How Art Changes Math & Computer Science Education
Math and computer science, at any grade beyond primary, are usually taught as procedures and formal methods. Lots of symbolic scribbles on white boards. The problem with this approach is that the subject seems dry and detached for most students. You learn a technique, formalism, or method and there is little in the way of relevance to a student’s personal life. Why learn it? Seems boring. Is there a way to make it more interesting? Or, heaven forbid, fun?
In art, things are taught in a very different manner. Three words: experience, interpretation, and representation. We will return to these.
In art class, the student experiences the world directly through sense perception. This is a core approach: experience the world around you. When you experience the world, you tend to ask lots of questions. The arts employ an inquiry-based approach to learning.
Find an object right now that you like. You might be staring at it. It may be anything- a favorite painting, a lamp, a sculpture or object of design like a chair or a lamp. Maybe its people. Now — ask questions after observing this object at your leisure. What kind of object is it? Who made it? What does it remind you of? If you were to sketch it, what might your sketch reveal? Like all abstractions and models, the sketch would highlight some attributes at the expense of others. To do, and to learn, art, you need to pay attention and observe.
So much for art education — what does this have to do with math and computer science education?
The first thing to note is that mathematics lies at the core of “STEM” which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. In a nutshell, Science and Engineering are based on math. Galileo famously remarked in Il Saggiatore (1623) that the universe was written in mathematics. Computer science is applied mathematics — the mathematics of information.
Let’s return to the processed photograph at the top of the post: St. Michael. The original photo is posted here:
Imagine you are there. Experience St. Michael and walk the road and pay really close attention while you are doing it. The question, from computer science is:
How do you interpret this scene?
At first, this may seem way out of place. What does computer science have to do with interpreting a scene leading to a church? The answer is that it has everything to do with it. But to sit where I am sitting, you need to look at this from an artists perspective, since the artist would experience, interpret, and represent the scene.
Math becomes a way to interpret stuff and not only to solve real world problems (which we hear about all the time; math helps solve problem X and problem Y in the news).
What data structure would you use to interpret:
- The building on the left?
- The shed on the right?
- The spire of St. Michael?
It gets better.
How would you represent this data structure? Start with your favorite programming language. But, play with the representation. Explore. That is what an artist would do. And you should also do it because representation is a key to understanding abstraction. Abstraction needs multiple representations. How else can someone understand the concept of “one?”
Art is an idea; it is a thought, a mental process. Ask Marcel Duchamp since this was one of his messages. Mathematics is the same — it is mental. Plato had it right. Except that representations have their place because, as NCTM points out, multiple representations are central to mathematics education . To understand an abstraction you need numerous representations. Yes, we also need standards of representation, but standards are not for learning; they are for peer-to-peer technical communication.
The following is one of a million representations. It is an image from a game called Prime Climb.
What art gives to STEM is a new way of teaching and learning. Is this STEAM? I don’t know because there seem to be so many definitions of STEAM (STEM + Art).
To learn math, and all the subjects that are built from math, including computer science, think like an artist: experience (and observe — pay close attention to what you experience!). Interpret and represent. By all means, enjoy yourself.
