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This article addresses an arts-integrated social studies curriculum for grades three through five entitled Artful Citizenship, designed by The Wolfsonian-Florida International University. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant program, the design and implementation of the program was done concurrently with a three-year evaluation of the curriculum's impact on visual literacy and critical-thinking skills conducted by Curva and Associates. The research was conducted in low-performing urban schools in Miami-Dade County and targeted students at risk for failing Florida's standardized achievement tests in reading and math. Artful Citizenship was created by a museum with a collection specializing in art and design--mass-produced objects that reveal how design reflects and shapes social, political, and technological change. Because of the collection's nature, the aim of Artful Citizenship was to use inquiry-based strategies that focused on the critical understanding of objects as agents of social change (as opposed to understanding their aesthetic or art-historical significance). The longitudinal study provides a framework for a definition of critical thinking that relates to a school-based intervention targeting social studies skills. The study also documents the effectiveness of Visual Thinking Strategies as a foundational strategy for developing critical-thinking skills upon which a multi-modal teaching approach that integrates visual material and promotes artistic response can be built. In this article, we share findings from the study that have major implications for designing museum-school partnerships and help illuminate the interconnection between visual literacy and critical thinking when related to complex social issues. (Contains 5 figures, 1 table, and 9 notes.)

A program of geophysical mapping and vibracoring was conducted to better understand the geologic evolution of Apalachicola Bay. Analyses of the geophysical data and sediment cores along with age control provided by 34 AMS 14C dates on marine shells and wood reveal the following history. As sea level rose in the early Holocene, fluvial deposits filled the Apalachicola River paleochannel, which extended southward under the central part of the bay and seaward across the continental shelf. Sediments to either side of the paleochannel contain abundant wood fragments, with dates documenting that those areas were forested at 8,000 14C years b.p. As sea level continued to rise, spits formed of headland prodelta deposits. Between ∼6,400 and ∼2,500 14C years b.p., an Apalachicola prodelta prograded and receded several times across the inner shelf that underlies the western part of the bay. An eastern deltaic lobe was active for a shorter time, between ∼5,800 and 5,100 14C years b.p. Estuarine benthic foraminiferal assemblages occurred in the western bay as early as 6,400 14C years b.p., and indicate that there was some physical barrier to open-ocean circulation and shelf species established by that time. It is considered that shoals formed in the region of the present barrier islands as the rising sea flooded an interstream divide. Estuarine conditions were established very early in the post-glacial flooding of the bay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Apalachicola Bay and St. George Sound contain the largest oyster fishery in Florida, and the growth and distribution of the numerous oyster reefs here are the combined product of modern estuarine conditions in the bay and its late Holocene evolution. Sidescan-sonar imagery, bathymetry, high-resolution seismic profiles, and sediment cores show that oyster beds occupy the crests of a series of shoals that range from 1 to 7 km in length, trend roughly north-south perpendicular to the long axes of the bay and sound, and are asymmetrical with steeper sides facing to the west. Surface sediment samples show that the oyster beds consist of shelly sand, while much of the remainder of the bay floor is covered by mud delivered by the Apalachicola River. The present oyster reefs rest on sandy delta systems that advanced southward across the region between 6400 and 4400yr BP when sea level was 4–6m lower than present. Oysters started to colonize the region around 5100yr BP and became extensive by 1200 and 2400yr BP. Since 1200yr BP, their aerial extent has decreased due to burial of the edges of the reefs by the prodelta mud that continues to be supplied by the Apalachicola River. Oyster reefs that are still active are narrower than the original beds, have grown vertically, and become asymmetrical in cross-section. Their internal bedding indicates they have migrated westward, suggesting a net westerly transport of sediment in the bay. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]