Improvising a Dynamic Art Exhibit: Linking Scientific Interpretation With Student-Generated Artistic Representations

• In Event: Embodied, Personal, and Artistic: Reasoning With Gestures and Representations

Abstract

The ability to construct and use external representations (meta-representational competence; MRC) is considered important for STEM education. Although representations are omnipresent both in arts and sciences, few curricula designs explored arts’ potential in developing students’ MRC. The current study aims to examine the value of arts in STEM learning by documenting a case study of five 6th graders who navigated multiple artistic representations to interpret an article about a social scientific issue (SSI). Analysis of interviews, observations, video clips, and students’ artifacts point to a set of factors (personal, social, cultural, material, and embodied) that mediated students’ construction, transformation, and communication of multiple artistic representations. Findings point to implications for designing STEM learning activities that support the development of MRC.

Authors

• Maria Kolovou, University of Miami

• Ji Shen, University of Miami

• Jennifer Beth Kahn, University of Miami