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10. Making Sea Level Rise Visible: The Mural Project at Umana School in Boston
- 2023/05/10
- 再生時間： 38 分
- ポッドキャスト
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あらすじ・解説
The Mural Project at Umana School in BostonThe Sea Level Rise Mural Project at Umana School in Boston is an offshoot of another research project on extreme weather that Lois has been involved with. It has been funded by the National Science Foundation for the past four years. This school year Lois has been working in a Spanish bilingual public school in Boston, called Umana elementary school. It's built on land that is 10 inches above the current mean high high tide. The main high high tide is what we usually call sea level. The school is right on Boston Harbor but the kids don't have any access to the harbor because it's fenced away, and there's weeds and industrial garbage beyond the fence. Lois worked with the art teacher and the fifth through eighth grade students to make a clay tile mural about sea level rise. Many of them are recent immigrants to Boston with varied documentation status. Many are Spanish only speakers. The playgrounds at Umana have already flooded at 10 inches, and they're going to continue flooding. By 2030 it's going to be 14 inches, by 2050 It's going to be 33 inches, and by 2070 it’s supposed to be 55 inches. These might be low estimates. The purpose of the project is to raise community awareness about the impact of sea level rise on this community, and help them to understand nature based solutions to sea level rise. We are making murals that show the animal habitat in the area, and potential adaptations to address the flooding. For example, structures can be elevated, or structures can be built to block the wave action. Or marshes can be created to absorb water. The hope is that these murals will educate and motivate community planning. Lois describes her state of disequilibrium as she embarks on a project out of her expertise as a teacher and a researcher. Lois had to learn from others how to design and site a mural. She had to work with new materials and collaborate with others that could fire the 900 discreet tiles painted by students, and then install them on interior walls at the school. Lois was challenged to learn a lot quickly about what constitutes or threatens healthy sea life in Boston Harbor, and what is predicted to happen to sea life with sea level rise. Lois worried about what students were actually learning as they painted their individual tiles, and how her arts education values of student choice, revision, joy, personal expression, problem solving, engagement, connection, commitment, imagination, reflection, playfulness, and close observation were, or were not, being attended to in this project.Lois describes how she has enjoyed the collaboration with the art teacher, and getting to know the East Boston community. She appreciates the public visual permanence of the information that is expressed in the mural, which can be a platform for future learning. But what worries her about the project is whether the kids learned enough about sea level rise and the importance of biodiversity. . I don't know if they did. I don't know if they know why biodiversity matters. Were the students engaged enough and do they see the personal relevance? Lois asks, what makes a good enough project in climate education?Ask The Students For Their IdeasLouiseI applaud you and your colleagues for jumping in, Lois. I think about Trena and Constance in our last episode, who surveyed the students of the teachers they were working with, and found out that kids were thinking about climate change all the time. They were wondering why adults aren't doing more. I can't imagine that that's so different for the children in Boston at Umana Elementary School. It is so great that they are having the opportunity to paint tiles with the local sea life, and that their learning is right there surrounding their school. These students see adults, you and your colleagues, as you put the panels together, and they see that you are doing something. I imagine they see that this is helping them and their families to understand how climate change is going to change their local environment. I imagine the kids must be really grateful that that's happening. I just can't imagine that it isn't very reassuring for children to see this project happening. I can't imagine that, because it will be a permanent piece at the school site, that it won’t inspire more collaborations and new curriculum about climate change in East Boston and the world. What a gift! Heather Amazing educators, artists, like yourself, Lois, do good enough projects. What makes a good enough project is having an excellent art educator in a system of schooling that is not conducive to the kind of artmaking that they're used to. When I was in second grade my whole extended family took several vacations to Yellowstone National Park. I was so enthusiastic about what I experienced that my second grade teacher gave me an opportunity to lead an art project for my classmates. This is a story of Heather's ...