“Art in the Sciences” or “Blending Art and Science”
Visual art has a long history in research and teaching of science and medicine. Artistic renditions are key in the study of anatomy and, before the advent of photography, this usually involved hand-drawing specimens. With the growth of readily accessible digital photography, the necessity for hand-drawn images has declined, and some educators argue that this may be contributing to “visual illiteracy.” Visual education is not emphasized beyond early school years and is routinely neglected in text-heavy, university science curricula (Kędra, J. & Žakevičiūtė, 2019). We believe that this is a missed opportunity in neuroscience education, since research shows that student-generated drawings are an excellent way to assess understanding of neuronal anatomy and physiology (Hay et al., 2013; Slominski et al., 2017). By emphasizing creativity through different artistic representations of neurons and encouraging the students to create their own drawings, we have introduced activities to engage our students in visual learning.
To teach neuronal structure in first year Psychology & Neuroscience, our students are invited to participate in an Art Battle (actually an art contest), with small prizes for the most beautiful and accurate depictions of neuronal anatomy and connections. Students with the winning submissions are offered the opportunity to have their artwork featured on quizzes and exams. In addition to allowing the instructor to identify if students are mastering or struggling with their understanding of neuronal structure and communication, this exercise has produced beautiful artwork (see example below, Figure 1):
Figure 1: A winning student submission for the Neuron Art Battle in the Introduction to Psychology and Neuroscience class at Dalhousie University. Students were instructed to hand draw a depiction of two neurons communicating to submit in a class-wide contest for a chance to win a prize (artwork courtesy of Molly Wells http://www.mollywellsart.ca/).
Beyond the intended outcomes of the Neuron Art Battle, this in-class activity led to a new project centred on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). We had previously identified that many images currently available for teaching core concepts in psychology and neuroscience (at the introductory level) had not been created with accessibility in mind. In partnership with Molly Wells, a current Marine Biology undergraduate student, and a small grant from the Student Accessibility Centre at Dalhousie, we sought to create images that were accessible to individuals with varying visual challenges (e.g., colour vision deficiencies and low vision). Molly is currently helping us to create a bank of key images (e.g., neurons, retinal cell layers, structures of the inner ear) with high-contrast outlines and contrasting colours identifiable by all viewers (see Figure 2 for example).
Figure 2: Neuron circuit used in teaching neuronal structure, function, and signalling. The artist (Molly Wells) was a winner of the neuron art contest. Note: These colours are distinguishable for people with common forms of colour blindness (artwork courtesy of Molly Wells http://www.mollywellsart.ca/).
As evidenced above, the introduction of art into our science class has had multiple pedagogical rewards. In class, our students are not only having fun but are also reflecting on their understanding of neuronal structure and communication. Additionally, thanks to our collaboration with Molly, our future students will benefit from the development of the more accessible images we use in our instruction.
References
Hay, D. B., Williams, D., Stahl, D., & Wingate, R. J. (2013). Using drawings of the brain cell to exhibit expertise in neuroscience: Exploring the boundaries of experimental culture. Science Education, 97(3); 468–491.
Kędra, J. & Žakevičiūtė, R. (2019). Visual literacy practices in higher education: what, why and how? Journal of Visual Literacy, 38(1-2); 1-7.
Slominski, T. N., Momsen, J. L., & Montplaisir, L. M. (2017). Drawing on student knowledge of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. Advances in Physiology Education, 41(2); 212–221.