A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME WITH AN ARTIST: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO TEACHING EARTH HISTORY

Interdisciplinary learning is the future of education. Skills obtained in one discipline can be applied to others. For example, natural scientists and artists must describe, document, and depict the world around them, but their perspectives are unique to their discipline. Work by Needle et al. (2007) showed that projects involving art and biology students encourage them to explore cross-disciplinary pathways in both their academic endeavors and future occupations.

Inspired by the efforts of Needle et al. (2007), I created a performance art piece, using fossils and geologically significant historical events where all of Earth's history was condensed into a calendar year, the purpose being for art students to gain a better understanding of the concept of deep time. I updated the activity for undergraduate students enrolled in a general education geology course. Students prepared casts from molds I created of recognizable fossils and then researched them. Students measured out a one-hundred-and-twenty-meter-long plot on our university campus and then divided it into twelve, ten-meter sections, each section representing a month. Students calculated how the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic fit into a single calendar year along this plot. Students placed their fossils and significant events in earth's history in order, from oldest to youngest on the timeline. Students described, documented, and depicted their journey using digital media. This interactive and interdisciplinary activity teaches artistic techniques in problem-solving and fosters creative and critical thinking skills, all of which are important to the natural scientist and the artist.

Needle, A., Corbo, C., Wong, D., Greenfeder, G., Raths, L., & Fulop, Z. 2007. Combining Art And Science In “Arts and Sciences” Education. College Teaching, 55(3), 114–120. https://doi.org/10.3200/CTCH.55.3.114-120