Dr. Mary Stokrocki, Professor at Arizona State University and faculty mentor, worked with art scholar-teacher Laura Hales who was one of her graduate students, to offer an art class to Yavapi third graders at the Hmañ 'Shawa Elementary School, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Fountain Hills, Arizona. The 10-week program was based on the theme “Our Place in the World”(www.artsednet.getty.edu) and included exploratory art criticism, art history, and creating art components. The program began with a prequestionnaire and a pre-drawing of what they like to do, oil pastel and watercolor resist, and ended in a clay relief. Earlier, Hales introduced third-grade students to an art inquiry discussion based on a painting of a girl by Navajo artist Shonto Begay (Clover & Jim, 1997). They learned about the concepts of foreground, middle ground, background and center of interest. Students also learned that “art is making something special!”

Ecological teaching models and evidence of success in public schools may be lacking. We created a constructivist ecological model using the animé Nausiscaa with fourth graders in a Scottsdale, Arizona school. The animé involves the epic adventure, good and evil battle to affect the future of the human race. We documented results using questionnaires, photographs, and students’ written final statements. An art teacher introduced the animé, followed with students’ analysis of action sequences, demonstrated how to make three-dimensional super bugs, and questioned students about ecological concerns. Our major research question was how did discussing the animé Nausicaa and making super bugs empower children to reinterpret bug powers and learn about ecology. We offer explanations of surface and deeper influences. While most responses regarding bug powers were bad--offensive and defensive, two emerging good categories related to ecology were recycling and pollinating. Students showed some empathetic understanding and constructed a few ecological connections between their inner and outer worlds.

Using participant observation, we describe/interpret the results of teaching a constructivist unit that empowered students in narrative writing and illustration. Participant observation methods included daily note taking, pre-post questioning, and photographing artworks. We analyzed students’ stories and illustrations with borrowed and emerging categories and included students’ criteria from their final peer assessment called Critter Critique. Findings suggest they have misconceptions about the desert (an ugly place or has triangular shaped mountains). When narrating, students showed propensity to use first person narration and humor. They are fascinated with the predator/prey theme and snakes are their dominant desert creatures. When illustrating, some students used expression/projection; all used three or more spatial grounds; and many drew tiny details and secret places. Educators need to discuss with students life cycles in the desert, essential issues such as survival, their place in the preservation of this delicate and quickly disappearing wilderness, and the reasons why they should take care of the desert and its animals.