Learning Biology through the Creative Use of Artistic Digital Media: Constructing Phyconic Control for a Video Installation
Thomas Winkler, Martina Ide-Schoening, Michael Herczeg · EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology · 2007
In this paper, the authors examine why the creative use of artistic digital media is rele- vant in classroom learning. Fifth graders learn about the existing associations between nutrition, their bodies and sense of well-being. In an inter-disciplinary learning project (biology and art), stu- dents learn how to express and reflect upon their knowledge about the biology of food and mood. They build an interactive video installation in a cubical tent. Each tent wall serves as a back- projection for the students' self-made video clips. These clips are controlled by a tangible user in- terface. The subject of diet, nutrition, and digestion in their biology curriculum is linked with vari- ous forms of expression developed in their media art class. Throughout this project, the children are able to reflect upon the aesthetics and scientific facts of their personal eating habits. The major long term learning effects occurs when the children build a tangible interface and an interactive installa- tion, which creates a relation between their ideas and their physical world.