BE GREEN: A RATS EYE VIEW OF GARBAGE

A STEAM project with La Crosse Polytechnic, School District of La Crosse, and Pump House Regional Arts Center for students to explore art as an expression of their environmental concerns. To expand their voice, we created opportunities to message those concerns to our community through local shows of original art.

LEARNING POINTS

Chemistry

Creativity

Sustainability

Problem Solving

In their science classes, students gained the knowledge of the different forms and chemicals found in everyday plastics. Additionally, they were assigned a local animal, for example; turtle, bear, bluegill, heron, etc., and were tasked with creating a sculptural animal out of collected trash. This allowed students to explore how each creature is Impacted by trash and acknowledge their personal trash creation.

THE BUILDING PROCESS

Using collected trash from their homes and classrooms, students began constructing their animal. Along the way, students learned and developed art skills such as composition, sculpture and working creatively in teams.