At Austin Road Elementary School, fourth graders recently brought their knowledge of the American Revolution to life through a creative, interdisciplinary project that blended history, art and technology.
The effort brought together STEAM teacher Patricia Huestis, art teacher Chris Williams, and fourth grade teachers Mary Jean Cerbini, Katie Douma, Carolyn Ryan, Jerry Volpe, Tiffany Ziegelhofer, and teaching assistant Adrianne Eppolito. Over the course of the school year, the team designed a project that would build academic and creative skills across subjects.
“This was a truly integrated project that combined social studies, art and STEAM,” Huestis said. “It was a team effort from start to finish, and it’s been incredibly rewarding to see students apply what they’ve learned in such a creative and meaningful way.”
The students began by studying key events and themes of the Revolutionary War in their social studies classes. Working in small groups, they conducted research on related historical paintings, which served as the inspiration for handmade puppets they created in art class. With their puppets and historical knowledge in hand, the fourth graders wrote scripts for a short film set in a fictional art museum, where the paintings and characters come to life in a “Night at the Museum”-style twist. In STEAM class, the students used the video editing software WeVideo, a tool they had practiced with earlier in the school year, to produce their final films.
The hands-on project allowed the students to strengthen skills in research, writing, collaboration, art and digital storytelling while deepening their understanding of American history.
