Reimagining Movie Night

Posted by Kimberly | 0 comments

What does acquisition of a rich vocabulary have to do with science? Sometimes I just can’t resist the cross-curricular.

The truth is, when science vocabulary moves beyond the rote realm, our children not only attain long-term retention, but they often stumble upon a larger lesson.

Looking back, there are a plethora of words in my memory’s jar-of-wonderful-words-acquired-way-back-when. Yes, I was the student who devoured all those Latin terms and, to this day, smile at the silly sounds that ring from those long ago memorized lists.

• From botany, photosynthesis.
• From marine biology, Echinodermata and Coelenterata.
• From chemistry, stoichiometry.
• And, from physiology, mitochondria captured my imagination.

So began the New Year’s lesson.

Movie night.

My boys scanned our expansive old-school DVD collection and decided on a movie called Between the Folds, which lead to a question, “What does an origami artist and a theoretical scientist have in common?” Fact is, this film takes us to the intersection of math and science and art and invites us to linger.

After the movie, the real fun began, which translates to this mom ruminating for hours the potential lessons. And this is how a lesson took shape, easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Think paper.

If we are being honest most of us hold pretty low expectations for a single sheet of paper: scribble, scribe, crumple, and toss. But this film hyperbolically demonstrates the magnitude of paper’s underutilization. Truth is the singular act of folding paper taps into the paper’s latent potential. Work even a single fold and the sheet of paper and, voila, the paper will never be the same.

2. Think mitochondria.

First, review the facts… Mitochondria, located in the cytoplasm, are little energy factories within the cell. These amazing organelles enable respiration allowing the cell to move, divide, and, most intriguing, to insure each cell’s unique purpose. Mitochondria can have different shapes depending on the cell type. Because they contain their own DNA, ribosomes, and can produce their own protein, mitochondria are only partially dependant upon the host cell.

At the end of my little review I lingered at the intersection of art and science. Mitochondria possess a double membrane, an outer, which is smooth, and an inner, which possesses many folds called cristae that exponentially increase membrane surface area. Mitochondria are folds!

All living cells have mitochondria. But it is amazing to consider that typical animal cells have up to 2000 mitochondria… in each cell!

Folds give mitochondria their unique potential; enable the organelle to be highly productive. Cristae take batches of sugar and oxygen and produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate)—cell food. Folds, likewise reveal the unique potential of paper.

Science and art are uniquely connected. Leonardo himself reminds us, “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.”

3. Think individuality.

This film provided a terrific analogy. I would begin the lesson something like this, “So think mitochondria, think origami. If paper has hidden potential that is realized with a bit of concentrated effort. Can you imagine the potential that you have been endowed with?” To illustrate, I provided paper and instructions fold a hyperbolic parabola. The folding was accomplished but not much discussion. Can you say, “Anticlimactic?”

Then, a couple days later, my oldest son came back with an archival answer to my question.

As you can see, the answer looks suspiciously like a Christmas ornament, but it’s not. And I am quite sure the answer is much more than art. This miniature hyperbolic parabola painstakingly folded by my son and tucked into a glass sphere decorated with a spray of silver paint is language, inspiration, translation, and transposition.

“Mom, I wanted to make something to remind me what potential behind glass is like.”

But his response is so much more. Taylor took everything he gleaned from this film, from our scientific exploration of mitochondria, and globed it to haiku. This is visual poetry at its best.

Watch the film and I think you will see what I mean.

Ultimately I think mitochondria is one of those words that will stick. But more than retention of a scientific term, I think my boys devoured an analogy.

So next movie night, think cross-curricular!

Kimberly has been a homeschool mom for 16 years and is an advocate for reform in education. Her book, Habits of Being: Artifacts from the Classroom Guild, is a collection of snapshots from this experience woven to a philosophy of education. She is a founding partner of Blackbird & Company Educational Press, which develops and publishes innovative literature, writing, and poetry curriculum, plus collectivebanter.com, an online opportunity for young writers, visual artists, and musicians to compete and publish their work. She is also a regular contributor to fourandtwenty.typepad.com. Her writing and visual art students have received numerous awards including regional and national recognition by the Scholastic Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and have been published in online and in-print journals. Long ago the California resident, mother of four, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biological psychology and fine art, graduate training in clinical art therapy, and more recently earned her MFA in creative writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles.