New Perspectives in Science Education

This paper was induced by the observation of how children, about 7 years old, at the Magritte Museum in Brussels were introduced to the idea of surrealism that the depiction of an object always differ from the object itself. They looked at a painting of a mask at some distance from a face and discussed how facial expressions in general only partly reveal the character of a person. It was obvious that children understood the general principle that no matter how naturalistically we depict an object, we never do catch the item itself. The picture helped them with assistance of a supervisor to create this general view. The teacher used the painting to create a learning situation instead of explaining the painting and its message. Many students are trained in trying to understand what the teacher wants to hear rather than understand the principles of the theories taught. In science, and most other subjects in school, this result in a knowledge concept based on the quality in the reproduction of texts, formulas, and the use of concepts in relation to the original presentations. Instead, the teaching should result in useful personal and differing skills based on the understanding of the theories taught. Methods used in presentations of art work at galleries and museums could also be used when science is taught and learned at science museums and in the classrooms. The discrepancy between the representation and reality open up new fields of interpretations which can be used by the teacher to create curiosity. Whatever is demonstrated for students they should be induced to discuss how this should be interpreted and to construct the reality behind instead of trying to remember the representation itself. As the creation of understanding appears in the mind of the student the teacher has to create situations stimulating the wish to understand the reality behind the studied object among the students. Here we give some examples of how this method could be used in science education but also how it can be used when assessing the results of teaching. The method helps the teacher to assess whether the student may be able to create practical solutions based on theoretical frameworks or are trying to reproduce or copy what they think are in the mind of the teacher.

Keywords: teaching, curiosity, art; 

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