Implementation of ‘Four Dimensions in Physics and Arts’ (SOI-HR-90)
‘Four Dimensions in Physics and Arts‘ Learning Scenario was implemented by Arts and Physics teachers during an Arts class.
Can a work of art be created with the help of physics?
At the beginning of the school year, my aim was to get my students who are 17-18 years old familiar with art from a completely new angle, through physics. I have chosen “Four Dimensions in Physics and Arts” LS. The activities performed in the class enabled the students to realise to what extent physics had helped the artist to create new styles.
The introduction to the topic was watching a video about well-known elements of the art language. Then the students were divided into five groups. They had to choose two out of many geometrical shapes according to their choice. They measured a pyramid, cuboid, prism, cube and cardboard box in different ways in order to find out the depth of the shapes and they were taking notes. The teachers monitored the activities of each group. The students were not sure all the time if they had done the measurements correctly and they looked for instructions from the teachers. They were completely engaged in the measurement process without being aware that they would use their results in art.
In the next activity, one group was doing research in Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism and Metaphysical painting using the resources from Europeana which they were familiar with from the previous lessons in art. One group did research about Albert Einstein and the additional task was to do research about one Croatian physicist.
Do you recognize physics in Art History styles?
Through discussion before the research, we found out that the students’ opinions were different since one part of the students thought that those artworks did not have anything to do with physics because they had never used such an interdisciplinary approach before. After having done the research they came to the conclusion that there was the fourth dimension as a variation of different styles.
A new perspective on experiencing Van Gogh
In the last activity which was the most interesting one, the students immediately recognized the painting by Vincent van Gogh, “Starry Night” but this time with the help of Experenti app which they found amazing.
Conclusion
They expressed their wish for more such lessons. The lesson was an active one with lots of team cooperation and interdisciplinary teaching. The students loved a completely different atmosphere in the classroom. We needed 90 minutes for all the activities.
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario?
Four Dimensions in Physics and Arts by Eirini Siotou
If you found this story of implementation interesting, you might also like:
- ‘Greek Canon’ implemented by Francois Jourde
- ‘ReFake It’ implemented by Alma Suto
- ‘Feel the Moment – touch the 19th century image and discover’implemented by Rafał Mazur
CC BY 4.0:The featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and provided by Rippl-Rónai Megyei Hatókörű Városi Múzeum.