CRAFTING FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION

Creativity is a necessary but often overlooked component of science (van’t Hoff, 1967). In K-12 classrooms, science is most often taught through a series of structured lesson plans, and while effective, a full lesson plan is not always necessary to convey a scientific concept. Additionally, this style of teaching may not be as engaging to students as a more interactive method of teaching. One such method is the use of arts and crafts to convey scientific concepts. The combination of open-ended, unstructured “arts” and goal-oriented, structured “crafts” allows children to be creative while also following instructions to create a model of a real-world concept with which they can interact. Because many concepts in the natural sciences may initially be unintuitive to children, the Rutgers Geology Museum presents science-themed arts and crafts projects during its educational events. These short activities convey scientific ideas or teach children about specific topics. For instance, the concept of natural selection was taught using an activity based on the Peppered Moth where children decorated paper moths and placed them around the Museum in a location where they would be best camouflaged. The moths that were not well-camouflaged were “eaten” by predators; those that were well-camouflaged survived. This simple activity only took a few minutes to complete and demonstrated the complex concept of natural selection in an engaging way. Additional concepts like symbiosis, using the hydrothermal vent worm, and bioluminescence, using the deep-sea angler fish, have also been taught using similar craft activities. It is important to engage creativity at all ages and these types of simple make-and-take craft activities are perfect for informal education centers such as museums where students only visit for a short time. Because these types of activities align with the Next Generation Science Standards, they can also be easily incorporated into more formal educational settings like K-12 classrooms.