Disturbance 2026 Education Program

About:

Disturbance: Youth Education is a STEAM-based arts education initiative engaging approximately 25 fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms across Questa, Taos, Ranchos, Talpa, and Peñasco. Led by The Paseo Project in partnership with Twirl, the program invites students to explore fire ecology, disturbance science, storytelling, and creative expression through hands-on workshops that integrate science and art.

Students will participate in two classroom workshops that combine environmental science concepts with experiential art-making. Their work will culminate in a multi-site public exhibition presented in October 2026 at Wildflower Gallery, TCA Encore Gallery, and UNM–Taos Art Studios—centering youth voices and regional ecological knowledge within a professional gallery context.

Program Goals

  • Increase student understanding of fire ecology and disturbance science

  • Foster creative problem-solving through STEAM learning

  • Connect youth to local landscapes, scientists, artists, and cultural institutions

  • Amplify student voices through a professionally curated public exhibition

Program Activities

  • Up to two one-hour STEAM-integrated workshops per classroom

  • Instruction serving approximately 500 students (grades 4–5)

  • Guest artist and scientist engagement

  • Student artwork documentation and exhibition preparation

  • Family- and community-centered exhibition events

Program Themes

Students are exploring:

  • Fire as a natural and necessary part of forest systems

  • What a healthy/historical forest looks like

  • Forest density, fuel loads, and regeneration

  • Community stewardship and resilience

  • Indigenous and scientific perspectives on fire ecology

The curriculum uses:

  • embodied learning

  • role-play

  • movement

  • systems-based games

  • collaborative discussion

  • sensory exploration

to help students understand the complexity of fire-adapted ecosystems in Northern New Mexico.


Student Experience

During the first classroom visit, students:

  • Build “living forests” with their bodies

  • Simulate overcrowded and healthy forests

  • Explore how fire spreads through different fuel conditions

  • Discuss the emotional and ecological realities of wildfire

  • Learn about regeneration and forest succession

During the second visit, students:

  • Respond artistically to ecological concepts

  • Create collaborative visual artworks

  • Develop pieces that will become part of a larger immersive community installation

Student Artwork in Development

Current student-created projects include:

  • mind maps and ecological systems drawings

  • word art created from student-generated fire ecology vocabulary

  • recycled plastic fire sculptures made from water bottles

  • cyanotypes

  • charcoal and ash drawings

  • pinch pots created with reclaimed local clay

  • ecological species studies

  • collaborative canopy and yarn web elements

The work combines:

  • science

  • ecology

  • systems thinking

  • storytelling

  • visual art

  • sensory experience

Youth Art Show Installation

The youth-created installation is evolving into a large-scale immersive ecological environment where visitors physically move through interconnected forest systems.

The current installation vision includes:

  • two interconnected ecological pathways

  • an immersive forest of suspended tree forms

  • a large ecological web made from yarn and species drawings

  • soundscapes created collaboratively by students

  • motion-activated sensory elements

  • opportunities for audience participation and reflection

Visitors will move through ecological phases exploring:

  • growth

  • overcrowding

  • disturbance

  • after burn

  • regrowth

  • stewardship and prescribed fire practices

Interactive components may include:

  • planting seeds

  • contributing artwork

  • answering prompts such as:

    • “What is a healthy forest?”

    • “What role do humans play in forest systems?”

    • “What does resilience look like?”

The installation invites audiences to reconsider fire not simply as destruction, but as part of a living ecological cycle.


Become a Disturbance with us

Interested in hosting or supporting our Disturbance 2026 Education Program?

Contact Us Here!