{"id":88497,"date":"2018-06-18T14:23:04","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T18:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/?p=88497"},"modified":"2018-06-18T20:41:40","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T00:41:40","slug":"arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Arts-Infused STEM Equals Student Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><p>It started as a standard third-grade science lesson &ndash; how the tilt of the Earth causes the seasons to change. Now a group of future educators looked over a Greek play that gave a wholly different version of how summer turns to fall.<\/p><p>Under the direction of a UMW theatre professional, they acted out the story of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, and her daughter, Persephone.<\/p><p>This was a study in arts integration.<\/p><p><!--more--><\/p><div class=\"tiled-gallery type-rectangular tiled-gallery-unresized\" data-original-width=\"1100\" data-carousel-extra='{\"blog_id\":7,\"permalink\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/news\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/18\\\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\\\/\",\"likes_blog_id\":230672515}' itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"> <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 1100px; height: 943px;\" data-original-width=\"1100\" data-original-height=\"943\"> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 630px; height: 943px;\" data-original-width=\"630\" data-original-height=\"943\"> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/teachers016\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"626\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"939\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"88502\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"4000,6000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"4\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"ILCE-7M3\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1528392814\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"95\",\"iso\":\"640\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.004\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"teachers016\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016-200x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016-683x1024.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016.jpg?w=626&amp;h=939&amp;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016.jpg 4000w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016-760x1140.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers016-400x600.jpg 400w\" width=\"626\" height=\"939\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"626\" data-original-height=\"939\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"teachers016\" alt=\"XXX works on a science book inspired by children's author Eric Carle in a class that teaches future educators how to integrate the arts into standard subjects like math, science and social studies.\" style=\"width: 626px; height: 939px;\"> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> UMW education major Annie Sullivan works on a science book inspired by children&rsquo;s author Eric Carle in a class that teaches future educators how to integrate the arts into standard subjects like math, science and social studies. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-3\" style=\"width: 470px; height: 943px;\" data-original-width=\"470\" data-original-height=\"943\"> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/teachers041\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"466\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"311\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"88501\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"6000,4000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"4\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"ILCE-7M3\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1528394108\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"25\",\"iso\":\"640\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.00625\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"teachers041\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-1024x683.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041.jpg?w=466&amp;h=311&amp;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041.jpg 6000w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-680x453.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-1140x760.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers041-600x400.jpg 600w\" width=\"466\" height=\"311\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"466\" data-original-height=\"311\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"teachers041\" alt=\"UMW education students (left to right) xx , xxx and xxx say they now have an understanding of how to integrate literature, dance, drama, music and the visual arts into everyday classroom lessons.\" style=\"width: 466px; height: 311px;\"> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> UMW education students Rebecca Robb and Morgan Conner say they now have an understanding of how to integrate literature, dance, drama, music and the visual arts into everyday classroom lessons. <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/teachers025\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"466\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"310\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"88500\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"6000,4000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"4\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"ILCE-7M3\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1528393630\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"25\",\"iso\":\"640\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.001\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"teachers025\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-1024x683.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025.jpg?w=466&amp;h=310&amp;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025.jpg 6000w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-680x453.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-1140x760.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers025-600x400.jpg 600w\" width=\"466\" height=\"310\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"466\" data-original-height=\"310\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"teachers025\" alt=\"Students in a UMW course called Literature and the Arts in Elementary Education took inspiration from children's author Eric Carle to create a pair of books about conservation and the life cycle of grasshoppers.\" style=\"width: 466px; height: 310px;\"> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> Students in a UMW course called Literature and the Arts in Elementary Education took inspiration from children&rsquo;s author Eric Carle to create a pair of books about conservation and the life cycle of grasshoppers. <\/div> <\/div> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/teachers010\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"466\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"310\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"88503\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"6000,4000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"4\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"ILCE-7M3\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1528392192\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"25\",\"iso\":\"640\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.02\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"teachers010\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-1024x683.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010.jpg?w=466&amp;h=310&amp;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010.jpg 6000w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-680x453.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-1140x760.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers010-600x400.jpg 600w\" width=\"466\" height=\"310\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"466\" data-original-height=\"310\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"teachers010\" alt=\"After taking on the role of third graders to act out a Greek myth about why Earth has seasons, UMW education students Annie Sullivan, Meagan Wilkinson and Ana Oleinick write a play they can use in their future classrooms to integrate drama and science.\" style=\"width: 466px; height: 310px;\"> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> After taking on the role of third-graders to act out a Greek myth about why Earth has seasons, UMW education students Annie Sullivan, Meagan Wilkinson and Ana Oleinick write a play they can use in their future classrooms to integrate drama and science. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 1100px; height: 370px;\" data-original-width=\"1100\" data-original-height=\"370\"> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 554px; height: 370px;\" data-original-width=\"554\" data-original-height=\"370\"> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/teachers031\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"550\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"366\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"88504\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"6000,4000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"4\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"ILCE-7M3\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1528393783\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"25\",\"iso\":\"640\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.00625\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"teachers031\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-300x200.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-1024x683.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031.jpg?w=550&amp;h=366&amp;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031.jpg 6000w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-680x453.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-1140x760.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers031-600x400.jpg 600w\" width=\"550\" height=\"366\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"550\" data-original-height=\"366\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"teachers031\" alt=\"UMW education students integrate art into a science lesson by writing and creating a book about the life cycle of grasshoppers.\" style=\"width: 550px; height: 366px;\"> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> UMW education students integrate art into a science lesson by writing and creating a book about the life cycle of grasshoppers. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 546px; height: 370px;\" data-original-width=\"546\" data-original-height=\"370\"> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/teachers014\/\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"542\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"366\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" data-attachment-id=\"88499\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"5676,3836\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta='{\"aperture\":\"4\",\"credit\":\"\",\"camera\":\"ILCE-7M3\",\"caption\":\"\",\"created_timestamp\":\"1528392508\",\"copyright\":\"\",\"focal_length\":\"89\",\"iso\":\"640\",\"shutter_speed\":\"0.0333333333333\",\"title\":\"\",\"orientation\":\"1\"}' data-image-title=\"teachers014\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014-300x203.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014-1024x692.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014.jpg?w=542&amp;h=366&amp;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014.jpg 5676w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014-768x519.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014-1024x692.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014-1140x770.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/06\/teachers014-600x405.jpg 600w\" width=\"542\" height=\"366\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"542\" data-original-height=\"366\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"teachers014\" alt=\"Assistant Professor of Education Melissa Wells taught in an art integrations school for six years before arriving at UMW. Students consistently outperformed their counterparts.\" style=\"width: 542px; height: 366px;\"> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> Assistant Professor of Education Melissa Wells taught in an arts integration school for six years before arriving at UMW. Students consistently outperformed their counterparts. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <\/div><p>For three semesters, Melissa Wells, assistant professor of education, has taught a course called Literature and the Arts in Elementary Education. She shows future teachers how to infuse subjects like math, science and social studies with five areas of art: literature, dance, drama, music and the visual arts.<\/p><p>Using photography to study fractions. A dance routine to simulate cloud formations. Music to solve math problems. A human tableau to illustrate the causes of the Civil War.<\/p><p>&ldquo;I know how fun it is and how effective it can be,&rdquo; said Wells, who taught in a Title I arts integration school for six years before coming to Mary Washington. Students there consistently outperformed their counterparts.<\/p><p>But you don&rsquo;t have to be a specialized teacher or teach in a specialized classroom to integrate the arts into standard subjects, Wells tells her students. &ldquo;You can work this in every day.&rdquo;<\/p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t enough for the class of teachers-in-training to hear about it, or even see it. Wells would have them do it.<\/p><p>They would take on the role of third-graders studying a textbook science lesson called &ldquo;Why Does Earth Have Seasons?&rdquo;<\/p><p>Wells instructed them to form a tableau &ndash; a posed depiction &ndash; based on what they&rsquo;d learned. Soon, the students had bent their bodies to represent the Earth&rsquo;s tilt around the sun at the start of each new season.<\/p><p>Then it was time for the Greek play. Wells had called on UMW Theatre Director of Marketing and Audience Services Jon Reynolds &rsquo;07. He&rsquo;d trained as an actor and director before rejoining his alma mater.<\/p><p>Reynolds led the class through a warm-up, then explained the difference between upstage and downstage and how to exit left and right. Inside a black box theatre in duPont Hall, the students acted out their parts.<\/p><p>Afterwards, Wells asked them to compare the myth to what they now knew about the seasons. She asked them what scientific principal the play did not represent.<\/p><p>They thought for a moment before bending their bodies back into the tilt of the Earth.<\/p><p>The movement had helped them remember.<\/p><p>Before the class was over, they&rsquo;d write short plays about solids, liquids and gases, something they could use in their own classrooms someday. And they&rsquo;d integrate art into another science lesson by creating books for elementary-schoolers on conservation and the life cycle of a grasshopper.<\/p><p>Inspired by children&rsquo;s author Eric Carle, who has penned such classics at The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the UMW students painted paper and cut forms and figures they glued onto pages. In just a few days, they would deliver the final products to Cedar Forest Elementary School in Spotsylvania County, for use in real classrooms.<\/p><p>UMW sophomore Morgan Conner thought back to her own elementary school days when she wanted to be a veterinarian. A middle-school civics teacher in her hometown of Gainesville, Virginia, changed all that.<\/p><p>The teacher hadn&rsquo;t just wanted his students to memorize words lessons. He&rsquo;d wanted them to understand civics, and he&rsquo;d cared enough to make sure they did, Conner said.<\/p><p>She decided to become a teacher in the hope of bringing those qualities to her own classroom.<\/p><p>Thanks to a class in arts integration, Conner now has another way to do just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It started as a standard third-grade science lesson &ndash; how the tilt of the Earth causes the seasons to change. Now a group of future educators looked over a Greek play that gave a wholly different version of how summer turns to fall.Under the direction of a UMW theatre professional, they acted out the story [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":831,"featured_media":88498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[704],"tags":[916,7387],"topics":[5148],"class_list":["post-88497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-jreynol2","tag-mwells","topic-learning-impact","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Arts-Infused STEM Equals Student Success - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/news\/2018\/06\/18\/arts-fused-stem-equals-student-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arts-Infused STEM Equals Student Success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It started as a standard third-grade science lesson &ndash; how the tilt of the Earth causes the seasons to change. 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