HDC Seventh Graders Explore How Science and Shakespeare Connect

Historic Downtown Campus seventh graders are exploring the theme of interdependence through a creative collaboration between Life Science and English! In Mr. Haddad's science class, students are learning how each part of a cell depends on others for survival. Organelles rely on one another to keep the cell functioning, just as cells depend on other cells to form tissues, tissues combine to make organs, each organ plays a role in an organ system, and organ systems are interdependent on each other to create a living organism. Students even took this concept a step further by connecting organelles in the cell to characters in Macbeth and explaining how their roles are similar.

In Ms. Permar's English class, students are studying Macbeth and discovering that the same idea of interdependence appears in literature. Just as a cell cannot function without its organelles, the play cannot unfold without the relationships between its characters. Macbeth depends on Lady Macbeth’s ambition and persuasion, the witches influence Macbeth’s decisions, and Banquo and Macduff each drive key moments that shape the story’s outcome. Through these connections, students see how actions and choices within a system, whether biological or literary, affect the success of the whole.

The unit comes together as students present their final projects. In science, they showcase their creative cell models, explaining how each part contributes to the larger system. In English, they perform scenes in “Pop-Up Shakespeare,” bringing the play to life and highlighting the characters’ interdependence on stage. This interdisciplinary experience helps students make meaningful connections between science and literature while deepening their understanding that everything, from cells to stories, works best when each part plays its role!