2004 FPG Summer Project #00222

Last Modified: Mar 25, 2004

Name	College	Department or Division
Sandy Zetlan	Estrella Mountain Community College	Biology
Employee ID	E-mail Address	Work Phone
xxxxxxxx	sandy.zetlan@emcmail.maricopa.edu	(623) 935-8458
Project
Title		Location
Biological Illustration: floral and faunal form		Phoenix, AZ & NYC,NY
Group Application
This is not a group project

Project Dates and Amounts
	Summer I view timeline details	Summer II view timeline details
Timeline Dates	Jun 14 - Jun 30, 2004	Jul 1 - Jul 16, 2004
Hours	65.5	46
Wages	$1,456.07	$1,022.58
Registration Fees	493.00	0.00
Subtotals	$1,949.07	$1,022.58
Total Proposal Amount		$2,971.65

Details
Abstract Write a concise overview with descriptive information about your project (location, time span, etc.) not to exceed 120 words. To take advantage of spelling and word count tools, you can compose this in a blank Word document, copy the text, and paste it in below (all formatting will be reset to normal text).
This project will allow me to learn basic drawing skills necessary to accurately record plant and animal information in an illustrated field notebook. Throughout history, naturalists have used field notebooks as tools of discovery. Unlike digital snapshots, drawing requires concentration and sharpens the powers of observation. I will complete the project during June and July with three major emphases. I will attend three basic drawing workshops: Drawing Plants I, and II, at the NY Botanical Gardens, and "Avian Anatomy", with Chris Bondante, an illustrator at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum Art Institute. I will use books and exercises on sketching in nature outside of class. I will draw daily in a field observation notebook documenting my progress in scientific illustration.
Purpose Explain your purpose in depth and include relevancy and components of the project. Include a statement of goals and objectives. This is what you want to do and why.
The goal of this project is to attain drawing skills sufficient to accurately record scientific observations in an illustrated and annotated field notebook. The specific objectives are to take three intensive drawing workshops, utilize several scientific illustration texts on drawing techniques in nature, practice drawing plants and birds in the field, and produce a field notebook demonstrating progress in scientific illustration. As a biologist, I have been trained in scientific observation skills. However, throughout my career, I feel that I have not accurately recorded or reproduced what I have observed, by drawing. This inability to transfer my observations to paper is not only frustrating but prevents me from fully utilizing the information I have collected. While drawing was historically part of a biology education, there is no longer an emphasis on these skills. Neither writing nor photography is able to express the detailed information contained in a line drawing or sketch, which can be annotated with arrows and text while in the field. Even after years of teaching biology, I am often stymied on how to convey the three-dimensional form of an object in relation to its function, so that it is useful to the student observer. As a biologist observing and recording information about flora and fauna, improved drawing skills will increase the utility of my field research notebooks. Each component of this project will further my ability to communicate through illustration. One part of the project takes advantage of the resources of biological illustrators at intensive summer workshops. I will take two drawing workshops at the New York Botanical Gardens, in New York City. The classes relate to the accurate drawing of plants: stems, leaves, branches, root systems, and flowers. This skill will be especially useful in the plant taxonomy class I will take this fall. Ms. Chris Bondante is a biology instructor with a degree in scientific and medical illustration and many published illustrations. Her Tucson workshop, Avian Anatomy, emphasizes bird structure, a topic essential when recording the natural behavior of birds. I will also learn the basics of sketching rapidly in the field. This skill is important when drawing wildlife that are on the move, or documenting conditions that are quickly changing. In addition, I will be working with texts such as "How to draw plants: the technique of biological illustration", by Keith West, that specifically teach biological drawing techniques, including how to dissect and illustrate plant specimens. By teasing apart plants and using a hand lens or dissecting microscope to observe then, I can then draw and label the microanatomy of the floral structure. Other texts, such as "The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature", by Cathy Johnson, emphasize a quick general understanding of a landscape or life form. Instructors in all three classes have additional recommended reading lists for their topic area. Finally, I will spend time during part of the project entering illustrations and comments into a field notebook, whether in New York City, or Arizona. Constant practice will accelerate the learning process, and hopefully allow me to improve my skills rapidly.
Professional Growth Your own professional growth is a large part of your project. Your professional growth is important to you, your students, and possibly other colleagues. How will this project affect you professionally? What skills will you learn? What environment will you be working in, and how will it influence your teaching or other responsibilities?
I will be attending workshops located at some of the premier botanical gardens (NY Botanical Garden) and wildlife museums (Arizona Sonora Desert Museum) in the country. Professional scientific illustrators will teach these courses. I will also be spending time reading and concentrating on scientific illustration texts outside of class. The final part of the project is outdoors, observing and drawing the flora and fauna, while keeping a field notebook. Professionally, I am both a teacher and a scientist. My current complete lack of artistic ability makes me rely more heavily on verbiage in lectures than is probably useful, even with the professional illustrations available. At times, groping for clarity in the classroom, I really do understand the old adage; " a picture is worth 1,000 words". During this project, I will learn a new method of communicating biological ideas. Better illustration skills will help me clarify points for students during lectures when I am attempting to show the anatomical basis function. In addition, being on the receiving end of totally novel information is a learning experience for any instructor. This project will also help me become a true naturalist capable of observing and recording with pen and pencil what I see in the field. Well documented field notebooks have for centuries helped scientists provide the evidence needed to support their theories. In a computer age, it is easy to click a digital photo for later use, but less frequent to spend time drawing a single blossom, so that learning is taking place in the field, in real time. Sitting quietly while drawing focuses the mind on the subject, making one take the time to notice things that would probably later be ignored in a quick snapshot. I have been "drawing" scientific illustrations for years, without understanding the few drawing basics that would make my data collection more efficient. By drawing, I will more quickly and easily learn the anatomy of many different plants and animals. Understanding the anatomy leads to a better understanding of function as well.
Benefits
Select the primary area of benefit:	Benefits for students
What benefit is this project to the group checked above? What new information, ideas, attitudes, skills, appreciation, etc. will you bring back?
Many students are afraid of learning "science", which is perceived as complex and outside the realm of understanding. As a biology instructor, I have discovered that intricate PowerPoint biological illustrations from the text, while containing much information, can be overwhelming for students. If asked to draw anatomical diagrams, students often revert to tracing the text figures. Little real learning occurs. It is less likely they could, as nurses, quickly sketch the structure of the heart, or path of blood flow for a patient’s benefit. Gaining confidence in their own drawing can assist students in teaching each other and in learning biology. Many seem to learn best by replicating simpler, less threatening, diagrams drawn on the board. (In fact, students afraid to draw the abstract histological forms they see in the microscope will happily draw what they are told is abstract art!) Drawing also slows down the pace of the lecture to allow for in-class learning, while keeping the class content intensive, a constant challenge for all science instructors. Students can take the time to draw and think about how structure and function are related. I recognize that students learn in different ways, but I am not always able to literally illustrate to them how to use and appreciate their different learning styles. Based on what I know about myself, and what I observe in the classroom, drawing is not a natural skill. Like practicing putting the written text "into their own words", how to simplify images in a biology or allied health course must be learned. By learning and modeling myself how structures can be drawn and labeled simply and clearly, I hope to facilitate student learning. To do so, I need to upgrade my own skills. After completing this project, and having a number of hours of instruction myself, as well as time to practice drawing, I will have a better ability to help students interact with biology content in a perhaps non-traditional manner, but one I believe is a highly effective. New software technology available on our campus even allows images drawn on the board, or on a computer-connected overhead, to be stored and retrieved by students for later use. Finally, I believe that I will have invested in new ways to "see" biology myself. Ways that will help me come to a better understanding of anatomical form and function.