From June 13 to 15, 2007, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), the University of Hawai‘i, and the Hanauma Bay Education Center collaborated on a unique teacher training workshop. Using the coastal environment of Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, workshop participants learned how to integrate science, social studies, visual arts, language arts, and technology.

Based on Hawai‘i Content and Performance Standards (HCPS) III science, visual arts, and language arts standards, the workshop began with essential questions to guide the discussions on issues dealing with the environment, culture, and change. Participants formulated hypotheses about the environment at Hanauma Bay and learned how visual arts could help train the eye for scientific observation to guide.

Using digital cameras and pastels, participants transformed their observations in digital photography and art. Using the image-to-word strategies developed by PREL’s Pacific Center for the Arts and Humanities in Education (PCAHE) program, they brought language to their art.

Click on the links below to see participants’ work.
Notice how the participants created “photojournalistic” captions, combining metaphors with scientific facts. Picturing Science strategies provide a means for students to integrate science concepts, art, and language in this manner.