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2G INNOVATION ABSTRACTS. xe-3*

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ZU CANS Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development
With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

 

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SCIENCE AND ART: A CROSS DISCIPLINE APPROACH

During 1985, anatomy, botany, and microbiology were redesigned to facilitate right-brain dominant
learning processes. Most art majors had previously met with disappointment and/or failing grades prior to
the cross discipline approach. This unique teaching style was initiated to promote artistic and scientific
success for art students, but could be modified for any discipline.

Art assignments were substituted for traditional hour exams. Factual science knowledge was tested
weekly, via short quizzes. The students attended lecture, which emphasized the cognitive information
needed to complete their individual art assignments. All lecture material stressed both scientific and
aesthetic values. Laboratory periods were a mixture of art and science. Some art assignments required
"hands on" laboratory experience to master science techniques needed to complete art assignments. This
abstract describes and summarizes three semesters of instructing art students in the "hard" sciences.

SCIENCE AND ART: Description of cross discipline approach

Anatomy (artistic emphasis)

This class stressed a conscious relationship between size, skeletal position and where on the human form
the bones produced surface relief. Male and female models were utilized for surface structure
demonstrations. The live model bone prominences were used for sight recognition of major skeletal bones
during weekly quizzes. Each bone, or group of bones, was drawn by the students. The drawings facilitated
recognition of bones for quiz identification and gave the students an appreciation for how the bones affect
body form. Weekly drawing assignments were individualized. Each assignment included factual
information related to how the bones affect body shape and muscle contours.

Assignment examples:

NOTE: Scientific jargon was used for all assignments, requiring students to understand
terms and concepts presented in lecture. Art students translated this jargon into drawings
and paintings; i.e., science became art.

1. Use the human head as a measuring device and draw to scale: the outline of a human from right side,
coronal plane view, lateral from midline.

2. Create a primitive-man conflict scene emphasizing the usage of long, short, flat, and irregular bones as
weapons.

Botany (artistic emphasis)

Botany was approached from the morphological and anatomical aspects. Emphasis was placed on the
internal anatomy and cellular detail of plants. The students used plant cells as abstract forms to generate
realistic drawings of plant tissues, or botanical apparitions. The traditional laboratory was converted into a
working laboratory for the art students. Both botany and art instructors were available to discuss how their
respective disciplines would affect the assignment. The laboratory time was also used for instructor-student
discussions concerning the method of presentation best suited for each assignment.

Assignment examples:

1. Generate a botany textbook cover. The theme can involve artistic license, along botanical lines, or
actual botanical material.

2. Draw a housefly using only tracheids, collenchyma tissue, sclereids, parenchyma tissue, vessel
elements, sieve-tube elements and sclerenchyma tissue as body parts.

 

iP Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712