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ERIC Number: EJ996843
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jul
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0887-2376
EISSN: N/A
Communicating Science Concepts through Art: 21st-Century Skills in Practice
Buczynski, Sandy; Ireland, Kathleen; Reed, Sherri; Lacanienta, Evelyn
Science Scope, v35 n9 p29-35 Jul 2012
There is a dynamic synergy between the visual arts and the natural sciences. For example, science relies heavily on individuals with visual-art skills to render detailed illustrations, depicting everything from atoms to zebras. Likewise, artists apply analytic, linear, and logical thinking to compose and scale their work of art. These parallel spaces of science and art are pulled toward each other by the education needs of the 21st century (Chandler 1999). Five universal constructs have been identified as essential features for success in the 21st century: (1) adaptability; (2) complex communication skills; (3) nonroutine problem solving; (4) self-management; and (5) systems thinking. By blurring the boundaries between art and science, specific strategies emerge that allow middle school students practice with these 21st-century skills as they manipulate images and materials in the process of capturing science content. Marshall (2010) described five conceptual art strategies that can be implemented to foster science learning: (1) depiction; (2) projection; (3) reformatting; (4) mimicry; and (5) metaphor/analogy. To demonstrate the strength of integrating conceptual art strategies into a variety of science curricula, science teachers at Seabury Hall, a 6-12 college prep academy in Maui, Hawaii, recruited the school's art teacher to provide basic art lessons during science classes. This allowed students to learn the fundamentals of art, which they could then apply to their science lessons. (Contains 9 figures.)
National Science Teachers Association. 1840 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201-3000. Tel: 800-722-6782; Fax: 703-243-3924; e-mail: membership@nsta.org; Web site: http://www.nsta.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hawaii
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A