RIBBiTR Artist Residency
is a Biology Integration Institute that integrates across sub-disciplines in the biological sciences to better understand how living systems achieve resilience to emerging infectious diseases and other global change stressors. The institute is comprised of researcher/educators from many universities, each with expertise in research and training relevant to the group’s focus on the amphibian disease, chytridiomycosis.
During this residency
I had the opportunity to learn about RIBBiTR from their team at the University of Pittsburgh. With the guidance of Dr. Cori Richards-Zawacki, Dr. Rebecca Gonda, and Jessica Robertson, I developed a middle school STEAM curriculum for a six week outreach program at the Hill District Community Engagement Center.
Through these outreach activities, students explored the science and objectives of RIBBiTR with a creative lens. The weekly activities equipped students with a toolkit to ask questions, approach problems, and express their findings. Each Saturday, students reflected on new topics about amphibians, such as their needs, importance of skin, habitats, and resilience.
Together we sculpted, printed with Gelli plates, created frog habitats, and painted a mural!
This outreach program aimed to spark curiosity and give students the space to ask questions and discover answers. The weekly meetings of these RIBBiTR STEAM classes allowed me to foster skill building and expand on topics each time the group convened. Students made connections between art and science through creative activities using a range of materials.
At the end of the program, each student received an art kit full of multimedia supplies to continue exploring!
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