Art vs. Science

When I first thought of art and Science together I thought "complete opposites - chalk and cheese".

I could not understand how science could be creative. 

However the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. 

Science and art are more similar than you think; both are an attempt to better understand the universe around us. 

The common characteristic between scientists and artists: playfulness and the willingness to be creative with their projects. 

I looked at a YouTube video in which an artist and a scientist talked of their approaches to research.

 They both come to a conclusion that their approaches are in fact very similar. 

They both build on prior knowledge, research, calculate and implement ideas. Scientists work to solve a problem whilst artists work to answer a question. The one difference is measuring their work. There is no way for artists to measure their work like there is with science. Art is more personal.
See the label 'ScienceAndCreativity' to further explore this idea.   

In order to further explore how science could be creative, we looked at the Leonardo effect, which is all about creatively exploring the curriculum. 

"A perfect blend of art and science". 

 

We, ourselves, did our own Leonardo effect project. 

STAGE 1: capture the learner's imagination: 

In our groups we went around each table which had a piece of paper on each with a word in the middle:

Earth. 

Fire. 

Air. 

Water. 

We had to go around and write as many things as we could from our experience with the four elements. This then inspired us to write questions about what we wanted to find out. It could be anything. For example: 

Earth: how long until the world ends? 

My group talked about water, and our curiosity took us to fish and why/how they could breathe under water. 

STAGE 2: development 

During stage 2 we went away in our groups and used multimedia to further develop our ideas. 

In a classroom this could be taken to great lengths. For example taking children to an aquarium and studying fish and how they move and breathe. 

Stage 3: creation

This was the chance for us to put what we had found out into a creative context. We had studied each step of how a fish breathes underwater, and so decided to create a poster to illustrate our ideas and form a visual representation: 

Stage 4: reflect and communicate. 

This was a chance for us to show everyone the work we had done and to communicate what we had learned. 

My thoughts: 

The Leonardo effect is a great way of putting science and art together to make it creative and exciting. 

This is such an exciting, new approach to education today. Children have the chance to lead their own learning and to really discover what they want to know, whilst keeping within the curriculum. It covers a variety of key skills including communication, knowledge and understanding and self evaluation. It also builds on confidence and self esteem as the children stand up and show the work they have done themselves. 

Another thing I thought of is the doors that this approach opens for teachers. With the demands of the curriculum and testing, I feel teachers are finding it hard to be creative themselves with their lessons. As it says on the website, the Leonardo Effect is a great way to 're-energise' teaching. As I myself, want to go into teaching, this is such a positive strategy I am excited to use.

To explore this idea of Schools 'killing' creativity, please click on the label SchoolsKillCreativity or KenRobinson

 

 

Refrence

http://www.leonardoeffect.com/ Accessed 23/04/13