ERIC Number: EJ1098566
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1938-9809
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Available Date: N/A
Humanities & Arts to the Rescue of Science
Papacosta, Pangratios
Forum on Public Policy Online, v2007 n1 Win 2007
The future of science may depend on how education responds to the growing negativism that students and the public show towards science. What is the value of our current teaching methods, if in helping students achieve higher test scores, they also generate a lifelong disdain of science? Achieving a positive attitude towards science must become a major objective of all future teaching methods if we are to reverse the current trend. We can accomplish this by bridging the divide of the Two Cultures that C. P. Snow warned us about, using an innovative method that integrates science with relevant elements from the humanities and the arts. An art gallery can be used effectively as an extension of a science classroom. When properly analyzed, a theater or dance performance, a painting, a novel, a poem, or a film, can enrich and reinforce a science concept beyond traditional lab exercises. When elements of history of science are integrated appropriately in the curriculum, they humanize what is otherwise perceived as a dry, mechanical and impersonal discipline. The author will describe the many benefits and limitations, as well as unexpected discoveries that he has made in his experience with this method.
Descriptors: Science Education, Public Opinion, Teaching Methods, Interdisciplinary Approach, Humanities, Art Education, Art Products, College Science, Secondary School Science
Oxford Round Table. 406 West Florida Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801. Tel: 217-344-0237; Fax: 217-344-6963; e-mail: editor@forumonpublicpolicy.com; Web site: http://www.forumonpublicpolicy.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A