Let's Roll

Art & Science Integrated Lesson

Introduction for Teachers:

Essential Questions:

• How can we describe the motion of objects? We can describe how things move by watching where and how fast they go.
• What happens when we push or pull an object? When we push or pull something, it can start, stop, or change direction.
• How do different strengths and directions of pushes and pulls affect how an object moves? Stronger pushes or pulls make things move faster or farther; the direction of the push or pull changes where it goes.
• What changes when objects touch or collide with each other? When things bump into each other, they can change how they move.
• How can we investigate the effects of different pushes and pulls on an object’s motion? We can try different pushes or pulls and see what happens to find out how things move.

Vocabulary:  

• Force: A push or pull that can make something move or stop.
• Motion: The act of moving; when something is changing its place or position.
• Push: Using force to move something away from you.
• Pull: Using force to move something toward you.
• Direction: The way something moves, such as left, right, forward, or backward.
• Strength: How hard you push or pull something.
• Speed: How fast something is moving.
• Start: To begin moving.
• Stop: To end movement; not moving anymore.
• Collide/Collision: When two things bump into each other.
• Change (motion): When something moves differently than before, like going faster, slower, or in a new direction.
• Object: A thing that can be moved or touched.
• Abstract Art: No recognizable subject or image

Additional information: Jackson Pollock famously used gravitational forces like push and pull to create his action paintings in the 1940s and 50s. He utilized found objects such as sticks, rocks, and strings with leftover paint to create his abstract visions. Contemporary artists like Carmen Carpena use these same forces to create and sell her abstract works on social media.

By experimenting with various found materials (including marbles), students will investigate how the directional forces of push and pull affect objects in paint. Students will discover that different objects require varying amounts of force to move them in different directions. Stronger pushes will propel objects farther and more rapidly; objects can collide, causing a change in direction or motion. This project will deepen students' understanding of force and motion while providing opportunities to practice speaking and listening skills, create a painting, and title that painting by interpreting its meaning.

Lesson, Session 1:

Upload Canva Slide Show  

SLIDE 2:  Watch the very short youtube video of marble art by American artist Carmen Carpena 

Visible Thinking Routine: Name, Describe, Act 
Note: This thinking routine has been simplified for younger students.
For Teacher’s only: Video of Charlotte Hawkins teaching this Thinking Routine from Harvard Project Zero: 

SLIDE 3: Let’s Warm up Our Brains with Name, Describe, Act

Teacher: Look closely at Snoopy by Carmen Carpena. Turn and talk to an elbow partner and NAME everything the artist used to make this artwork. DESCRIBE what the artist did to make the artwork, turn and talk to your neighbor.  With your body, show us how the artist made Snoopy. ACT it out. 

Student Output Examples: ‘I saw marbles and a frame.’ ‘I saw paint and marbles and paper.’ Students may describe how the artist shifted the frame, to push and pull the marbles. Students will use their arms to show the motion of pushing and pulling the marbles through paint to make the Snoopy.

SLIDE 4: Thinking Routine Wrap Up 
 

Teacher: Now you’ve really looked at this artwork, let’s talk about how this artwork was made. The artist used force and motion to make her artwork. It wasn’t designed with traditional mediums like pencils or crayons. Artists have been using force and motion to create art for many years. Let’s learn what forces play a part in art making!

SLIDES 5-6: Turn & Talk: Let’s Discuss PUSH & PULL 

Teacher: What force is the boy using to move the shopping cart? Turn and talk with your neighbor about what you think it might be.

Teacher: What force is the dog using to move this person? Turn and talk with your neighbor about what you think it might be.


SLIDE 7: Video on Forces: Push and Pull   Note: This video has places for discussion, feel free to pause the video to give students time to think and respond. This may be done as a whole group or with elbow partners.

SLIDE 8: Let’s discuss the Science Terms: FORCE & MOTION
 
Teacher: FORCE is the interaction between two objects that causes a change in the motion of the objects.” 

Have students discuss what happens when force is applied to an object and the possible outcomes of pushing or pulling something. Ask students for examples for each outcome, i.e.

Teacher: What would cause a marble to speed up? To stop rolling? To change direction? To change shape?

SLIDE 9: Video on Marble Art Project 

Teacher: What force is the person in the video using to make art? This is the art project we will be working on! It is an abstract piece of art. Abstract art is a fun kind of art that does not have to look like real things. It uses colors, shapes, and lines to show textures, feelings, and ideas. It can look like anything you imagine and helps you create something all your own.  
                                                         
SLIDE 10: Turn & Talk: Let’s make a PREDICTION!  Add a racecar.

Teacher: What might happen if the person used a toy racecar instead of a marble? Turn and talk with your neighbor about what will happen.

SLIDE 11: Turn & Talk: Let’s make a PREDICTION! Add a block. 
Review some answers students discussed and expand on what they missed.

SLIDE 12: Now It’s Your Turn:

Teacher: What might happen if the person used toy blocks instead of a marble? Turn and talk with your neighbor about what will happen.

Activity: Abstract Marble Art  

For Teachers only: Abstract Marble Art Teaching Instruction video, featuring Charlotte Hawkins 2:50

Teacher: We will be dividing into groups to create our own marble art. After breaking into small groups, everyone will need a piece of paper with their names ON THE BACK OF THE PAPER! Everyone will be taking turns with the marbles and boxes to make their own piece of artwork!

Divide students into groups of 2-3 students to create marble art. Give everyone a piece of paper to write their names on. Place 3 blobs of paint of different colors on a piece of paper which has been placed inside the box lid and let students work together to create masterpieces.

Important Art & Science integration: 

• Emphasizing the Concept of Push: Invite students to blow through a straw, using the force of the moving air to push the marble. Encourage them to observe how the air gets the marble in motion and pushes it away from them across their artwork.
• Emphasizing the Concept of Pull: Explain that when students tilt the box lid toward or away from themselves, they create a slope. Ask them to notice how the marble is pulled downhill by the force of gravity, causing it to roll across the page.
  • Additional Ideas for Demonstrating Pull
    • Invite students to pull a string through the paint to create designs.
    • Alternatively, use an inexpensive bead necklace, or a bead tied to a string, and have students pull it through the paint to make patterns while demonstrating the force of a pull.

NOTE: Ask students to be mindful to keep marbles INSIDE THE BOX LIDS, they shouldn’t use TOO MUCH FORCE to pop the marbles out of the box!

Differentiation

• Vary the complexity: Allow students to use one or multiple marbles, try different colors, or experiment with changing the direction and speed of the marbles.
• Offer choice in materials: Students could choose paper size, type, or shape, or use different tools (like ramps or trays).
• Provide additional support: Some students may need help setting up the tray or managing the marbles; offer step-by-step guidance or peer buddies.
• Encourage creative extensions: Advanced students could add details with markers after the paint dries, or write about the forces and motion they observed.
• Adjust the process: Allow students who need it to roll marbles with a spoon, use adapted tools, or work with a mentor student for support.
• Include reflection: Have students explain or draw what happened and why, using language or drawing based on their ability level.

LESSON, Session 2: Optional - A Discussion on Artist Jackson Pollock

SLIDE 13: Jackson Polluck

Teacher: Do you remember the marble art videos we watched previously? We have ANOTHER very famous artist who made abstract paintings NOT with marbles, but with sticks, rocks and dripping paint. His name was Jackson Pollock and his paintings are found in BIG art museums all over the world. Let’s watch a video about Jackson Pollock.

SLIDE 14:  Play video “Pollock Storybook for Kids”

Optional Activity - Naming My Artwork 
Use the following slides as you teach this optional activity

SLIDES 15-16:

Visible Thinking Routine Headlines                                                     
Note: This thinking routine has been simplified for younger students.

Teacher: Jackson Pollock would give his artworks titles or names. Thinking about what we’ve learned about Jackson Pollock and his process of making art, what might he have called this artwork?

Show the students the artwork, have a discussion, and let students come up with a Headline or a title for the work.

Teacher: He called the work, “Blue Poles”. Why do you think he named it that?

Invite students to Turn and Talk

Teacher: Thinking about your finished (and now dried) work, what would you like to name it?

Encourage students to discuss with an elbow partner what they might name their artwork AND WHY. 

Encourage students (if able) to use their own handwriting to create a title for their artwork. They may write the name of the work on the back or on a separate piece of paper.

• Identify examples of push and pull forces in everyday life and in artmaking. 
• Describe how force affects the motion of an object. 
• Observe how changing the strength or direction of a push changes movement.
• Predict how different objects will move through paint.
• Create an abstract painting using marbles or found objects. 
• Work with classmates to safely share materials and take turns. 
• Use art vocabulary to explain how an artwork was created. 
• Interpret a finished artwork and create a title that reflects its meaning. 

This lesson can be used to meet standards in many grades and subject areas. We will highlight one grade’s standards to give an example of application.

Science (SEEd): Kindergarten

• Strand K.3: Forces, Motion, and Interactions
• Standard K.3.1: Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or directions of forces on the motion of an object.
• Standard K.3.2: Analyze data to determine how a design solution causes a change in the speed or direction of an object with a push or pull.

Visual Arts: Kindergarten

• VA:Cr1.1.K: Engage in exploration and imaginative play with materials.
• VA:Cr2.1.K: Through experimentation, build skills in various media and approaches to art-making.
• VA:Re7.1.K: Identify uses of art within one’s personal environment.

English Language Arts: Kindergarten

• K.SL.1: Participate effectively in a range of conversations with various partners, using age-appropriate vocabulary on topics and texts.
  • a. Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges while using appropriate tone and body language.
  • b. Express own ideas clearly in small and large groups and build on others’ ideas.
• K.SL.2: Speak clearly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
• K.SL.3: Use drawings and visual displays to describe ideas.
• K.L.6: Use words and phrases learned through conversations and activities.
• K 1.R.5: Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
• K 1.R.7: Describe characters, settings, and important events in a story or pieces of information in a text.
• K 1.W.5: Legibly write all upper- and lowercase manuscript letters.

• Upload and Preview: Slide Show  
• Become familiar with these Visible Thinking Routines: (Simplify for young children)
  • Name, Describe, Act
    • For Teachers only, Watch-prep: Video of Charlotte Hawkins teaching this Thinking Routine from Harvard Project Zero:
  • Headlines   
• For Art Activity-Abstract Marble painting
  • For Teachers Only, Watch-prep: Abstract Marble Art Teaching Instruction video, featuring Charlotte Hawkins 2:50 
  • Pre-Lesson Construction: Save 3-6 xerox paper box type lids for rolling marbles and paint inside.
  • Large art paper to fit inside box lids 
  • Paint (acrylic or tempera) 
  • Marbles of varying size, other random objects for rolling
  • Straws for blowing-pushing the marbles
  • String, or beads for pulling through the paint
  • Optional: Magnets, toy cars, found objects for pushing and pulling through the paint

This lesson was created thanks to a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Utah Division of Arts & Museums 

Image 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CAgLhLjLvhQyToRLXAAQ8l454GeOFpbM/view 
Image 2: https://www.wheatonarts.org/painting-with-glass-marbles/