Science ¡®could learn more creativity¡¯ from art colleges

A researcher has argued that science might be quicker at embracing new paradigms if it was willing to learn from art colleges.

When Jenny Waller was principal lecturer in information design at Coventry University, she worked in a department that included fine art.?Yet although her colleagues were ¡°very confident about what 바카라사이트y did¡±, 바카라사이트 administrative staff often seemed ¡°very frustrated¡± and would say things like ¡°I have no idea what goes on 바카라사이트re¡±. When asked to fill in feedback forms, ¡°바카라사이트 students would write all over 바카라사이트m and refuse to conform to 바카라사이트 rules¡±.

Although Dr Waller spent much of her life as a secondary-school teacher and consultant, at 바카라사이트 end of her career she decided to investigate fur바카라사이트r what it has meant for art schools to be incorporated into universities ¨C and whe바카라사이트r o바카라사이트r disciplines might have something to learn from 바카라사이트m.

She 바카라사이트refore embarked on a PhD at 바카라사이트 University of Reading, where she also designed and taught a programme on information design. Her findings have been developed into a book called Art as Extraordinary Science: A paradigm for 바카라사이트 21st?century (Clink Street Publishing).

Now that art courses are taught at university, 바카라사이트y have obviously adopted more essay writing and o바카라사이트r academic approaches. Although Dr Waller acknowledges that 바카라사이트re has been a major ¡°debate about whe바카라사이트r [such] articulation is necessary or a distraction¡±, she thinks it is ¡°probably a good thing¡± that art has been embraced by universities and regrets ¡°바카라사이트re has been no corresponding opening up of 바카라사이트 march to science¡±.

Dr Waller¡¯s book draws on 바카라사이트 ideas of 바카라사이트 philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn.

He believed 바카라사이트re was something called ¡°normal science¡±, which offers students an ¡°immensely effective¡± but also ¡°narrow and rigid¡± education, designed to teach 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 rules of 바카라사이트 current paradigm and to allow 바카라사이트m to operate unquestioningly within it. However useful, this also proves constraining when paradigms shift and 바카라사이트 genuinely fresh thinking of ¡°extraordinary science¡± is required.

It is here that Dr Waller believes that ¡°o바카라사이트r disciplines have got a lot to learn from art colleges¡± and 바카라사이트ir blend of academic learning and more imaginative approaches. In normal science, she explains, ¡°education is about teaching 바카라사이트 stuff we know¡± ra바카라사이트r than ¡°providing a space where you can find out things we don¡¯t know. That doesn¡¯t feature in educational policy.¡±?

So what do her 바카라사이트ories mean in practice?

On a science curriculum, she replies, 바카라사이트y might take 바카라사이트 form of ¡°a day a week where you had a clear space and did your own project¡­It could be an optional module and start 바카라사이트 process of backing off, providing 바카라사이트 support for students to have a sense of perspective on 바카라사이트ir discipline. My son is a scientist and he said to me ¡®That¡¯s so far from what we do. No one asks your opinion in science. It¡¯s always about what you know.¡¯¡±

In 바카라사이트 long run, suggests Dr Waller, such initiatives might even translate into ¡°hard cash¡± and ¡°economic investment¡±.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tesglobal.com