ESCAPE Online Course Description

This series of Teaching Earth Science Through the Arts will allow teachers to develop their understanding of Next Generation Science Standards for Earth Science, while learning integrative methods for utilizing both hands-on inquiry and Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) educational methods for teaching science through the arts. Teachers will be provided with the hands-on support necessary to implement six NGSS-aligned lessons using an integration of Inquiry and VAPA approaches. In addition to the lesson content each week, teachers will explore topics in elementary science education ranging from how to best engage students in inquiry to supporting ELL students in science. These additional topics are designed to help teachers meet the diverse needs of their students and are spiraled into each inquiry and VAPA approach to teaching elementary science.

More About the ESCAPE Curriculum

Through the ESCAPE Online Course, teachers will receive training in a wide range of Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) as well as Inquiry strategies for teaching science in grades 3, 4, and 5. Click through the tabs below to learn more about these strategies.

Visual Arts Methods
Performing Arts Methods
Inquiry Methods
Science language Development

Pedagogical techniques for integrating visual arts into science curriculum include:

  • Student-led Pictorials
  • Observational Drawings
  • Active Inquiry Art
  • Gesture Drawing
  • Sketching

Elements of Art used include:

  • lines
  • shapes
  • colors
  • shading
  • perspective
  • and more!

Teachers will embody 6 major themes in dance to explore science concepts in the classroom.

These include using our bodies to create:

  • shapes
  • levels
  • pathways
  • patterns
  • axial movements
  • locomotor movements

Teachers will implement 3 inquiry-based lessons incorporating hands-on activities designed to engage students in scientific inquiry.

Topics addressed in the teacher training include:

  • How to implement NGSS
  • Misconceptions in science
  • Content training for each lesson
  • Best practices in inquiry learning

Throughout the ESCAPE program, teachers explore strategies for supporting the development of academic language in science.

These strategies blend traditional pedagogy with the use of dance and art to break down barriers to learning high-level science vocabulary and concepts.

Research Aim of ESCAPE Online

The research aim of the ESCAPE Online Course is to measure the project’s impact on teachers and students, including 1) increases in teacher content and pedagogical knowledge in the areas of earth science and 2) increases in student achievement in earth science, as well as the impact on the science content knowledge of special needs groups, such as English language learners and students classified as of low socioeconomic status. The research will also measure learning gains for NGSS achievement and compare differences in impacts between fully online and on-ground versions of the program.