drawing of what they saw. They were asked not to shade or block in, as it would be confusing in the next stage. They were then given a piece of white Cartridge Paper and halfway guidelines were marked on the edges and also on the edges of the frame in the viewfinder. These reference lines were to help them enlarge their section drawing onto the Cartridge Paper. (If I were to do this topic again, I would devote a session to teaching this skill before I began the topic.)
When they were happy with their design, they went over the lines with black glue. This was made from PVA and black paint and was given to the students in small plastic bottles with witches hat applicators. (These are available from Zart.) When the glue dried, the students painted the sections with fluorescent paints. They had to choose three analogous colours and were allowed to mix them and to make tints and shades if they wished. Any paint on the glue lines was subsequently hidden with a black marker. (The only problem with this is that the glossiness of the glue was reduced.) The background was then painted with a contrasting colour.
We have weekly art sessions of one hour. The whole process took about six weeks:

1. Study of insects under microscopes

2. Studies of dragonflies from photocopied pictures drawn in sketchbooks

3. Frame-size detailed contour drawings

4. Enlargement of drawings onto Cartridge Paper

5. Outlining drawings with black glue

6. Painting with fluorescent paint and addition, with black glue, of fine details such as hairs.