LUMEN Issue 1 - June 2011 | Page 9

LEARNING | LUMEN

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In SJI , we pride ourselves on helping our students to learn how to live ; not die . To do this in ArtScience , students learn various aspects of innovative ideation and problem solving based on a theme . They work in teams to define problems , negotiate ideas , research , test prototypes and present their ‘ story ’ while going through the process of Conception-Translation- Realisation of their ideas through site visits , talks by industry practitioners , experimentation , knowledge building and art / design activities . In short , it is a programme jam-packed with handson activities , fun and play . Fun and play , we realised after a year of painful trial and error in 2010 , are key ingredients in keeping students engaged and alive , especially since we conduct sessions after school when the better part of their attention has already been spent during curriculum hours .

A large dose of humour keeps the teachers going as well because it is after all the end of a hectic day for us too . We are kept sane by some of the insane things students come up with , making us wonder what other funny things they will be telling us next . The excerpts of answers that they provided when asked how each of a list of given items are artistic and / or scientific is shown in the figure below .

As we know it , the scientific method is logical , exact and data driven while the artistic method is deductive , dreamy and intuitive . According to Prof David A . Edwards , founder of the ArtScience Labs and author of the books Artscience : Creativity in the post-Google Generation ( Harvard University Press 2008 ) and The Lab : Creativity and Culture ( Harvard University Press 2010 ), it is the tension that arises when reconciling the two very different art and science processes that brings about the best and most creative ideas . The creation of Le Whiff from the ArtScience Labs is an example of the success of this creative tension .

However , more important than the theoretical understanding of interdisciplinary and liberal thinking is the underlying aim of the ArtScience Programme to help students find their

Element . Sir Ken Robinson , an international advisor knighted in 2003 for services to education and the author of The Element : How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything ( Penguin 2009 ) believes firmly that we feel most ourselves , most inspired , and achieve to our highest level when we are in our Element . According to him , the Element “ has two main features and there are two conditions for being in it . The features are aptitude and passion . The conditions are attitude and opportunity .” Learning how to learn for the SJI student will therefore happen in a sequence that goes something like this : “ I get it ; I love it ; I want it ; where is it ?” That ultimately is the goal that the teachers hope to achieve with the SJI ArtScience Programme . Yet , there is method to the students ’ madness , I promise . So far , ArtScience students of 2011 working on the theme of water have attended talks by professionals in the media and marine biology industries . They have visited the Marina Barrage and the Marina Bay Sands ( MBS ) ArtScience Museum . They have negotiated among themselves on the best way to build a roller-coaster and a floating device . They continue to share ideas with an international community on a learning platform called MUSETREK . Along with the programme , the school is currently discussing with possible partners like Lasalle College of the Arts and MBS ArtScience Museum among others to ensure that the programme remains authentic and vibrant .

Many of us go to school because we want to learn how to solve the world ’ s problems , to learn how to learn and how to live . ArtScience offers an attractive and exciting way of doing so . It is not about Art and Science . It is simply ArtScience .