Megan Hanscom
Science Teacher
Lab's First Arts Integration Expo
In spring of 2025, Middle School teacher Megan Hanscom helped pioneer Lab’s first Arts Integration Expo, a collaborative exhibition of arts-infused student work celebrating the ways that our students demonstrate learning through art. In addition to putting on display the work of arts-integrated lessons that have previously been “trapped in the halls” of the Middle School, the Expo was a call to arms for teachers to find new and innovative avenues to bring art into their classrooms. In the end, 23 classes contributed work to the Expo across seven different subjects.
Papier Mache volcanoes are the classic classroom fusion of art and science: students build and decorate their model volcanoes before using a chemical reaction to simulate an eruption. “I frequently joke that being a middle school science teacher is a lot like being a birthday party entertainer,” says 5th Grade science teacher Ms. Hanscom. “Explosions, games, and ‘wow’ moments create lasting memories, but are also fuel for lifelong scientific engagement.”
One student in Ms. Hanscom’s class demonstrated just how memorable these lessons can be. “[Division Head] Melissa Wood brought a tour group through the Middle School as the students were working on their volcano projects,” remembers Ms. Hanscom. “She asked them, ‘What are the different types of volcanoes?’ We hadn’t done any memorization work in the class, but one student was able to give a beautiful 30-second presentation using the correct vocabulary to list all of the volcano types and groups and how you use their shapes to identify them. It was so cool to see not only that he had retained all of the information, but he could present it on the fly to a group of visiting parents.”
Artistic expression as a strategy for building connections in students’ minds is one of the central tenets of a Lab education. When she first began at Lab in 2023, Ms. Hanscom’s proximity to the Museum Club classroom informed her teaching approach. “I was really inspired by the Academic Clubs on campus and seeing the ways that other subjects could be engaged through art. It was a fun kind of initiation to Lab – understanding where arts integration really falls in the school’s ethos and how important it is on campus.” The focus on art integration tied in well with Ms. Hanscom’s background: her degree is in environmental studies with minors in humanities and studio art. She focused on purposefully integrating art skills and project-based learning into all of the units in her Earth’s systems focused class.
The idea for an expo dedicated to arts integration came out of discussions with Chair of Teaching and Learning Amanda Palmer where they explored what tenets best exemplify being a teacher at Lab. Using the arts to engage with deeper thinking and problem solving in academic subjects like math, engineering, or science has long been one of the central pillars of Lab’s teaching model. The Expo became a way to highlight the arts education that was already taking place in Lab classrooms while simultaneously inspiring non-arts teachers to introduce new art opportunities in their classroom. Several reading and literacy teachers created lessons around morphology art and illustrated poems as part of the Expo. In all, 23 different Middle School classes across a wide spectrum of subjects participated in the Expo.
Planning began in January and the Arts Integration Expo went on display in late April. By locating the Expo in Lab’s “Main Street,” art that had previously only been seen in the Middle School was now on display for the whole campus. The Expo became a destination for classes to visit and students could often be seen proudly pointing out their own contributions. Though most of the projects stemmed from Middle School classes, the Upper School Chemistry and Metals classes displayed their salt etchings and the Upper School Advanced Scenic Design class collaborated on the 8th Grade English class’ “The Outsiders” Blackout Poetry project, building a tree upon which their poetry could be displayed. In future expos, the hope is that even more classes from other divisions will get involved.
One of the greatest strengths of the project was the collaborative effort by the classroom teachers. “It wasn’t just me. It was 23 other teachers on campus who were already doing really incredible work or pushed themselves to try something new this year,” said Ms. Hanscom. Teachers would connect and share ideas about projects that engage deeper learning through the arts. “The payoff for doing arts integration in a classroom is the excitement and the way that students engage with their projects,” says Ms. Hanscom. “It helps them remember things in such a different way.”
