Two-Way Street: Gifted Students Explore the Connection Between Art & Science
by Rhoda Rosen
The relationship between art and science is a two-way street, asking us to explore past discoveries and make new ones. Recently, the eighth grade students participating in CTD’s Project EXCITE explored this relationship through a series of in-depth and hands-on activities. Fruitful investigations into the relationship of science and art involve field work, creative work, and discovery. Here is the story of the EXCITE students:
First, with the Museum of Science and Industry FABLAB staff, along with circuit-bending experimental musician, Roth Mobot, the students hacked circuits and engineered some futuristic instruments. 
Then, they partnered with mathematician Jeremy Watt, who helped the students make Möbius strips, which are surfaces with only one side and only one boundary.With only one 180 degree twist of a strip of paper, a circle with an interior and exterior becomes a continuous loop. In a class discussion, they wrestled with dimensions beyond the conventional three, and pondered whether the shadow of a fourth dimensional being would be considered 3D.
Their work has made it into a public exhibition, running Sunday, July 10, 2011 at the main branch of the Evanston Public Library through July 31, with an opening reception July 10 from 4-6 p.m. If you are in the Chicago area, come and meet our expert eighth grade docents as they explain abstract math problems using concrete objects and participate in a demonstration of some mind-bending math problems.
Where do you see the connection between art & science in your world? (Ask your gifted child, too!)
First, with the Museum of Science and Industry FABLAB staff, along with circuit-bending experimental musician, Roth Mobot, the students hacked circuits and engineered some futuristic instruments. 
Then, they partnered with mathematician Jeremy Watt, who helped the students make Möbius strips, which are surfaces with only one side and only one boundary.With only one 180 degree twist of a strip of paper, a circle with an interior and exterior becomes a continuous loop. In a class discussion, they wrestled with dimensions beyond the conventional three, and pondered whether the shadow of a fourth dimensional being would be considered 3D.
Mobius strip
While their plunge into mathematical theory was still fresh in their minds, the students then visited the Art Institute of Chicago, where the visual environment allowed them to think about the way math orders the world, yet can also disrupt perception. The two-way street concept became clear when the students learned that the distinction between abstract reasoning and concrete thinking is false, that art and science rely on both ways of thinking. While this is a formal program, students and parents can seek out comparable art and science institutions and programs in their respective areas. The students' work suggests that arts, crafts, and object play do not involve a form of thinking distinct from scientific thought, but are – indeed - the very essence of scientific thought. The pieces explore the way scientists (including those in grade 8!) think with objects and show what is possible when gifted children are provided an opportunity to ponder and to create.
Their work has made it into a public exhibition, running Sunday, July 10, 2011 at the main branch of the Evanston Public Library through July 31, with an opening reception July 10 from 4-6 p.m. If you are in the Chicago area, come and meet our expert eighth grade docents as they explain abstract math problems using concrete objects and participate in a demonstration of some mind-bending math problems.
Where do you see the connection between art & science in your world? (Ask your gifted child, too!)