What Type of Art Is Based on Powers of Observation and Is Threedimensional
Methods & Strategies
The Power of Observation
Practical art-based exercises to improve how we acquire science
Illustration © Sally J. Bensusen/Visual Science Studio
Art and science share several meaning practices. Both involve exploration. Both use experimentation. Both attempt to find. And both share the act of careful observation. Ascertainment is a concentrated report requiring attention to the characteristics of an object, a scene, or a situation: calorie-free, shape, texture, pattern, color, detail, and changes of these over time and nether varying atmospheric condition. As with any skill, the ability to observe well takes constant practice. By keeping a small sketchbook (or "field journal"), for instance, a student can draw objects from nature on a daily footing and add notes of his or her observations. Over time, the student can learn to differentiate between similar life forms, recognize patterns in the natural earth, and develop models of how nature works.
Drawing practice is a good style to improve the ability to concentrate and heighten curiosity, to see the world more expansively, more analytically, more objectively and in detail that would otherwise slip by unnoticed (Brew, Fava, and Kantrowitz 2012). Drawing is what humans do naturally. Treated as a "program running in the background," receptive young minds provide a natural place to use this kind of grooming. Additionally, communicating through exact clarification and focused activities can also enhance the experience of observing.
Observation Challenge
For the last few summers, I accept been asked to participate in a professional evolution program on biodiversity hosted past the Smithsonian Scientific discipline Pedagogy for Teachers in Washington, D.C. In that location I introduce K–12 teachers to a type of fine art that is traditionally used in the service of science, that is, scientific illustration (see Additional Resources).
There are as many types of scientific illustration equally there are sciences. As a point of introduction, I show the teachers a few examples of scientific illustrations from diverse sources, including some of my ain works, sketches to final art, to bear witness the stages for how this fine art is created (Figure ane).
Scientific illustrations stages. © Sally J. Bensusen/Visual Science Studio
The host wanted me to give the participants a hands-on experience. It wouldn't exist possible to offering the participants a drawing class in a short, three-hour workshop. I could, however, simulate the experience of working as a scientific illustrator by teaching the participants how to encounter in very much the way that a trained scientific illustrator would, by employing some exercises that are helpful in developing better observing skills. Skilled ascertainment is key in scientific illustration and it also plays a key office in scientific pursuits.
During this workshop, I treated the participants equally stand-ins for their own students. They would see firsthand how these activities work and understand what their students would experience with these practices in their own science classrooms. The exercises were meant to be fun, while secretly guiding the participants toward learning how to see in new, more critical and detailed ways. The commencement steps in this direction were to switch off their internal critics. This experience was not about learning how to depict only to exercise visually recording what 1 observes, both accurately and without judgment. Variations on these exercises are encouraged based on course level, but they will work for any age given a few modest adjustments.
Learning How To See—Do #1: Speed Cartoon With Toys
Setup
In this exercise, in that location is no "art" created in this exercise, no resulting beautiful drawings. The speed of the activity does have a dual purpose: (i) to plow off the mind's critic and (2) to push the participant to focus on only the well-nigh important general aspect(southward) of the object under written report—shape, relative size, orientation, for instance—and then motion on to the next object very quickly, without overthinking.
The local party store provided a broad range of small, very inexpensive toys, some with familiar shapes and some appearing more than abstract: racket makers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, so on. What they looked similar was irrelevant. In fact, the more unrecognizable they were, the better it served the exercise (Effigy two).
Examples of objects nerveless for the activity "Speed Cartoon with Toys." © Sally J. Bensusen/Visual Science Studio
For the week, the hosts had issued to each participant a pocket-sized, unlined field journal (roughly five" × 8") and pencils. The journals were employed during this workshop.
The Activity
Everyone was handed one toy. The participants were given 10 seconds to depict the object in front of them then to pass it to their neighbor on the left. (Not surprisingly, there were some gasps from the group, which told me that many participants were expecting to make complete drawings of their toys, rather than taking a simpler focus.) The real aim of this exercise was to learn how to relax into a brusque timeline, to concentrate on only a couple of aspects of these objects and then to move on to the next drawing without judgment.
Subsequently we began, I chosen time in 10 seconds. Each participant passed his toy to his left. We started again as soon as things settled down. Nosotros did this for about six cycles (Figure iii).
Science teachers practise speed drawing with toys (Exercise #1).
Smithsonian, used with permission
(Information technology is helpful to assign ane person every bit a "runner" who retrieves the toy from the last participant at the back of the room and runs it to the get-go participant at the front of the room betwixt cycles.)
Word
After we completed the exercise, I asked the participants how many of them felt more than stress as we repeated the exercise. Two hands went up. (Many people have loftier expectations in a drawing form and this can be counterproductive. It was important to be able to eliminate that preconception through this brain-training practice.) I then asked the reverse question: How many of them became more relaxed as the practise was repeated? Most half the grade raised their hands.
I would make 1 adjustment to this exercise for immature children: increase the drawing time to 30 seconds or fifty-fifty a full minute. The use of funny toys will aid keep them engaged for several cycles, too as the challenge of making drawings within a very brief menstruum of fourth dimension.
Practice #two: Reverse Pictionary
In the original game of "Pictionary," 1 player produces a drawing that represents a word. The other players have to guess what that discussion is. The activity described below uses the opposite strategy.
In "Opposite Pictionary," players attempt to describe an image to another role player who draws the description. Equally in the case of "Speed Drawing," the short length of time assigned to this exercise is intended to force the non-drawing members of each grouping to actually focus on their epitome. The more than focused they are, the more than thoroughly they can describe the image. The person selected to draw serves as the team's "quality control" every bit to their level of success.
The Activity
We broke the form up into four groups of iv or five participants. They were instructed to select someone in their grouping to serve every bit "pencil pusher," that is, the group fellow member who would accept on the task of drawing for the group. The other members in each grouping were given a sealed envelope containing a photo clipped from a magazine. They were instructed not to testify the photo to their pencil pusher.
Each group received a unlike image, so that the other groups wouldn't be distracted by hints voiced by the neighboring groups. The images contained random field of study thing: an aboriginal clay figure; a pottery fragment; 2 Easter Isle heads in a field; a blob fish. (Photos can be of whatever subject field, though information technology's best to keep the image simple.) They had 15 minutes to complete the chore.
A participant's drawing from the Reverse Pictionary exercise. This was from the clay figure group.
Smithsonian, used with permission
Discussion
Not surprisingly, there were varying degrees of success betwixt the groups, depending on the complexity of the image:
- The group receiving the photograph of the clay figure approached the problem past beginning with simple shapes and their placement on the page, gradually refining the shapes and adding increasingly more than detail. They did a fine task of describing the image and were able to develop an virtually exact representation (Figure iv).
- The group with the photo of the blob fish also used a similar technique, describing general grade get-go, then finer detail of line and shape. They obtained first-class results as well.
- The group that received the photo of the two Easter Island heads had five members and chose two participants to act every bit pencil pushers, leaving three describers. They used a method involving a filigree system, whereby both the describers and the pencil pushers divided their papers into 9 sections. The describers then tried to explain what shapes and lines appeared in each section. This was an first-class approach to what was a very complex image. This grouping had the most difficult time.
- The group that received the photo of the pottery fragment did surprisingly well in using a like filigree approach.
In hindsight, the exercise might be more than effective by choosing more like images, so that no i group had an paradigm with a college degree of difficulty. The group that received a photo of Easter Island heads had more of a challenge, which may not have been entirely fair, at to the lowest degree for the time allotted.
For much younger participants, it's also important to weigh the challenge of timing with the difficulty of the task. The younger the student, the simpler the images used in the exercise. It's a learning tool that is couched in fun. Success is weighed in degrees, which volition exist obvious to the participants after time is up. Repeating the exercise on a regular ground can help improve the ability to notice and as well to draw the photo when students obtain more experience.
Follow-Up: Applying New Skills
The final activity during the workshop involved drawing museum specimens from a option of objects requested in accelerate. We provided x stereomicroscopes to use with the smaller specimens. We prepared in advance a collection of preserved plants, birds, diverse insects, a few arrowheads, and shells, and we had also collected a wide range of alive leaves from various trees. This is where the participant could (perhaps without realizing it) apply his or her new, sharpened observing skills to the relaxed task of drawing. During this menstruum, there was no judgment or criticism about the quality of the drawings produced. It was purely an exercise in recording observations. The point of this do was not nearly making cute works of art, only in accurately recording observations of the objects each participant chose to tape on paper.
In contrast to the previous exercises, this was almost a meditation, easy to become absorbed in the seeing and visual recording (Effigy 5).
Participants try their hand at drawing from museum specimens.
Smithsonian, used with permission
Conclusion
The program host collected responses from the teachers about their experiences during the workshop. The question they were asked was: "What ideas or concepts did you take away from Midweek's session?"
- I absolutely loved this session! It helped me in agreement drawing objects in biology to reluctant students.
- This was an incredibly useful session, I'd like to practise more piece of work effectually illustrating all scientific processes.
- I liked the 10 2d drawing. This is a skilful "icebreaker" to build confidence with student drawing.
Taking information technology to the Classroom
Observing activities that are fun will help motivate a greater commitment to the task of learning in the science classroom. Make it a game. There are several other activities published and posted on the net that volition serve this purpose (see Resource.)
Repeated practise through the human action of drawing trains the encephalon to focus, to become more skillful at ascertainment. Encourage drawing in the science classroom. On a regular basis, cartoon tin assist students retain data for each lesson, thereby improving learning.
Effort having each educatee learn to keep a field journal and brand entries every day. Consider linking drawing practice with a life science lesson, for example. The subject matter is easily obtainable and costs nothing; but walk exterior. Compare similar life forms, various types of leaves, tree branching habits; draw insects from diverse angles, leg sections, body variation, dissimilar types of antennae. Name the parts alongside the drawings. Draw them in writing. Have students invent their own insects and write in their journals how their insects live, what they eat, how they move.
Observation exercises in the science classroom farther boost learning in expansive ways. Drawing is a nifty way to become them involved. Information technology's active engagement in learning by doing and it'southward also a personal contribution to the class. Start students as soon as possible—the younger, the ameliorate.
References
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Source: https://www.nsta.org/science-and-children/science-and-children-january-2020/power-observation
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