Creating Art in the Pursuit of Science

Paul Zahller, Upper School Science Teacher, has created a new project for his Exploratory Botany class. The class is a student-led, inquiry-based scientific study of plants where students explore the interconnection between diverse plant types and the importance of plants in the environment and society. Students learn creative observation and how to investigate plant phenomena such as growth, reproduction, anatomy, morphology, physiology, biochemistry, genetics and ecology.

Right now, students are creating a virtual herbarium, which is essentially a collection of specimens that resides in a digital space rather than a physical space. This work is going to be continued year over year and can be easily shared with others.

This week, Tiffany D’Addario of the Upper School Fine Arts Department helped launch the creative and technical component of the project. She led students through the process of photography lighting for botany using available resources. “Students are learning how using the process of creating art elevates the desired outcome,” Ms. D’Addario said.

“This is a great interdisciplinary project and collaboration,” said Mr. Zahller.