An Artistic Experience at the Science Center: the Artistic Remark of the Scientific Context

Abstract

The research focuses on transforming students' experiences, sensations, impressions, and perceptions in the science center into artistic expression. The research aims to examine how the scientific content of the science center exhibition is interpreted by the students of the visual art course of Science and Art Center according to the artistic context. The sample of the study carried out with the case study pattern consists of nine students aged 1014, who are defined as gifted in the field of visual arts. For this study, an activity program called "Artistic Discovery in the Science Center" was created by the researchers. This program includes three activities named "Color and Light", "Visual Illusions", and "Geometry and Art". Qualitative data sources included focus group interviews, worksheets, students' artistic works, and reflective diaries. Inductive analysis was applied by triangulating findings from multiple data sources. The learning experiences offered by the activities to the students were determined as the unit of analysis. Research findings have shown that science centers offer rich learning experiences to the students in understanding the causality of art-related subjects and exploring a different context of the information learned in the visual arts course, in a way that contributes to imaginative thinking.