Art & Science: Decomposition

This activity sequence is one of several that focus on the thinking skills connecting artists and scientists, and was originally piloted with upper elementary students who had little prior experience setting up their own investigations. As such, the below procedure is quite guided. If you've already been working on helping your students make systematic investigations, consider introducing them to more advanced aspects of the scientific practice of Planning and Carrying Out Investigations (see NSTA Summary), such as controlling variables, determining how measurements will be recorded, and deciding how much evidence needs to be collected by the class to back up claims.

Part 1. Light Investigation: How do different amounts of light affect paper?
In this activity, students will discuss the role of conservators in protecting objects in museums. They measure the light levels in their classroom and test if construction paper is affected differently if placed in different locations for a week.

Teacher tip: Let the construction paper sheets remain in their spots for at least one week to allow sunlight to fade the material. We recommend selecting a single color to make comparison easy, and to keep a vivid copy in a dark drawer!

Part 2. Decomposition Investigation: How can we use other materials to protect paper from fading?
Now that students have discovered that light fades paper, they will set up an investigation to find out how effective different materials are at blocking sunlight and protecting a piece of construction paper from fading.

Teacher tip: Let the construction paper sheets remain in their spots for at least one week before uncovering the results.

Part 3. Art Composition
Students will analyze the results of their decomposition investigation from last week. Then, they will use the knowledge they gained about the materials to create an artistic composition of their own!

1. Introduce the theme, vocabulary word, skill, and career of the day as follows:
   » Theme: Decomposition
   » Vocabulary: Decomposition. The breakdown of materials, either by living organisms such as bacteria, insects, and fungus, or by non-living means such as heat or light
   » Skill: Investigation. An active and systematic process to discover the answer to a question or the solution to a problem
   » Career: Conservator. A person whose job is to preserve objects within a museum. At natural history museums, conservators work with dead specimens. At fine arts museums, conservators work with paintings, three-dimensional objects, arts on paper, and textiles.
   
2. Give students time to record these concepts in their notebooks using their own words and/or drawings. Ask students to predict if the skill of investigation is used by artists, scientists, or both.
   
3. Point out that different parts of the classroom get different amounts of light. If we were a conservator about to hang art on a museum wall, we would wonder whether different amounts of lighting would affect artwork. Our question: How do different amounts of light affect paper?
   
4. Explain that the class will set up a simple test over the coming week, laying out or posting a single sheet of colored construction paper in 5 different areas that receive different amounts of light.
   
5. Using the Science Journal app, have students measure the light levels in several different locations. Using these data, allow the class to pick 5 locations that they feel would lead to some interesting comparisons based on light level.

Review Results from Last Week

1. Have students look back at their notebook pages from the decomposition investigation to refresh their memories about the predictions that they made.
   
2. Give students the construction paper that has been exposed to sunlight and let them remove the materials. Encourage them to compare their pages to their neighbor's sheets and discuss what they notice.
   
3. Have the whole class discuss the results, first focusing on general observations. You can use the I notice, I wonder prompts to guide the discussion.
   
4. Next have students work in small groups to rate each material based on how well it protected the paper from sun exposure. Use the rating system outlined in the notebook: 1 = did not block the sun, 2 = somewhat blocked the sun, 3 = mostly blocked the sun, and 4 = blocked the sun completely. Be sure that they understand that the lightest sections represent the areas with the least blockage, while the dark areas are those that were most protected from the light.
   
5. After each group has rated their materials, compile the class ratings on the board. As a class, review the ratings and discuss any differences in how groups rated the materials. If appropriate for your grade level, have students calculate an average score for each material based using the ratings of all the individual groups.
   
6. Discuss the results with students. Ask them if any of the results surprised them. Ask them to explain why they think certain materials were better at blocking the light than other materials. Did the setup of the investigation play a role? What would they investigate next?

Art Composition

1. Introduce the theme, vocabulary word, skill, and career of the day as follows:

   » Theme: Discovery
   » Vocabulary: Composition. The way pieces or elements are put together or arranged
   » Skill: Creativity. The ability to generate original, imaginative ideas
   » Career: Designer. Designers consider how people interact with an object, and then try to make that interaction better.
   

2. Give students time to record these concepts in their notebooks using their own words and/or drawings. Ask students to predict if this skill used by artists, scientists, or both.
   
3. Understanding the properties of materials is important not just for scientists, conservators, and architects; designers also need to be familiar with the materials they use. Tell students that now that they have learned so much about how these materials affect the paper, they will use that knowledge to create an abstract composition that deliberately manipulates the fading process. They will have access to the same materials and a new piece of fresh construction paper. They can cut the materials into any shapes and sizes and place them on the paper in any arrangement.
   
4. Encourage students to think first about how they want the construction paper to look after it has faded and the materials are removed. What shapes do they want to create? What shades of color do they want? How might these shapes and colors fit together within the whole composition? Once students have a clear idea of their desired end product, have them figure out how to use the available materials to create that effect. They should remember that the areas that are not covered will fade the most.
   
5. Give students time to make their compositions. Place their works in an area with plenty of sun exposure, where they will be left for several days.

Ideas for Student Reflection

• Reflect on the skill of creativity and ask students how they used this skill in today's activity.
  
• Ask students how the skill might be useful for designers and for scientists. Revisit the predictions they made at the beginning about who might use the skill and discuss how their thinking about this might have changed.
  
• Designers use their creativity to imagine the things they want to make, but to make their ideas real, they must understand how their materials work. If you were a designer, how would you use the materials from today's activity to create something that would protect a work of art from being damaged by light?

Science and Engineering Practices

• Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

Crosscutting Concepts

• Cause and Effect