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POINT OF VIEW
Arts in science education1
Dina Izadi

Abstract: Combining the arts and standard curricula together can create a richer and more lasting learning experience for
students who believe that learning science is boring in classes. It is suggested that study of the arts should be accepted as an
essential part of achieving success in work. To this end, the most important action will be coordinating efforts of scholars from
various areas to allow arts education for science students to become an evidence-based field. It is our contention that while the
sciences seek to find answers to the most fundamental questions about our physical world, we need to find a place for the arts
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within the curriculum and within the process of scientific investigation. The arts should be applied in science education in a
manner that considers the culture of each community. Those who are actively engaged in arts should be able to better manage
their scientific projects and be able to better communicate and think. The main goal of arts in science education is to give
students the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings in the context of their different cultures and also to understand
science through the lens of their creative activity in arts.

Key words: arts, science, creative, education, culture.

Résumé : Combiner les arts et le programme scolaire standard peut créer une expérience plus riche et plus durable pour les
étudiants qui croient que l’étude des sciences en classe est ennuyante. Nous suggérons que l’étude des arts devrait être acceptée
comme une partie essentielle de la réussite. À cette fin l’action la plus importante sera de coordonner les efforts des intellectuels
de différents domaines pour permettre aux étudiants en sciences d’avoir une formation en arts. Nous sommes convaincus, alors
que les sciences recherchent des réponses aux questions les plus fondamentales concernant notre monde physique, que nous
For personal use only.

devons trouver une place pour les arts dans leur programme et dans le processus de recherche scientifique. Les arts introduits
dans le programme scientifique devraient refléter la culture de la communauté. Nous pensons que les scientifiques s’impliquant
activement en arts, devraient être mieux capables de gérer leurs projets scientifiques et de mieux les communiquer. Le but
principal des arts dans l’éducation scientifique est de donner aux étudiants l’opportunité d’exprimer leurs pensées et leurs
sentiments dans le contexte de leurs différentes cultures via la lentille de leur activité créatrice en arts. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

Mots-clés : arts, science, créatif, éducation, culture.

1. Introduction Our question is how exactly teachers can fit the arts into science
One of the most important aims of education is to develop more education by considering the culture.
knowledge, skill, and ability. Students of the 21st century are very
2. Understanding science through the creative
different from the students of the past. This requires educators to
think continuously about how to change their teaching to em- process in the arts
power and engage modern students, which makes educational Psychologists have shown that toys are crucial for the develop-
innovation important. Research [1] has shown that what students ment of such high-level skills as decision-making, socialization,
learn in the arts may help them to master other subjects, such as and creativity [2]. A toy such as the Tippe Top was a physics puzzle
reading, math or social studies. Students who participate in arts that fascinated at least two Nobel Laureates: Niels Bohr, who
learning experiences often improve their achievement in other helped figure out the structure of the atom, and Wolfgang Pauli,
realms of learning and life. For example, an analysis [1] of multiple best known for the Pauli exclusion principle, both famously stud-
studies confirms the finding that students who take music classes ied the Tippe Top to figure out what made it flip itself. Although
in high school are more likely to score higher on standardized the physics behind it is very complicated, designing Tippe Tops in
mathematics tests. One explanation is that musical training in several colors and forms can help to explain the composition of
rhythm emphasizes proportion, patterns, and ratios expressed as colors, symmetrical or asymmetrical motions, and moments of
mathematical relations. The arts nurture a motivation to learn by inertia [2].
emphasizing active engagement, disciplined and sustained atten- How can this toy be used in science education, and what is the
tion, persistence, and risk taking, among other competencies [1]. role of art? We can ask students to build several types of Tippe Top
The arts are a great learning tool for students to increase their to investigate the parameters affecting its turning, or to explore
motivation according to their interests and abilities. Art also pro- the mixture of colors. They also can build a magnetic Tippe Top to
vides diverse opportunities for communication and expression. check out new styles of spinning tops and also compare those that

Received 16 August 2016. Accepted 19 May 2017.

D. Izadi. Ariaian Young Innovative Minds Institute, AYIMI, Tehran, Iran; Department of Physics, National Polytechnic Institute, IPN, Mexico City,
Mexico.
Email for correspondence: [email protected].
1This paper is part of a Special Issue entitled Proceedings of The First Regional Conference for Women in Physics (RCWP-2016), 25–27 April, 2016, Islamabad,

Pakistan.
Copyright remains with the author(s) or their institution(s). Permission for reuse (free in most cases) can be obtained from RightsLink.

Can. J. Phys. 95: xliii–xlvi (2017) dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjp-2016-0590 Published at www.nrcresearchpress.com/cjp on 14 June 2017.
 xliv Can. J. Phys. Vol. 95, 2017

Fig. 1. Borujerdi ha House in central Iran. [Colour online.]

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are a little unusual. In all of these experiments the main part is the have severe consequences for our environment, so reducing en-
art of building the Tippe Top to help students to find the science ergy use in buildings is one of the most important ways to reduce
behind it. humans’ overall environmental impact. There are several ele-
A new way to investigate simple periodic motion, such as that of ments to the design of buildings, and architects should consider
a pendulum, as well as chaotic motion, is to ask students to build the use of more sustainable materials. By considering several pa-
their own dolls with arms and legs attached to a rotating connec- rameters, such as weather and culture, an analysis of every step in
tor. The dolls can be built of paper, nanomagnets or any other the construction of a building, from the paints used on the walls
materials. To investigate the parameters in this motion it is nec- to the type of ventilation system, give a clearer picture of how
essary to make the dolls in different shapes. Because students architects can design the best building.
think differently, all these toys will help them to show their indi- Our ancestors, by studying the environment, identified the
viduality in solving problems with their creativity in arts. principles of geometry, the physics of forces, and its mechanisms
to build their buildings using their creativity. Many centuries ago,
For personal use only.

3. Scientists and creative arts they succeeded in building examples of the most splendid build-
In earlier times, in the absence of technology, “nature” was the ings and innovative architecture.
laboratory of scientists like Plato, Aristotle, Michelangelo, and da
• Borujerdi ha House in central Iran (built in 1857) is an excellent
Vinci. The study and observation of the world around them, often
example of ancient Persian desert architecture with a wind-
referred to as “nature”, or “the natural world,” was their source of
catcher that functions as a solar chimney (Fig. 1).
inspiration, truth, and wisdom. Using this laboratory, Plato and
• The bath of Sheikh Bahai and Menar Jonban in Isfahan. In the
Aristotle laid the foundations for much of modern physics and
mathematics, as well as more “artistic fields,” such as esthetics, former the water temperature was kept steady for over
ethics, and political science. da Vinci was a painter and sculptor, 250 years by a small candle burning below the water reservoir
but was also an engineer, inventor, and anatomist. Michelangelo [5] and the latter (built in the 14th century) had special features
was also a painter and sculptor, as well as a poet, but also an so that if either of the minarets is shaken, the other minaret
engineer, anatomist, and architect [3]. will vibrate as well (resonance).
• Choga Zanbil Temple is a Zigorat with a height of 62 m and a
Niels Bohr was struggling to reimagine the structure of matter.
By analyzing the radiation emitted by electrons, Bohr realized length of 105.20 m for each side of the first floor. Even after
that science needed a new metaphor [4]. As Bohr said, “When it 3000 years it is in good condition. The architecture of ancient
comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry”. Bohr’s Iran provided it with a portable water treatment system. The
discerning conviction was that the invisible world of the electron water was brought to the system through a network of canals
was essentially a cubist world. What Bohr maintained was that the constructed on scientific principles. Then, by passing the water
form they took depended on how you looked at them. Electrons through various layers of sand, gravel, and coal, and a certain
weren’t like little planets at all. Instead, they were like one of percent of salt and lime as bactericides, the treated water was
Picasso’s deconstructed guitars, a blur of brushstrokes that only transmitted to smaller basins through nine narrower canals
made sense once you stared at it. So the art that looked so strange from under the main reservoir (vessels law principle, as when
was actually telling the truth. the liquid settles, it balances out to the same level in all of the
Having pieces that are connected to each other occurs in an communicating vessels regardless of the shape and volume of
example in which Calder’s composition artistically shows the the containers). This system was man’s first system for water
physiology of the cells of an area that are selectively responsive to treatment [6].
• The Pasargad Palace in Shiraz, the oldest imperial capital city of
motion and its direction. Viewed from a distance, the separate
pieces of the mobile appear as static spots of varying sizes. But as the world (Fig. 2), is one of the most splendid buildings in the
the pieces move in different directions, each one stimulates only world. It has innovative architecture, and even after 2500 years
the category of cell that is selectively responsive to the direction the columned hall is amazing for its incredible height and the
in which the spot is moving [4]. specific distance of the columns from each other [7].
It is interesting that in ancient times both art and science al-
4. Finding the nexus of arts and sciences in our ways were involved in architecture.
everyday life
In our society, those who have been educated in different uni- 5. The arts help to understand scientific concepts
versities and different sciences cannot easily communicate with As Einstein noted: “The greatest scientists are artists as well”
each other on their subject, and the schism between the sciences [8, p.245]. It is clear that artists enable people to visualize the sciences
and the arts is the main reason. Climate change and its effects in different ways or to apply new ways of thinking. In scientific

Published by NRC Research Press

 Izadi xlv

Fig. 2. Pasargad in Shiraz. [Colour online.]

Fig. 3. Physics experiments by building the aparatus and taking a photo, doing experiments using their own aparatus, and interpreting the
results (experiments in AYIMI tournaments). [Colour online.]
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Fig. 4. Making real lens and circulation in water, in situ experiments combined with art. [Colour online.]
For personal use only.

communities we can encourage students to solve problems by Fig. 5. Students describe a volcano eruption and explain how it
seeing connections between different scientific fields, and arts changes the ocean’s floor using their experiments. [Colour online.]
and culture (Fig. 3). For instance, in our physics education, stu-
dents are asked to look carefully at nature and everything around
them in their everyday life. Then by using art they can illustrate
their observations and interpret their main ideas, or analyze real
scientific problems using their own creative approaches. Students
who found that learning physics was boring for them, now find
the beauties of physics along with its complexities.
It is, however, very important to compare the arts in different
cultures because we can discover how different instruments can
be applied in solving the same problem. There are several local
outreach programs in AYIMI to middle and high schools that ex-
pose all students to the wonders of different sciences using the
arts. Arts in science education inspires students to look carefully,
to think deeply, and to design a model, such as “Physics in Na-
ture,” which directs students to use art in science to get more
capacity to create meaningful ideas.

6. How to guide students to learn science from

their own creativity in art
To learn science using art requires collaboration between the
teacher and students. This collaboration consists of two stages. In
the first stage, the experienced teachers, who are asked to partic-
ipate in scientific challenges with their students, are guided to
hold inquiry workshops. These workshops focus on promoting

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 xlvi Can. J. Phys. Vol. 95, 2017

Fig. 6. Paper bridge experiment and data analysis (experiments in AYIMI tournaments). [Colour online.]
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For personal use only.

students’ skills in solving problems while considering their abili- that education, creativity, and empathy strengthen any commu-
ties in building devices and setups. In the second stage, teachers nity and that there is no border between science and arts, but we
present outcomes of this collaboration to develop students’ learn- also believe that local culture should be considered. Scientists
ing using their creativity in art. that lived many years ago were not only accomplished in their
Students try to present their solutions in the workshop where it
scientific field but also in arts. Arts in science education offers a
is often difficult to see their work as a research program among
new model for 21st century teaching to help the shift from human
young students. Students show their own in situ experiments, the
real data and analysis in the workshop to convince the visitors labour to mechanical labour based on human imagination and
(Fig. 4 and 5). novelties so it should be considered that:
Modeling a bridge using a single sheet of paper to find the • science and arts can impact to each other; and
stresses, forces, and the maximum resistance against weight,
• problems cannot be solved alone just by science and arts can
helps students think as a designer to construct a paper bridge and
investigate the relevant parameters. The details of one’s own help to find the solution too.
learning process are demonstrated in the process of designing and
observation. In this case students observe how art provides them References
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(2015).
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