<\/p>\n
Above is the cover of my illustrated children’s book, How is a Light Bulb Connected to the Sky<\/em>.\u00a0 To see interior illustrations, visit\u00a0https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/How-Light-Bulb-Connected-Sky\/dp\/1981178066\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513130103&sr=8-1&keywords=tova+beck<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For my final project, I created How is a Light Bulb Connected to the Sky<\/em>, an illustrated children\u2019s book designed to encourage children to contemplate human impact on the earth system. My target audience is children ages three to five because learning about Gaia from a young age will teach children to view sustainability in terms of gratitude and connection rather than sacrifice.\u00a0 By asking a series of questions about how material items are connected to different organisms and ecosystems, my book also facilitates creative thinking. The final question, \u201cHow are you connected to the future?\u201d empowers children to think about their own agency.\u00a0 I wanted my book to reach a wide audience, so I self-published on createspace and uploaded my book to amazon.com. \u00a0I also contacted the UW bookstore to inquire if they want to carry some copies.\u00a0 I might also try to place my book in visitor centers at national parks.\u00a0 Hopefully many young people will explore my book.<\/p>\n In my opinion, the creative thinking, such as that involved in making books and the arts, will provide answers in the Anthropocene. Unfortunately, education systems are cutting the arts.\u00a0 By no longer including the arts in primary school curriculums, we are teaching children to place less value on creativity.\u00a0 A study found that the percentage of elementary schools that offered classes in theater and dance dropped from twenty percent in 2000 to only three percent by 2010 (ED Releases New Report on Arts Education in U.S. Public Schools).\u00a0 I fear the implications of eliminating the arts.\u00a0 How will we be able to solve global warming if we are not training younger generations to think creatively?<\/p>\n As we move forward into the Anthropocene, I think it would be helpful to start a program in elementary schools where children have the option of leaving class for half an hour once a week to go to a sustainability discussion forum where teachers and students would engage in discussion about the state of the earth.\u00a0 Students and teachers alike could spend some time contemplating what it means to be alive in the Anthropocene and how we can change our relationship with the earth. Perhaps How is a Light Bulb Connected to the Sky<\/em> could serve as a starting place for discussion.<\/p>\n Work Cited:<\/p>\n Parsad, Basmat, and Maura Speigelman. \u201cED Releases New Report on Arts Education in U.S.<\/p>\n Public Schools.\u201d ED.gov Blog, 24 Apr. 2012, blog.ed.gov\/2012\/04\/ed-releases-new-<\/p>\n report-on-arts-education-in-u-s-public-schools\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Above is the cover of my illustrated children’s book, How is a Light Bulb Connected to the Sky.\u00a0 To see interior illustrations, visit\u00a0https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/How-Light-Bulb-Connected-Sky\/dp\/1981178066\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513130103&sr=8-1&keywords=tova+beck For my final project, I created How is a Light Bulb Connected to the Sky, an illustrated children\u2019s book designed to encourage children to contemplate human impact on the earth system. My target audience is children… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-4"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/honr392a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n