Cultural Collisions in Canada
by: ORIGIN
@OriginPhysics
ORIGIN
ORIGIN is a network involving several astrophysics and high energy physics experiments and research centres.
ORIGIN’s purpose is to set up national Cultural Collisions learning and research experiences, in close partnership with local institutes, educators and decision makers.
Inaugural Experiments and Research Centres
Participating Artists
Michael Hoch
Brigitte Tessier
Consensus
Robin Kingsburgh
David Griffin
Mark-David Hosale
Cultural Collisions
an interdisciplinary exhibition, lecture and workshop series based on the art@CMS methodology
Cultural Collision in Canada
a learning experience for students and teachers to integrate science and the arts
Purpose
Create an environment where learning is about infusing a variety of perspectives, strategies, tools and skills to create new ways to conceptualize and communicate ideas
In order to encourage students to consider STEM/STEAM career pathways and help foster a more STEM/STEAM adept society, it is important to provide opportunities for learning that demystifies STEM/STEAM subjects and provides experiences that are authentic and connected to the universe around them.
Students must:
Involved secondary schools who have arts teacher(s) and science/physics teacher(s) that are interested in exploring the intersections of science, physics, technology, art, music, dance.
Toronto Project
Toronto Cultural Collision: An Ontario Collaboration
ORIGIN
Special Launch Exhibition
April 9 - 15, 2018
Featured:
Throughout the week:
Exhibit Development
The one week exhibit was curated through a large Canadian and global collaboration.
Dr. Michael Hoch from CMS-CERN and art@CMS-CERN and Dr. Peter Kreiger from the University of Toronto Physics Faculty, coordinated the curation of the content for the exhibit and worked with physicists and artists to develop the workshops and talks.
Workshops were embedded in the exhibit experience for students and educators. They were created and delivered by physicists, engineers and artists.
Student Workshops
Students and educators had an opportunity to meet and engage in learning with the professionals who offered workshops.
They were also available for questions and ongoing mentorship as the students continued their work in their schools.
Student Workshops
Virtual Tours for CMS - CERN, ATLAS - CERN, and the Canadian Light Source - Canada were organized.
Students and educators were connected with scientists and engineers at each of the research facilities and received a virtual guided tour of the facility.
Students were encouraged to ask questions!
Students and educators were engaged in a variety of experiences:
Through these experiences, students developed their own expressive art to communicate their experiences and learning.
The Ontario Science Centre curated and showcased student work in the first Cultural Collision - Canada Exhibit.
The arts and Cultural Collisions project has been really good at breaking down barriers for our kids unconscious biases and assumptions they have in their head about what is science and what is art. I think it has been really good at helping them look at scientist as human beings to perform and act in society, just like how they see artists responding to question from society. Seeing that parallel has been really helpful.
- Educator
I think one of the best ways to learn… wasn’t just by looking at them [hardware/images/data], but actually interacting with them. That’s how I was able to gain insight into how they get this data and how they can turn it into information.
...I thought what was interesting about it, was that they take all of this data they gathered from individual test runs… different collisions… they looked at speed coming off from them… They had interesting data. They took this hardware technology to figure this stuff out, and they turned that into data, and there was this whole process that they laid out.
There is a role for cross-curricular integration into science teaching in helping shape student understanding, conceptualization, and communication of concepts. Students were able to demonstrate their knowledge by providing in-depth explanations of concepts using specific terminology and definitions. Making connections to personal experiences and real-world realities, using analogies and engaging in inquiry, students were able to clearly demonstrate their learning. This is important, as students begin to make connections, and are then able to deeply understand and think about why, how and what concepts mean and will then be able to apply this to other STEM areas.
Lastly, student engagement with the Cultural Collisions exhibits and workshops were instrumental in helping inform student learning. Undoubtedly, the findings from this study offer insight into how to innovate for STEM learning and demonstrates the importance of relevant, cross-curricular and integrated STEM education that meets students’ interests.
Next Steps
Guidelines and support resources for hosting organizations and school districts to launch their own Cultural Collision are available.
There is a need to...
Create a network of Canadian scientists and engineers to mentor schools, educators and students in collaboration with Canadian research partners.
Create a network of Canadian artists who work in the intersections of science, technology and engineering to mentor schools, educators and students in collaboration with Canadian partners.
The Cultural Collisions by Origin - Canada experience involved many organizations and volunteers.
Thank you to:
Michael Hoch Peter Krieger Claire Adam Bourdarios Chiara Mariotti
Greg Dick Marie Strickland Consensus Ewin Hill Riccardo Bianchi
Sandra Ribeiro Tracy Walker Scott Wilson Tom McCauley
Martin Hendry Brigitte Tessier Carl-Johan Haster Katerina Chatziioannou
Robin Kingsburgh Mark-David Hosale Lars Tore Roedne David Griffin
Wendy Taylor Karola Dette Sana Ketabchi Kelly Foyle Kevin Donkers
Heather Fong Catherine Woodford Yifei Han Dave Vrolyk Nathan Chow
Dylan Kisliuk David Fish Damian Pope Wen Yi Song Olga Michalopoulos
Bianco Ciungu Vincent Pascuzzi Lorie Ann Smith Ken Doyle
Cathie Spencer Julie Jones Lisa Cole Jennifer Glass Patrick Miller
Kimberley Tavares Moses Velasco Craig Featherstone Mishaal Surti
Jinah Kim Talwinder Aheer Shaan Singha Elise Boissonneault Global Origin Collaborators
Global ORIGIN Collaborators
Thank you to our innovative educators willing to create this experience with us:
Danforth Collegiate
Rob Mackinnon
Roberta Tevlin
Grant Wilson
École Secondaire Toronto Ouest
Francis Cronier-Thériault (principal)
Sébastien De Grand’Maison
Nabil El-Kerri
Omar El Ared
Suha Tannous
University of Toronto Schools
Rosemary Evans (Principal)
Anand Mahadevan
Angela Vemic
Vernon Kee
Marisca VanderKamp
Carlie Pullen
Robin Michel
Nancy Dave
Thornlea SS
Joe Foti
Wilshire ES
Mark McTaggart
Westmount CI
Sheri Epstein
Thornhill PS
Scott Richards
Thornhill SS
David McAdam
Future Possibilities