Panel IIIa Report //// Integrating Art & Design Education with Science, Engineering & Medicine
As a former art school student and current state university student, I strongly believe that it was a great decision to experience both. Why? Because as a designer, I need to work with many disciplines, not just art and design. This is becoming more and more vital in this generation.
The panel III discussion was particularly interesting to me since I am working on improving the healthcare experience for patients with Limited English Proficiency. As a designer, researching medical and healthcare issues is not expected or convenient, but many non-design fields need the eyes and hearts of designers to improve.
Three panelists, John Maeda, Robert Root-Bernstein and Robert Semper discussed ways that the education of science, engineering and technology students benefit from the integration of arts and design.
John Maeda discussed his Design in Tech Report 2018, which examined the growth and importance of design integration in technology fields. More and more consulting companies are acquiring design firms, which shows that more companies are adapting “design thinking” and appreciating the importance of the design. Maeda also highlighted that there are huge inequalities in design and technology. Most design and technology innovations and action are happening in Silicon Valley and on the east coast, centered in New York City, leaving out large parts of the country. Therefore, Maeda started to go to places where tech and design are not prevalent in the hopes of practicing more inclusive design.
Dr. Robert Root-Berstein’s presentation on “How Arts, Crafts and Design Training Benefit STEMM Professionals: The Evidence and Its Limitations” illustrated that many successful scientist were in fact artists and designers. Nobel prize winners are 25 times more likely to be creative writers, 22 times more likely to be performers, 17 times more likely to be artists and 15 times more likely to be craftspeople. George Washington Carver, well known as “The Peanut Man”, won international awards for his paintings. He also invented paint dyes and papers out of peanuts. Art was driving his inventions. Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s painting practice prepared her for X-ray crystallography. Lastly, Physicist Jacob Shazam said “acting taught me how to read equations like a script with characters. I had to bring them to life.”
Arts, crafts, and design bring the abstracting, empathizing, and playing aspect to the science and engineering fields and facilitate STEMM learning. Modern Leonardos, the hybrids, will lead innovations and breakthroughs.
Lastly, Robert Semper of Exploratorium shared the history of Exploratorium and its successful integration of art and science. Through experience, visitors of Exploratorium learn and interact with science, and art is one of the vital factors that enhances the experiences. Art supports STEM education goals: Engagement, Inquiry, Confidence. For example, Floater Theater by Nina Katchadourian and Light Walk by Bob Miller play with different qualities about light and engage audiences.
In conclusion, Semper stated that we need to practice (engage the public in understanding art as a cultural tool), document (do more documentation of learning and meaning-making in interdisciplinary contexts), research (gain better understanding of how the arts enriches meaning-making and comprehension) and foster polices to encourage the syntheses of knowledge which expands the role of art as inquiry in interdisciplinary learning environments.
