Aquatic Invasive Stamps
School: Wiscasset Middle School
City/State: Wiscasset, ME
Grade(s): 6, 7, 8
Format(s): Stamp: Postage
Subject(s): Science and Technology, Visual Arts
Project Overview
Students from the Wiscasset Middle School, in Wiscasset, Maine (a coastal town) created these stamps as part of a learning expedition on invasive ocean species.
Students researched ocean species, and in particular, problems caused by invasive ocean species, working with local experts. For this project, students created designs for postage stamps addressing this topic. Teams of students created a small stamp series; in each image is a poster-size version of one student’s stamp design, with a miniature inset of the full set of stamps designed by the student team.
The posters and stamps were created with art quality color pencils and ink/markers. Student work went through multiple rounds of critique and revision. The quality of the materials made a great difference in the clarity of line and richness of color in these scientific illustrations.
The product’s original dimensions are 11 by 17 inches.
How This Project Can Be Useful
- Exemplifies a product format that builds off of a familiar, everyday item – postage stamps – that could be engaging for students across a wide range of disciplines and topics
- The quality of the posters are striking – both the details embedded within the stamps and the overall quality of the posters
- Highlights carefully done artwork by middle school students that went through multiple rounds of critique and revision
- Highlights a product that engages students in local environmental problems – ones that can deeply impact the area’s economy