Art classes in Metrowest Boston

From the Goldin Foundation for Excellence in Education:
At the recent 13th annual Goldin Foundation Educators Forum hosted by Weston Public Schools Mark Longergan, High School STEAM Faculty/Center Fellow at Boston Arts Academy in Boston, was recognized for “Excellence in Education.” Mark joined the group of distinguished educators, who since 1990 have been recognized by the Goldin Foundation for Excellence in Education for making outstanding contributions in their classrooms, schools and communities. He shared his experiences, projects, and insights with other teachers, administrators, parents, and members of local communities at the regional forum.

Take Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math known as STEM, integrate it with energizing and exciting arts curricula, and you get students who now have many entry points into subjects that might otherwise be challenging for them. Mark Lonergan makes that happen every day.

Boston Arts Academy is Boston’s only public high school for the arts that serves 440 students from all sections of the city. Mark decided to draw on students’ strengths, creativity, and artistic talents to help them succeed in math. He developed a new type of curriculum that incorporated the arts into algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and pre-calculus. He developed units that connected the hula dance with math functions, the piano keyboard with a number line, and Islamic tiling motifs with tessellations. (A tessellation is created when a shape is repeated over and over again covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps.) The results are deeper understanding and more student engagement in math classes.

STEAM has transformed the way math and science are taught at BAA. There are now 30 different STEAM curriculum units for 9th-12th grade classes. Examples include stop-motion animation used to demonstrate the process of cell division, statistical analysis of Grammy winning song lyrics, and the use of geometry to design lighting for concerts.