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Biology through art: an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to teaching biology
"Biology through art" is a collaborative network of biologists and artists that explores the integration of biology education and artistic expression. This approach builds on the demonstrated cognitive and academic benefits of art-enhanced instruction in biology courses to increase creativity, course engagement, and concept comprehension by diverse students -- biology majors and non-majors, as well as traditional and non-traditional students. To engage diverse learning preferences, we emphasize concrete, immediate expression of concepts in biology, and encourage thinking about concepts from diverse perspectives. "Biology through art" is additionally motivated by recent calls from national advisory bodies for the integration of education in the sciences with the arts and humanities, with an emphasis on the college graduate as a scientifically literate member of society.
Faculty, students, teachers, artists, biologists, naturalists, and those curious about the union of science and the arts are encouraged to join this group as a place to reflect, exchange ideas, and apply interdisciplinary approaches to the teaching of biology. To become an official network participant, email project organizer Mike Maxwell, mmaxwell@nu.edu
Biology through Art's website is supported by the QUBES Project
The mission of the Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education and Synthesis (QUBES) project is to improve learning opportunities for all students enrolled in undergraduate biology courses by reflecting the centrality of quantitative approaches in modern biology. One of the ways that QUBES promotes quantitative approaches is by partnering with existing projects and communities to facilitate the discovery and use of their materials. Click here for more information.
NSF Statement
This project is funded by the Directorate for STEM Education, Division of Undergraduate Education, Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Initiative. NSF-DUE grant #2315749.
This project has received previous funding by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, as part of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action. NSF-DBI-UBE grant #2120607.
