Arkansas endangered species inspire middle-schoolers
Middle school teachers turned the study of endangered species of Arkansas into an art and a science.
Art teacher Jessica Merrill collaborated with the science department on a project focusing on endangered species that spanned both the fall and spring semesters.
Between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, each student picked from a long list of endangered species in Arkansas to research, science teacher Gina Mayhew said. They discovered as much information about the animals as possible, finding out what habitats their animal lives in and the animal’s life-cycle, she said.
This semester, the students created collage images of the species they researched using recycled bits of paper from magazines and other sources, according to Merrill. The final art pieces were entered in the eighth annual Arkansas Endangered Species Day Contest, which includes cash prizes for students who place in the top three of each age category. A grand prize winner will also receive a $250 Acorn Naturalist gift card and plaque.
Principal Teresa Morgan came up with the idea of pairing the two subjects together for the project, Mayhew said. Combining art and science projects is something new for the middle school, which is working towards transitioning into new science
standards, she said. Mayhew pointed out that many schools are adding art to the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and math, creating a shift towards STEAM.
Students knew quite a bit about their species by the time they started the art project, she said.
“We were really excited that students got to pick their animals and research them,” Mayhew said.
Student Lilly Cole said she was surprised to learn how many animals, plants and fish in Arkansas were considered endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists 3o Arkansas animals and five plant species as endangered, according to the organization’s website ecos.fws.gov.
Every single science student studied an endangered specie in the fall, but only students in Merrill’s class participated in the art project, Mayhew said. However, Merrill consulted with other art students who wanted to enter the contest and helped them get started on the project, she said.
Merrill said she showed her students some collage examples and got them started on the technique.
“It was cool to see how they each had their own flair,” she said.
Hannah Colon chose to study the red-cockaded woodpecker because she liked the unique pattern of dots on his back. She realistically recreated the pattern on his back using tiny dots of paper and spent lots of time getting the bark pattern on the tree just right.
“They’re trying to not only show the animal but the habitat behind it and its struggles in life,” Mayhew said. “The fact they can make it realistic is just fantastic.”
Mayhew estimated that only one or two students would still remember the names of the animals they studied during the first semester without the collaboration. But because students did the research, then used a different section of their brain to do the art project on the animal, the information was solidified in their mind, she said.
There is lots of research that shows that presenting information repetitively to students in multiple disciplines deepens their understanding and learning, she said.
Student Kami Hulbert, who studied the Florida panther, said that learning about the animal in science and following up with an art project definitely helped her remember what she learned. “It’s fun to apply what we did in science in art,” she said.