Integrating Is Educating

By Dr. Marciene Mattleman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - In an article in The Washington Post, programs and projects are cited that make the case that integrating subjects can work.

Middle school students learned about surrealist painter Man Ray who integrated math into his art. They translated that knowledge into wire sculpture using multi-tiered hangers based on escalating exponents - numbers multiplied by themselves, learning that everything around us is a combination of arts and some form of math, technology and engineering.

Lessons on habitat and ecology were developed jointly by a preschool teacher and staff of the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, based on a Georgia O'Keefe painting Ranchos Church, an austere church in the desert.

The President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities has launched these collaborations that research in an eight school project has shown to increase student gains in reading and math.

The student art exhibit at the Education Department in DC is open for scheduled visits through the end of June.