The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project
Global Science Opera: STEAM in Your Classroom!
Global Science Opera: STEAM in Your Classroom!
A 7-12 grade STEAM lesson
Jeff Steinert
May 2024
Notes for teachers
Note: This lesson will use an Exoplanet scene from the 2023 GSO as an example of the production process.
The Global Science Opera (GSO) is a creative education initiative that combines science, art, technology, and education in a global network of scientists, arts and education institutions and projects. Using digital interaction, schools, universities, and arts and education institutions from over 30 participating countries perform and live-stream Global Science Opera performances. Typically, one or two teams from each participating country are invited to develop a two- minute scene for the opera, with all scenes performed or aired on World Children’s Day (November 20) as a continuous, real-time event that viewers can watch live online or stream at a later date and time.
Note: Just a few teams/schools from the US develop and produce GSO scenes each year, but this lesson is still a great way to get students and teachers in STEM and performing arts classes to collaboratively create!
List of Materials:
Science Standards:
Plus HS+E.E2U1.13: Analyze and interpret data showing how gravitational forces are influenced by mass and the distance between objects.
Plus HS+E.E2U1.14: Use mathematics and computational thinking to explain the movement of planets and objects in the solar system.
Science and Engineering Practices:
Music Standards:
HS Adv Creating 1a Generate and Conceptualize Artistic Ideas: Compose and improvise ideas for arrangements, sections, and short compositions for specified purposes that reflect characteristic(s) of music from a variety of cultures studied in rehearsal.
HS Adv Performing 6b Convey Meaning Through the Presentation of Artistic Work: Demonstrate an understanding of expressive qualities of the music in prepared and improvised performances of a varied repertoire representing diverse cultures, styles, genres, and historical periods.
Note: Science Standards will vary from year to year as the topic of the Global Science Opera changes and Arts Standards will vary depending on the nature of the collaboration with performing arts classes.
Objective(s): These will change based on the topic/scene instructors choose.
Today we will brainstorm ideas about how to collaboratively produce a two-minute video on Exoplanets for the 2023 Global Science Opera: Unfold the Universe. (Day 1 STEM and Performing Arts (PA) classes)
Today we will storyboard our scene and determine how we can incorporate video, images, music, dance, and/or theatrical arts into the content of our scene. We will collaborate with performing artists to plan the composition, instrumentation, performance, and recording of the accompaniment to our production. (Day 2 STEM and PA)
Today we will search for public-domain resources on Exoplanets that we can use in our scene, downloading video and images and determining how to properly attribute them in our final scene. (Day 3 STEM)
Today our collaborating performing artists will rehearse and record accompaniment for our scene and we will begin editing the video, images, music, and images into our final scene. (Day 3 PA)
Today we will complete final editing of our Exoplanet scene for the 2023 GSO. (Day 4 STEM and PA)
Note: The sequence of lessons likely will not be consecutive class days, so that storyboards, scripts, costumes, choreography, music composition, rehearsals, and research may be completed between the numbered days.
Agenda (60 minutes per period)
This lesson will take four periods to complete with substantial time between classes to conduct research, write scripts and compositions, join in creative collaborations, and complete recording and editing the final two-minute scene.
Day 1 (STEM + Performing Arts Combined)
Brainstorm in small, mixed groups of STEM and Performing Arts students with the goal of creating and producing a two-minute video on Exoplanets that uses performing arts to convey STEM content to viewers unfamiliar with the topic. Share group work with the class and pool the best ideas.
Day 2 (STEM + Performing Arts Combined)
Continuing in small, mixed groups, storyboard the scene, laying out how to combine content related video and still images, music, dance, and theatre into our two-minute scene. Again, share out with the class and reach consensus on which storyline seems most promising to pursue.
Day 3 (STEM)
Work in pairs to find and download public domain images and videos for use in the scene. NASA and ESA are great sources and only require attribution with their logo clearly visible in the image or video. Others may also be excellent.
Day 3 (Performing Arts)
Rehearse and record two-minute audio track, composed by students for the Exoplanet scene.
Day 4 (STEM + Performing Arts Combined)
Edit together the audio and visual segments, adding audio fades and video transitions between elements. Reach consensus on what works and what doesn’t through consultation with peers. Add English subtitles/captions for each segment of the video. Export final video to share/publish.
Creating a Scene for the Global Science Opera
Each year, one or two organizations are invited to write the storyline for the opera based on a theme. In 2023, it was Unfold the Universe, inspired by images from the Webb Space Telescope, and written by students in Sri Lanka and India. A sequence of scenes is generated based on the theme and storyline (see this link for a copy of the 2023 scenes) and schools across the globe sign on to create two-minute scenes to capture on video or to livestream during the premiere.
TOPIC: Exoplanets (our school’s 2023 scene)
Prompt from GSO Organizers: What is an exoplanet? How far is the nearest exoplanet? What do we know about Proxima Centauri? Can we create an artificial atmosphere on exoplanets? If we are living on earth, why are we searching for other habitable planets?
The previous slide outlines the process we used to produce our Exoplanets scene for GSO 2023.
The following slides show student work products from the process outlined on the Agenda page.
Collaborative Planning and Development of the Scene
My students are all performing artists, so I used Day 1 as an incubator for determining what Arts collaborations might be best to pursue. Students in our Astronomy and Space Club identified music and dance (see video) as options that might work for the Exoplanet topic.
Students who investigated existing NASA and ESA images and videos discovered that there were resources they could use to illustrate the basics of Exoplanets, their detection, and their scientific importance and that they might create their own videos for some parts of the scene. Their final decision was to ask students from the Band and Strings Departments, and the Percussion Ensemble to collaborate with them to provide two minutes of original background music, composed to accompany the images and video explaining and exploring Exoplanets.
Resource Search for STEM Content in Video
Students in our Astronomy and Space Club searched the NASA and ESA websites for video and still images about Exoplanets, how they are discovered, and how information about surface temperature and atmospheric composition is collected from Earth.
Here is a link to their video and images.
Composition, Rehearsal, and Recording of Music
Twenty-eight students in our Chamber Winds, Chamber Orchestra, and Percussion Ensemble were invited to participate in recording the two-minute musical track for our scene. A graphical score was composed by a student, centered around a 15-note sequence generated from an alphabet to musical note translation invented by our Band director.
Aside from the 15 notes, the musicians improvise their parts, using the four colors and their relative positions to regulate pitch and volume for each section (Red=Strings, Blue=Woodwinds, Yellow= Brass, and Purple=Percussion). Five takes were recorded, and the students and instructor chose their favorite to provide the video soundtrack.
Proxima Centauri b Graphical Score
created by a member of ASA’s Class of 2026
Recording Session: October 31, 2023
Splicing, Editing, and Subtitles: Assembly of Finished GSO Video
Students and teachers met to assemble the images, video, and audio to produce a finished product. Necessary compromises were reached through consensus on what worked best for conveying the combined scientific and artistic message. In the end, this meant that about 70 seconds of scientific video content were intermingled with approximately 50 seconds of artistic footage.
To see the final segment please click the link in the video at right.
Proxima Centauri b from the 2023 Global Science Opera: Unfold the Universe
Postscript - Global Science Opera 2024: Beginnings
A few weeks after the 2023 Global Science Opera premiered (November 20 - World Children’s Day), our school was approached by Global Science Opera coordinators Janne Robberstad and Oded Ben-Horin, the latter of whom had visited our school on his way from Brazil to Norway in September, asking us to write the storyline for GSO 2024: Beginnings, also inspired by data and images from the James Webb Telescope that continue to astonish scientists and turn what we thought we knew about the Universe on its head. We, of course, said yes and set out on a new adventure, but one that has application in any school or classroom that aspires to merge Performing Arts and STEM in a way that engages and educates students (See next page).
Brainstorming Beginnings for a STEM/Arts Collaboration
We were fortunate to have already worked with Professor Ben-Horin in September of 2023 and had seen how he used brainstorming by students to generate creative ideas for a storyline, so we took this same approach with GSO 2024.
Writing the Storyline for a STEM/Arts Collaboration
Needing a variety of possible storylines, incorporating both Universal and Earthbound Beginnings, students brainstormed characters and plots for the opening and closing scenes of GSO 2024 in every Physics class.
Rinji (Japanese for “Peaceful forest”), young male human wearing green.
Kailani (Hawaiian for “Sea and sky”), young female human wearing blue.
Grandmother, an older haman wearing neutral colors.
Juno, (Latin for “Goddess of Heavens”), young female alien wearing red.
Helio (Spanish/Portuguese for “sun”), a young male alien wearing yellow.
Fade in to scene around a campfire.
Rinji and Kailani and their Grandmother are camping under the stars. They ask her to tell them a story about how stars and planets came to be. She tells them that the Universe is very, very old and that it took billions of years for the sky to become so beautiful, but that we still have much to learn about how it all began. The children talk about this as they drift off to sleep, and they dream of meeting Juno and Helio under the night sky and asking them the same question they asked their grandmother. Juno and Helio agree to explain what they know about the beginnings of the Universe, if Rinji and Kailani explain to them about their planet’s history, its beauty, and its people.
Fade to the first scene of GSO 2024: Beginnings.
GSO 2024: Beginnings (23 scenes).
Fade from the last scene of GSO 2024: Beginnings.
Rinji and Kailani awake from their unfinished dreams near dawn, with stars still visible in the sky. Their grandmother is busy making breakfast. They tell her about meeting Juno and Helio in their dreams and ask her how the story ends. She replies that she does not know and that the ending is really up to them to write.
Assessment
I did not assess students’ work on either GSO 2023 or GSO 2024. If I did, it would be as a self-reflection on their engagement with the process and their investment in the final product. I’d also ask what they thought could improve the process and the final product, whether it was the methods used, the way group decisions were made, or the technical aspects of the audio and video content of the segment. I’d be particularly interested in their perspectives on the STEM connection to their Performing Arts and how that could be better integrated into the full process of brainstorming, researching, writing, recording, editing, and sharing or publishing the finished GSO scene.
Differentiation
This is a collaborative project, between students in a STEM classroom and a Performing Arts classroom. As such, students are free to choose what their strength is and work in that area. Instead of remediating, I may ask students who are not actively participating if they’d like to change the work they are doing to something that looks more interesting or that would benefit from their particular perspective or talents. I have not had any students who did not find some part of the brainstorming, researching, editing, recording, or performing engaging enough to remain connected and actively working with their peers to bring the project to a successful end.
Remediation
Extension/Enrichment
A terrific way to engage everyone into the GSO process is to give students one of the previous titles/themes for the Global Science Opera and have them work in small groups to brainstorm possible scenes for a GSO production. My own classes did this for the 2024 GSO: Beginnings. If brainstorming is not something you’d want to spend time doing, an alternative would be to view a previous year’s Global Science Opera and pick a scene or two to reimagine in a different way, or using different Performing Arts. You can find recordings of all the previous GSOs on this page.