Exploring the Relationship Between Art and Environmental Education

To explore the relationship between art and environmental education, I created a lesson plan and then put into practice at Crim Elementary School in a 4th grade art class. The art project had to do with the environment, endangered animals and recyclable materials. I titled the project Habitat Heroes and students had to imagine that they were the only people left on Earth along with a few animals and lots of trash. They were tasked with selecting an endangered animal in Ohio from one of five different groups (mammals, birds, reptiles/amphibians, birds and fish) to create a habitat for. The habitat was represented by the inside and outside of a shoebox and could only be created out of recyclable materials such as plastic bottle caps/lids, cardboard, and straws. The finished projects were displayed in a showcase at Crim