MANSFIELD — Students of Woodland Elementary school got a chance to learn about weather in a way they may remember for a lifetime.
Nearly every student got a chance to mesh science and dance with Tom Evert of DanceEvert, a company in Cleveland.
“It’s arts integrated instruction,” Evert said. “So we’ve taken age-appropriate science standards concerning weather and interpreted them into dance. We’ve done some investigation and consideration of what happens when water evaporates
“We found movements to float and rise as part of that process. We’ve gone through really that whole science curriculum.”
Evert said he was able to meet with the students four times before the school’s performance in front of parents and care takers.
Using movement along with learning facts is a great way to learn and remember for a long time, he said. Evert has come to the school annually for at least 30 years.
“Even though it’s not always so conscious, an awareness or a wonder about the idea, art is usually bigger than life anyway in that it’s creative and creates interest and excitement about it,” he said. “(It uses) multiple intelligences in that we’re learning kinesthetically with our bodies. We’re learning and interacting rather than just reading or writing. They have many types of learning at work.”
Mansfield School District Superintendent Brian Garverick agreed this different type of learning is useful.
“Students are used to being very active, and they have high energy levels,” he said. “This is an opportunity to learn through dance and weather at the same time. They are having fun learning.”
The presentation lasted about an hour as children danced together and in age groups representing planets, the sun, and various weather elements.
The school district has partnered with the Kennedy Arts Center in Washington D.C. as a way to integrate the arts into core curriculums, Garverick said.
“As you know the arts are a conceptual piece of using imaginations to learn,” he added. “When they can express themselves using their imagination and learn the concepts of weather, that’s a win-win.”
