The Art & Science of Ceramics

The Art & Science of Ceramics

For the 2014/2015 school year at KCS, all the Arts Ed 9 outcomes were intergraded into all the grade 9 courses. I was given 4 outcomes to cover in my Science 9 course. My ongoing goal in all my science classes is to relate science to the student’s lives and the real world as much as possible. Having to cover the specific arts outcome gave me the opportunity to teach my students about the science behind ceramics, an art form that relies heavily on chemistry, specifically the properties of the elements from the periodic table. I utilized the expertise of Devon Coles, who runs the local art gallery, the Garden Gallery, in Kindersley where he produces ceramics, to give the students insight into his ceramics process and the chemistry involved. Students then created their own ceramics pieces at the art gallery and used their knowledge of the properties of elements from the periodic table to predict which glaze Devon put on their piece before it was cured in the kiln.

Before we embarked on our gallery adventure, we had gone over physical versus chemical changes as well as chemical properties of some elements of the periodic table, mainly those involved in the ceramics making process. The students also spent a week at the beginning of the semester on lab safety so they were familiar with the precautions Devon had to take when dealing with the materials involved in making ceramics.