Over the course of two semesters, teachers at the Nature Lab and in RISD’s Teaching + Learning in Art + Design Department developed a curriculum that aimed to integrate equally science and art learning. Taught to local high school students in our Biodesign Makerspace and refined over the course of the year, the curriculum is divided into three units (Biomaterials, Biomimicry, and Biosystems) meant to build upon each other. While lesson plans seen below can be downloaded individually and used as one-off class sessions, keep in mind that they have been designed to build on knowledge gained in previous lessons and to be followed up with other lessons.  

Within each lesson plan you will find: Standards, Objectives, & Supplies: Each lesson meets a number of national science (Next Generation Science) and art (National Core Visual Art) standards for high school students, which you will find listed in every lesson. Lesson objectives and lesson concepts are also listed in this section. Also found in this section is a list of instructional support materials you, the teacher, will need to actualize this lesson plan (like powerpoints, smartboard or LCD projector, etc.) and a list of supplies your students will need to do the activities described.  

Learning Plan: The learning plan is a step-by-step sequence for the lesson. Within every learning plan you will see sections called “5 Minute Journaling” and “ ‘So What?’ Lesson Recap.” With our students, sketchbooks, or journals, as we alternately call them, played an important role for students in documenting and reflecting on the content we covered in each class. As such, we tried to underscore the importance of regularly documenting and reflecting on our ideas by ending every lesson with five minutes of journal writing, and we have included the writing prompts we used here. Knowing that the larger context of and imperative for science and art learning is often not made clear for students, we also tried to end every lesson with a “So What?”—a brief recap of the day’s class and a drawing out of its larger importance outside of just our classroom. Included in each lesson plan is a sentence or two on what we felt was the “So what?”––the big idea behind and context for each class.  

Worksheets and Handouts: Where appropriate, lesson plans include worksheets and handouts that we used with our students. There are some lessons that do not have worksheets.  

Vocabulary Terms + Flashcards: In most classes, we introduced one to five key terms to our students. Definitions are our own, and in some cases, a simplified definition for a complex term. We made flashcards that could be pasted into students’ sketchbooks, displayed in the classroom, or used in vocabulary games like “Hot Seat” (see Lesson Plan 3 for rules to “Hot Seat”). However you choose to use them, most lesson plans include vocabulary definitions and flashcards. Cut out cards and tape or glue them together.