Crossing borders with a spotlight on plankton

In an interdisciplinary collaboration with arts and crafts and science, faculty members at the teacher education, Nord University, have developed the project “Arctic Sea Under the Microscope” based on the emphasis on practical and creative work methods in learning processes. It was carried out in arctic regions with teacher students from Norway and Greenland and with Norwegian pupils at middle schools. The goal was to learn about the importance of plankton for arctic marine life. Using exploratory and practical aesthetic methods, participants became acquainted with plankton from theirs regions. Activities involved dramatization of food chains, harvesting plankton and exploring microscope samples. Participants were introduced to drawing where they were to recreate organisms under the microscope in large formats and thus make the invisible but important organisms visible. Based on participants' feedback and creative work, we show how in-depth learning occurs by crossing borders between different forms of knowledge in different subjects.