1. Connecting Art - Creating Solutions:
A Hexagonal, In-Depth Inquiry into AMD for
the Classroom” [upper elementary - high school]
Presenters:
Beth Burkhauser- M.Ed ,Art Educator, and Founder of The Interdependence
Hexagon Project, Adjunct, Art Education, Keystone College,
LaPlume,PA bburkhauser@msn.com
Melissa Cruise- Art Educator, Artist/Designer, Hexagon Project Workshops
Facilitator, Scranton School District, Scranton, PA
mcruise81@gmail.com

2. Connecting Art-Creating Solutions
ABSTRACT
Inside…a STEAM Unit plan for both Environmental Education and Science teachers which allows
students to demonstrate understanding of issues relating to Abandoned Mine Drainage through
involvement in the International Interdependence Hexagon Project, a visual art opportunity for
students and communities worldwide. Hexagons are metaphors for our commonalities and seeing
ourselves as interconnected in a world in which we share similar problems across borders and
boundaries and must learn to collaborate on solutions.
Written by Beth Burkhauser Art Educator and Founder, The Interdependence Hexagon Project
Adjunct, Art Education, Keystone College, Melissa Cruise, Art Educator, Artist/Designer, Hexagon Project
Workshop Facilitator, Scranton School District, Scranton, PA with support from Robert E. Hughes,
Executive Director, Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR)

3. The International Interdependence
Hexagon Project
Since 2007 over 8000 Hexagons from 5 Continents
An International Arts Project
Designed to Engage Youth in Real-World Issues
Using the HEXAGON as Metaphor for Interconnectedness
A small shape
with
BIG IDEAS
Beth Burkhauser, Chair
Keystone College
Art Education,
La Plume, PA USA
www.hexagonproject.org

4. Global
Interdependence
and Education: Where
Hexagons Make the
Connection
“THE IDEA AND PRACTICES OF INTERDEPENDENCE HAVE NEVER
BEEN MORE IMPORTANT.
We believe that cross border citizenship and an awareness
of the impotence of nations on their own in addressing
global challenges like warming, terrorism, disease,
inequality and social justice demand a change in how we
think about our world.”
Benjamin R. Barber, November 8, 2012

5. Interdependence Day was launched
in Philadelphia on September 12,
2003 as a post 9/11 symbol of
regeneration, as a time to reflect on
the tragedy of the incidents of
terror in the US and worldwide, and
to ask, “What next?”
It seemed critically important to
acknowledge the inevitability and
significance of interdependence in
our time, and set out to build
constructively, and civilly, and
culturally, a global civil society.
Interdependence
Day History
Art by Student from Provo HS, Utah
Founded in 2003 by Dr. Benjamin Barber, Center on
Philanthropy and Civil Society,
CUNY Graduate Center, NYC
www.interdependencemovement.org
And Mrs. Sondra Myers
Senior Fellow for International Civic and Cultural
Projects
University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania

6. What is the Interdependence
Social Justice Art Education
Hexagon Project?
• Students create in any media using a downloadable
hexagonal template as their format
• Students respond to a relevant theme and do
research
• Students work collaboratively or alone on one or
multiple hexagons IN ANY MEDIUM
• Deadline for participation in Exhibit in Scranton, PA is
June 30
• Online registration
• Exhibit: September for Interdependence Month
• And virtually…www.hexagonproject.org

7. What is Social Justice Art Education?
Marit Dewhurst, Art Education Journal, September 2010
“Shares a commitment to create art that
•draws attention to
•mobilizes action towards
•attempts to intervene in
systems of inequality or injustice”
Must it involve overtly political or controversial issues?
Not necessarily BUT should “offer participants a way
•to construct knowledge,
•critically analyze an idea
• and take action in the world.” Dewhurst

8. The Hexagon Project …
•Is Ripe for Formulating
Essential Questions, Big Ideas
•Addresses Personal to Global
•21st Century Skills: Creativity,
Collaboration, Empathy
and Critical Thinking
Utilizes Enduring Understandings
•Encourages and fosters
INTERDISCIPLINARY strategies
• Is design-based
Student from Tunkhannock Area
High School, PA

9. Website: www.hexagonproject.org
(http://www.interdependencedaynepa.org) old
• Prospectus, Educational Links
•All Templates, release forms, on-line registration
•Units and Lesson Plans
• Research bibliography, PowerPoints, videos
•Links to Social Justice projects
•The Interdependence Handbook: Looking
Back, Living the Present, Choosing the Future Edited by
Sondra Myers and Benjamin R. Barber
• essays, discussion questions
• Declarations of Interdependence
by UN, other groups
RESOURCES

10. Lesson/Unit Plans on Website
Including Unit Created by
Emily Erickson Cook, NBCT Art
Teacher in collaboration with
Amy Weiss, Global Perspectives
Teacher
South Middle School
Arlington Heights, IL
aweiss@sd25.org
Part One: Unit Plan:
Single Hexagon on
one theme
Part Two: Unit Plan for
SOLUTION in a
Hexagon Book
•Introductory PowerPoint
•Work sheets
•Templates for book
•Motivational On-line
resources, videos

11. Butwal and Kathmandu, Nepal
Exhibit &Global
Recognition Events
Scranton, PA
Dublin, Ireland
Chicago, Illinois -
Do Your P’ART 2013 & 2014

12. HUMAN
RIGHTS
of Every
Person
We are one human family.
Examine Consumerism
Vs. having enough
Being more vs. having more
By student from Leo
Baeck School Gr. 8
Toronto, Canada
By Afa Agwa, Cameroon, Africa
“Happy Family” High School
The Themes and
Content
of
Interdependence

13. Frankfort-Schuyler HS, NY
Donna Lynn Shuster, Art Teacher
We are one human family
Examine consumerism vs. having enough
Being more not having more
Sharing with others
Developing Empathy
HUMAN RIGHTS
of Every Person
by Student from Riverside High Schoo, PA

14. COLLABORATION
between Chicago Inner-City
academic magnet school and
an Islamic school
By student from Nepal
DIVERSITY
Free spaces for
religious, ethnic, cultural identities
Personal and group dignity

15. DIVERSITY
Free spaces for
religious, ethnic, cultural identities
Personal and group dignity:
INTERDEPENDENCE
stresses the creation
of free space where the
stranger can enter
and become a friend,
instead of an enemy;
INTERDEPENDENCE is not to change people, but to
offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over
to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.
- Richard Fitzimmons, I-Day, 2013

16. By student from St. Maximilian
Kolb Middle School, PA
By student from Alberta, Canada
ENVIRONMENT
Safe, sustainable global environment

17. ENVIRONMENT
We are one earth community
We have only one earth to win
or lose
By student from
Provo HS, Utah
By student from
Novato Charter,
CA
“The Rain Forest: Air, Land, Water” Ceramic, by 3 students at
Abington Heights High School, Clarks Summit, PA

18. GOVERNANCE
Democratic Forms
Realize common Rights
Common needs
By student from Union-
Endicott HS, New York
By student from Nepal

19. GOVERNANCE
Democratic Forms
Realize common Rights
Common needs
By student from
Alberta, Canada
By student from Nepal

20. COMMONALITIES
& IDENTITY
Policies protecting and expressing
human commonality
Linking the local with the global
Empathy
By student from Riverside HS, PA
By student from Tunkhannock HS, PA
“My students thoroughly enjoyed the process of learning about
I-Day and The Concept of Interdependence.”
D. Bianculli, Art Teacher Farragut
Elementary School, CA USA

21. COMMONALITIES
& Identity
•Visualizing the individual's concept
of connectedness
•Linking the local with the global
•Developing Empathy
By student from Union-Endicott HS, PA
By student from Susquehanna HS, PA
.
“I find that many teenagers really do
have concerns about the world in which
they live
and they value the opportunity to have a
voice. Because the theme is broad
enough, they were able to adapt it to
their own personal concerns.”
Cindy Henry, Art Teacher

22. CHILDREN
Protect their rights and goods
Health and Education
By Student from Nepal
By student from
Alberta, Canada
Global Citizenry
Collective Responsibility
“… the notion of being a global
citizen
is incorporated into every
discipline we teach.”
Leo Baeck Day School, Toronto,
CANADA

23. 2011-16 Blue Ridge Middle School, PA Sarrah Dibble, Art Teacher, Hexagon Houses:
donation canisters for Winter Heating Assistance RAISING over$4000.00 in 5 years!
Art Into Action: Community
Collaboration

24. How to get involved:
•Log on to http://www.hexagonproject.org for templates,
prospectus, updates, resources, links
• Engage support from administration and CONNECT to
other disciplines, school or classes, if desired.
• Launch project during the winter/spring
• Register hexagons on-line at
www.hexagonproject.org [or can be done manually
if no internet]
• Send entries by June 30 Deadline
• • Exhibit opens in Scranton, PA First Friday in September
Recognition Event [notification by end of July]
•Collaboration encouraged
•Categories: Gr. Pre-K – 2, 3-5, 6-8, High School
•All Media

25. Grow Like A Weed
Lackawanna College will cultivate hemp and explore its
possibilities thanks to a recently issued permit.
Hemp is coming to Lackawanna County.
The state recently awarded a hemp research permit to the nonprofit U.S. Ecological Advanced Research & Conservation Hub in
Mayfield and Lackawanna College for them to grow and explore potential industrial uses of hemp, the college announced. Hemp
cultivation and research will take place at the Northeast Environmental Technology Center greenhouse and lab on Old Plank Road
in Mayfield. Students from Lackawanna College’s new Sustainable Agriculture program will participate in the research and work.
The hemp initiative will have a decidedly Northeast Pennsylvania
focus by tapping into the area’s mining past. The research will
test whether hemp can grow with acid mine water irrigation and
on culm land. If successful, hemp could help remediate old
environmental problems and provide a new agricultural growth
path, said Dan Summa, the executive director of USEARCH.
Researchers will tap acid mine water from a well drilled deep
under the property, to learn whether hemp can grow with tainted
and reclaimed mine water, Summa said.
Some hemp seedlings started in the lab and greenhouse will be
transplanted into nearby culm land to determine if hemp can
thrive in the old coal waste dirt.
The research will ask, “Can we grow this (hemp) using
abandoned acid mine water, or cleaned up acid mine drainage
water, and can we grow it on compromised (culm) soil,” Summa
said.
“That’s going to be the challenge, to see if we can grow it in
culm land,” said Ray Angeli of the Northeast Environmental
Technology Center.
DANNA STEVENS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Ray Angeli gives a tour of the Mayfield greenhouse where
hemp for research will be grown.

26. Times Article Continued
Hemp also will be planted in a half-acre field plot on the center’s site.
Planting is not yet underway because researchers are still trying to obtain hemp seeds with federal approval.
They believe the research project could be a step toward bringing an environmentally sustainable product back to the American landscape and restore hemp as
an agricultural and economic boon.
“We have high hopes for it,” Angeli said. “And, that’s what the research will do. The research will (presumably) say it grows here; and then let the agricultural industry take it from there.”
Once prevalent in America, hemp has been used for thousands of years globally as a source of fiber and food. A versatile plant, hemp is relatively easy to grow and adaptable to many different climate and soil conditions.
In colonial times and early America, Pennsylvania produced large hemp crops, used for products ranging from rope to cloth to paper to sails. Oil from hemp seeds was used in paints, varnishes and soaps. George
Washington grew hemp on his farms.
Hemp was grown commercially in the United States until the 1930s, when it became regulated along with marijuana and its cultivation was prohibited.
Hemp laws vary
The 2014 federal farm bill opened the door to limited legal growth of industrial hemp as part of agricultural research pilot programs. The law provided a research framework and instructed states to build their own
regulatory programs. As a result, hemp laws may vary greatly from state to state.
Hemp and marijuana are different varieties of cannabis and differ in key respects. Marijuana has high levels of the psychoactive plant chemical delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the agent that produces “a high;” while
hemp has only trace amounts of THC, or less than threetenths of 1 percent.
“The best way to think about it is they’re in the same family, but entirely different, like a chimpanzee and a human,” Summa said.
Hemp grows in a stalk about 12 to 15 feet tall, with a flower at the top containing seeds, Angeli said.
Other research of the initiative will involve extracting oil from seeds of the three varieties of hemp that will be grown at the site in Mayfield, Summa said.
Appropriate uses
Hemp’s nascent revival stems from Pennsylvania’s Industrial Hemp Research Act of 2016, which allows individual growers and higher education institutions contracting with the state Department of Agriculture to apply
for permits to grow industrial hemp for research. Under the law, hemp may only be grown in Pennsylvania for research in pilot programs, and not for general commercial activity.
There are an estimated 25,000 uses for industrial hemp. It’s used in door panels in BMW luxury cars, in packaging materials, in farm-animal bedding, and in “hempcrete” building blocks that insulate and resist mold, insects
and fire.
The state’s new hemp research program aims to determine the most appropriate uses for Pennsylvania, in terms of growth, production and marketing.
Under the 2016 law, research permits can be obtained by institutions of higher education or by persons or entities contracting directly with the state Department of Agriculture.
During the 2017 season, 14 permit holders planted and grew slightly more than 36 acres of hemp. This was the first planting of hemp in Pennsylvania in about 80 years. Officials have said the 14 projects produced valuable
technical data on everything from seed-sourcing to harvesting.
For 2018, the state expanded opportunities for hemp production and research by allowing up to 50 growers to plant up to 100 acres each. The maximum research plot is 100 acres, or smaller plots with a combined area not
to exceed 100 acres. Projects are selected based upon an application and determination of merit of proposed research.
Big business
For the 2018 round, the state recently awarded permits for hemp research to Lackawanna College, Penn State University and Lehigh University.
Lackawanna College will incorporate the hemp initiative with USEARCH into a recently established Sustainable Agricultural degree program. Students will
gain opportunities to become involved in farming and possible new business ventures.
“Our partnership with USEARCH places the college at the forefront of a new and exciting field of research,” Lackawanna College President Mark Volk said in
a statement. “It provides yet another innovative opportunity for our students to expand into new industries that will provide them with unique career paths.”
Angeli said they will train people to work in the industry.
The state also passed a landmark medical marijuana law in 2016.
Just as medical marijuana has become a burgeoning industry in the state, so has hemp.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the growing of hemp is a multimillion-dollar business that has increased annually by almost 10 percent in
the last 10 years and had retail sales of nearly $600 million.
“Hemp is the next big thing,” Angeli said. “Hemp is going to be a big business.”
While USEARCH and the Northeast Environmental Technology Center are separate entities, the directors of both are the same three men — Summa, Angeli and Karl Pfeiffenberger, said Angeli.
The hemp project arrangement will have USEARCH and Lackawanna College conducting the research at the center’s facility, he said.
Its laboratories, classrooms, office space and shared facilities “act as cross pollinator of new ideas,” he said.

28. Running on STEAM

29. The Plan: A Hexagonal In-Depth Inquiry into AMD
for the Classroom
Link Environmental Science and Art Departments in an in depth discovery and creative journey where
students learn about AMD and create art using hexagons in a way to share knowledge, problems and
solutions, in a research and creative lab setting.
Day One: (first 10-15 minutes) Introduce Environmental Issue (If possible and Art teacher is not
comfortable seek Science Teacher or environmental speaker to come into class and aid with
presentation of information), Vocabulary, and Social Problem. Teacher discusses Oxides, Earth
Elements, Chemical Reactions, everyday chemical reactions (avocado and lime, apples and lemon juice,
water and copper, findings on mines, drainage, and treatment options. (20-25 min) Give Students
discovery time to discuss problem information. Handout Pre-Learning Assessment Sheet with Talking
Points. In groups students discuss mining experiences, pollution, and solutions to pollution. Teacher
Reviews group discussions with group spokesperson from each group. Teacher gives an extra credit
option at this point in lesson: in small groups students can do extra research on a related topic of
Reclaimed Mines, wetlands, watersheds, and rivers (while at comp lab) and complete a group Hexagon
based on their research. (This may extend lesson by a day for creating)

30. • Day Two: Students have Research/learning development day in computer lab. Students
will research local mines, AMD, and Iron Oxide Atomic Structure to recreate while students
complete information sheet for assessment (can also be given for homework if not
complete).
• Day Three: Discuss AMD and solutions (5 min), Introduce Art Example (Teacher
Example) Teacher Introduces Earth Elements/ Pigments from Abandoned Mine Drainage
and discuss expectations for Hexagon (rubric) (10min), Give students idea planning time –
sketch sheet- help students with transitioning to stations to complete Wax Resist Hexagon
(20-30 mins) Teacher gives Demonstration on Use of Wax drawing tools like crayons and
oil pastels, stampers and stamp pads and then uses pigments as a wash on top.
• Day Four: Continue with stations to complete Hexagon and Finish Painting with Oxide
wash (30 mins), cleanup (5 min), and students complete information sheet for assessment.
• Day Five: Teacher will review of information and worksheet/data collection as well as
review Lesson goals, have class critique/sharing. Formative Lesson Assessment. (How did
the lesson go? Anything to add or reinforce?)

31. Use any of the Assessments given or make your own using
Standards aligned for both subjects listed in Unit plan.
Science Look-Fors Art Look-Fors
 Student can identify three local mines.
 Student identifies AMD as pollution.
 Student can identify solutions to mine water
pollution.
 Student identifies part of water cycle essential
for stream restoration.
 Student can recreate Atomic Structure of Iron-
Oxide.
 Student can envision a solution for a self -
selected water pollution issue encountered
through research.
 Student can accurately reflect upon his or her
scientific growth in a written statement.
 Student can express environmental issues
through drawing.
 Student can create an original composition using
mixed media.
 Student can identify three pigments made from
mine water pollution.
 Student can apply artistic skill to create a multi-
layered artwork using two dimensional shapes.
 Students can identify traditional (Earth
Elements) and contemporary (Polymer, markers,
etc.) media and processes.
 Student can demonstrate an environmental
concern or solution in an effective artistic
composition.
 Student can accurately reflect upon his or her
artistic growth in a written statement.

32. When you are finished with the unit we encourage you to have a local
exhibition of the hexagons and invite the community for discussion. This is
a great way to bring Art, Science, and Community together.
Please don’t forget to submit your Hexagons to the International Hexagon
Program. Student work is represented on website with International
recognition.
Digital images can be uploaded to website.
http://hexagonproject.org/

33. Kamp Kistler

35. Riverfest 2017

37. Join Us
Create your own hexagon or simply experiment with the media.
How can this unit suit your needs or situation?
Brainstorm ideas for your own classrooms.
Is there someone you can collaborate with to make this unit a
success?
How can this unit be used and/or adapted in your local area (district,
program)?
Can we develop themes, activist statements, and discover problems
or solutions using our new knowledge?

38. Reflection and Sharing
•What have we discovered?