Animal Farm with a STEAM Theme
by Andrea Maylath, Leah Umansky, and Emily Borden
A cross-curricular approach to teaching animal farm brought some of York’s best and brightest 8th grade teachers together. Mr. Schwartz (art), Ms. Umansky (English), Ms. Hersh (English), Ms. Maylath (English), Ms. Borden (Science), and Mr. Ward all collaborated to bring the complexity of Animal Farm to life. The results were exciting and enlightening.
A cross-curricular approach to teaching animal farm brought some of York’s best and brightest 8th grade teachers together. Mr. Schwartz (art), Ms. Umansky (English), Ms. Hersh (English), Ms. Maylath (English), Ms. Borden (Science), and Mr. Ward all collaborated to bring the complexity of Animal Farm to life. The results were exciting and enlightening.
Mr. Schwartz's Presentation
In Animal Farm, the animals band together to overthrow their human masters and establish Animalism. The main tool of the Animalism movement is propaganda, which is first used by Old Major to inspire the animals to rebel. As time goes on, Old Major's ideals start to get lost in the reality of life on Animal Farm. Slowly, the ruthless pig Napoleon begins to amass power, and his mouthpiece, Squealer, takes propaganda in a new, and far darker, direction. To help students connect these events to real-world examples of propaganda, Visual Arts teacher, Mr. Schwartz, led the 8th grade in an exploration of various advertisements and posters used throughout the past 100 years. Students analyzed these examples for propaganda techniques and began to think about how the symbols, text, and images communicated that message.
Ms. Hersh’s and Ms. Umansky’s English Class Propaganda Posters
Based on Mr. Schwartz’s presentation and their knowledge of major propaganda techniques, the students in Ms. Hersh’s and Ms. Umansky’s classes made posters that Squealer or another character might have made as propaganda. The requirements were to use one to four images and slogans reflecting accurate information from the book. Additionally, students had to write a response explaining two propaganda techniques used in their poster and how the images help to convey the poster’s main message.
Ms. Borden's and Mr. Ward's Science Windmills
In Mr. Ward and Ms. Borden’s Physical Science classes, all of the 8th-grade students constructed pinwheels and discussed their similarities to the windmill in Animal Farm. In the novel, the animals plan to build a windmill in order to generate electricity and help them work more efficiently. Students learned about windmills and how they can harness wind to generate mechanical and electrical energy. They then constructed pinwheels to model the windmill created in Animal Farm. Students tested out which direction the pinwheels should face in order to catch the wind, and had to identify which setup would make the wheels turn the fastest. After testing out the pinwheels, students determined how these pinwheels related to forces and energy, and considered why windmills might benefit communities. Click here and here to see some of the windmills in action!
