MATH IN ART
ONLINE TEACHER TRAINING COURSE
Math in Art is an 8-week online teacher course designed to thoroughly train teachers in new math-and-art integration pedagogies and prepare them to create arts-integrated experiences in their classroom.
The Math in Art course was the most fascinating online professional development that I've taken. In addition to providing real cross-curricular strategies for engaging, inquiry based learning, it was a personal pleasure to think deeply and critically about the featured artworks.
Participating Teacher, 2019
Between the Art of Looking program and the Art of Math Challenge, teachers were beginning to recognize the unique take that the Barnes K-12 offerings had on arts-integration and STEAM. Teachers consistently told me that they were energized by the lessons provided in the Barnes’ STEAM programs, but weren’t sure how to develop arts-integrated lessons of their own with the same blend of project-based learning and authentic engagement with art.
With an online course, I wanted to provide teachers with the tools and experience to engage with STEAM and arts-integration in their classroom.
This interactive online course offers teachers the chance to explore how integrating art and math in the classroom can invigorate students and bring curriculum to life. The 8-week course was co-written and co-delivered by math experts from the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, focusing on integrating Barnes’ art inquiry practices and the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practices. In addition to delivering the content through videos and readings, the course uses practice, peer-to-peer learning, and personal reflection as drivers for authentic application of and investment in our STEAM pedagogy.
This course has been an avenue to an approach on math education that I have been seeking for years. I have been determined to harness the interest and curiosity that art lends itself to so naturally and leverage that in the math classroom. I wanted to push beyond the level of identifying shapes in artwork and go deeper but my own educational experiences left me with nothing to draw from. This course has given me the tools that I was lacking and providing me with the vocabulary and exemplars that I needed in order to implement art in my Algebra classroom with authenticity.
Participating Teacher, 2019
100%
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of participating teachers agreed that the Math in Art course contributed to their students' learning
in both art and math.
2019 Teacher Participant Survey
Math in Art achieves measurable goals for teachers regardless of their math or art experience: first, teachers learn to investigate art on their own, then how to encourage their students to engage with art through inquiry, and finally how to recognize mathematical thinking in those art experiences and translate them into authentic, student-led math and art projects.
Through this pedagogy, teachers are able to reach curricular goals through the Common Core Math Practice Standards and demonstrate practical applications of Common Core Math Content areas. Teachers who complete the course are offered teacher professional development credits through a local accredited organization.
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The course was designed to create a similar level of engagement and lasting growth online as we see in our in-person offerings. As an educational institution, we aim to retain the Barnes teaching pedagogy, which is steeped in inquiry-based and experiential learning. This required creativity and research to translate to an online course.
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With limited funding, I was able to research, write, and build the online platform for an 8 week intensive online course. The program applies multiple modalities for learning including instructional videos, practice scenarios, peer-to-peer evaluation, group dialogue, in-classroom practice, and personal reflection, culminating in a submitted lesson plan based on their students’ input and inquiry.
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To engage these various methods, I adapted each iteration to fit new needs. In its first three sessions, I ran the course through Google Classroom, then Google Sites, and finally through Canvas with Practice (a platform that allows for video-based practice scenarios).
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The Math in Art course engaged 20-30 teachers per session,
15-20 of whom were given free tuition based on Title 1 status. Over the three sessions of the course, the number of teachers who applied and attended the course increased year over year, and the number of teachers who completed the course increased from 60% to 85% based on feedback and improvements.
Prior to COVID-19, the course was in the process of becoming an offering at a local arts university and we were in the development stages of a similar Science & Art themed course slated for Spring 2020.
