COMBINATORY CREATIVITY

Let’s imagine a fantasy class which gives equal weight to science and art.   The design concepts behind Starry Night by van Gogh are just as important as the molecular arrangement of sulphur.  The prime means of engagement is the sketchbook that students keep.  They draw and write, in equal measure, as they learn.  The class is centered around the concept of combinatory creativity.

Combinatory creativity is the expression written by Claudia Roth Pierpont in their review of Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci.

“…the book is a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it. Isaacson’s answer, repeated like a mantra, lies precisely in the Leonardesque (or Jobsian) refusal to distinguish art from science, observation from imagination, and to attain a ‘combinatory creativity.’ And this goal isn’t just the prerogative of genius; we can all approach it.”  1.

That is a great passage which addresses the vast non binary middle landscape between science and art.  Alas, science and art are the same.  And we can all learn in this fertile middle landscape.

Of course, I’m not the first to suggest this model of learning.  Stephen Ross Pomeroy, writing for Scientific American, proposed that STEAM should be the moniker for our education rather than STEM;  the A, of course, being Art.  Another term typically given to this concept is interdisciplinary education.  2.

I would just like to think that whatever form a class like this took, that the students would draw.  And I would like to think that this interdisciplinary / STEAM approach starts in the beginning in first grade.  Can you imagine first graders being told that drawing is just as important as writing?  And can you imagine that students would continue to draw as an integral part of their education thru college?

What would they draw?  Everything!  Sulphur molucules.  The imagery they get when they read the poem The Collar by George Herbert.

Numerous studies have proven that incorporation of the arts into scientific curriculums have improved overall learning.  That is principally because we learn with our bodies, and we learn best when motor skills and perceptual cognition are engaged.

The confluence of art and science is an interest of these pages.  Previous pages which discuss this combination include Scientific Visualization, Scientific Creative Urge and Perception and Imagination.  Another relevant page is Writing is Drawing.

But let’s get back to that fantasy class.  Wouldn’t it be great if the essential focus of an education is not to separate who is good in science and who is good in art?  How fantastic would it be if the impetus was to facilitate the combinatory.

1.  Roth Pierpont, Claudia. “Angels and Men.” The New Yorker. October 16, 2017. Print. p88.
2. Pomeroy, Steven Ross. “From STEM to STEAM: Science and Art Go Hand-in-Hand” Scientific American. 22 August 2012. Online.