An Interdisciplinary Lesson; Making Connection and Aiding Retention

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In regards to atomic theory for our chemistry block, there were several aspects that I wanted to convey. That protons and neutrons are much larger than an electron which is consider a point particle with essentially no mass. I also wanted to convey the 3-dimensional aspect of electron clouds and energy shells. Lastly, I wanted the fact that the vast majority of the atom is space to be conveyed. I used an art lesson to teach these things.

We first start with the review of the science. Memory recall, as one of our best tools for learning and retention, is used to see how much my daughter can remember of the material that we have gone over. I give her prompts, and she tells me as much as she can remember from the lessons, activities, and reading she has done. After she finishes, I fill in the gaps for her, and go over the misconceptions that she may have of the material.

From here we have a discussion on the art. We go over the color wheel, color theory, and also color coding, because we will be using a color to code the different aspects of the atom – a color for the protons, one for the neutron, one for each energy shell, and finally one for the electron. We review material from the previous years on spherical shapes, lighting, and giving 3-dimensional appearance to object through things like overlapping, foreshortening, and intensity of color.

Then we practice. We draw a few spheres. We draw some overlapping spheres. We draw some spheres inside spheres. After a few practice drawing, we start our drawing for our main lesson page. 

We are using chalk pastels for this exercise mostly because they are quick with intense color and are generally easy to work with, especially for spherical work. We used charcoal for most of our previous sphere, cup, and bowl work, so this transfers easily. We are using Prismacolor chalk pastels. 

Video

Time Stamp

00:00 Introduction
00:48 2D models of atoms
02:00 Reviewing art concepts
02:46 Reviewing the science
03:30 Discussion art elements
04:33 Practice drawing spheres
06:58 Overlapping and shadows
09:50 Color coding
11:13 Drawing energy shells
15:10 Electrons
16:30 Closing