Teacher's Guide for ODYSSEY^TM Science and Beauty

Exploring the Issue: Science & Beauty

Format:
      Article/Page
      Summary
      Skills

"Computing Art," pg. 6

• Computer-generated fractal patterns are mathematical representations of natural processes. They show how fine the line between art and science really is.
• Inductive Reasoning, Metacognition

"Cold Inspiration," pg. 9

• The scanning electron microscope reveals the process and nature of snowfall.
• Vocabulary, Process Chronology

"Summing Up Symmetry: Beauty That Works!", pg. 14

• The categories "reflectional," "rotational," and "translational" differentiate forms of symmetry. To scientists, the sophistication and repetition of symmetry are both beautiful and functional.
• Vocabulary, Applications

"The Tessellating World of M.C. Escher" (Activity)," pg. 18

• Decorate a box with Escher-style interlocking figure patterns (tessellations).
• Vocabulary, Following Directions

"Taking a Closer Look at Science," pg. 22

• Felice Frankel's up-close images inspire us to examine the world in a new way. Her beautiful photographs bring a fresh perspective to science.
• Vocabulary, Applications

"Spacey Art," pg.26

• Whether it's dancing in zero gravity, deploying a sculpture on Mars, or organizing an art exhibition on a space station, today's space artists are cultural pioneers.
• Vocabulary, Creative Applications

"Want to Become an Imagician?", pg.30

• Imagine a wall-size kaleidoscope, created by your movements and accompanied by music. That's the Iamascope, a computer application that simulates the mirror reflections within a real kaleidoscope. An accompanying activity tells how to make a kaleidoscope.
• Vocabulary, Following Directions

"Strange and Beautiful Attractors," pg. 35

• Modern mathematics explains processes once considered too complicated for quantification. "Strange attractors" disclose the hidden order underlying the seeming randomness of chaos.
• Vocabulary, Mathematical Logic

"What's Up (Planet Watch and Backyard Observations)," pg. 38

• With two meteor showers and a good view of five planets, November is a skywatcher's dream. Learn about the myth and magic of the constellation Pisces.
• Observation, Following Directions

"Whirligig Science," pg. 44

• The whirligig is a perfect marriage of art and science, combining wind power and motion with sculpture. Meet Vollis Simpson, whose famous whirligigs have decorated Baltimore harbor, Olympic stadium, and his own front yard.
• Technology, Applications

1. What is "art"? What is "science"? List examples and possible definitions for each. What do the lists have in common? List characteristics and instances that fit both disciplines.
2. How have computers strengthened the link between science and art? What are your favorite examples of computer-generated art?

Pg. 9 - "Cold Inspiration"

• Talk It Over:
  1. What problems did William Wergin encounter as he tried to capture a snowflake's image with his scanning electron microscope? How did he solve them?
  2. What processes predict and explain the shape of snowflakes?
• Connections:
  1. Art: Use gumdrops and toothpicks to model the arrangement of water molecules in ice crystals. Let a single blue gumdrop represent an oxygen atom. With toothpicks, bond two hydrogen atoms (red gumdrops) to the oxygen, forming a V. That represents one water molecule. With many, build lattice structures in which Hs bond only to Os.
  2. Mathematics/Logic: Draw a Koch snowflake following geometric principles. Begin with an equilateral triangle (all sides and angles equal). Remove the inner third along each side and insert another equilateral triangle where the side was removed.
     
     
     
     Repeat that process as many times as you can. Then visit the Web site http://www.treasure-troves.com/math/KochSnowflake.html to find the formula for the snowflake's area.
  3. Creative Writing: Write a vignette titled "A Day in the Life of a Snowflake." Use scientific terms and processes to describe your birth, growth, and travels.
• Student Assessment:
  1. Select two atmospheric conditions. In a brief essay, explain how each transforms the shape and size of a snowflake.
  2. Pretend you are a docent in an art museum. Your topic is "The Art of the Snowflake." Write an introduction to your presentation, outlining the topics you will cover.

pg. 14 - "Summing Up Symmetry: Beauty That Works!"

• Talk It Over:
  1. How does the phrase "the whole consists of repeating parts" explain reflectional, translational, and rotational symmetry?
  2. How are graphite, diamond, and the buckminsterfullerene alike? How are they different? How do their differences relate to the science of symmetry?
• Connections:
  1. Visual Arts: In line drawings or collages, illustrate glide refection and reflectional, translational, and rotational symmetry. Strive for accuracy. Use labels and captions as needed.
  2. Mathematics/Life Science: The arrangement of scales on a pine cone and leaves on a stem often reflect the mathematical relationship described by Leonardo Fibonacci: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . ., where each successive number is the sum of the two previous numbers. Research the Fibonacci series and calculate Fibonacci's Golden Ratio from pictures or specimens of natural objects.
  3. Photography: Shoot straight-on close-ups of friends or family members. Have the negatives printed twice: once face up, once face down. (Alternative: Trace faces from prints onto sheets of transparent acetate.) Cut and reassemble pictures (or flip and retrace transparencies) to make faces with perfect mirror symmetry. Compare faces made from two right halves with those made from two lefts. How are they different?
• Student Assessment:
  1. Examine a drawing or model of the DNA molecule. Use the terminology of symmetry to describe the patterns you see within it.
  2. Typically, symmetry describes an object - either natural or human-made - but writing can also be symmetrical. Write a symmetrical poem of ten to twenty lines. Explain how your poem uses a particular form of symmetry.

"Beauty is truth,"

Whole-Class Activity: Read the following poem by Emily Dickinson:

I died for Beauty -- but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining room --

He questioned softly "why I failed" --
"For Beauty," I replied --
"And I -- for Truth -- Themself are one --
We Brethren, are," He said --

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night --
We talked between the Rooms,
Until the Moss had reached our lips --
And covered up -- our names --

List and discuss several different interpretations of this poem, substituting "art" for "beauty" and "science" for "truth." Look for other literary works that explore the relationship between science and art.

"Truth beauty, --"

Small-Group, Collaborative Project: Select a scientific process or image (for example, dew on a leaf, steam bubbling, a wheel turning, etc.) and take several close-up photographs. Arrange them on a poster with captions that challenge the viewer to see the science in art and the art in science.

"that is all Ye know on earth,"

Community Connection: Ask an architect to show your class how form complements function in interior and exterior design. Ask questions about how science and art blend in an architect's work.

"Tand all ye need to know."

Individual and Whole-Class Project: Organize a schoolwide exhibit of art with a scientific bent. Consider close-up photography, computer-generated fractals, tessellations, and other media. Survey visitors to the exhibit, asking their opinions on the relationship between science and art.

Extra Class Research Activity: Ask your librarian, resources coordinator, or Internet educator for help in showing students how to look up the source of Far Out's overlying poem (Ode on a Grecian Urn, by John Keats).

Recommended Teacher Resource: The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty, by K.C. Cole (New York: Harcourt, 1998)

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Updated: 9/5/08 06:02 pm
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