I've been having some really interesting conversations with students this week about how they perceive Science and Art. A Year 9 student suggested that "Science is about finding the answer" which I think is a beautiful summary of what we are all trying to do. I've been showing students various pictures and debating with them whether they were produced as art or science - what do you think of this one?
Year 8's this week have travelled back in time nearly 180 years! We put ourselves in the shoes of Charles Darwin, setting sail on his epic voyage on The Beagle to discover new species of plant and animal life. We imagined that he first came up the River Severn and landed right here at the site of Oldbury Wells (you have to allow me a little artistic licence!). We looked at the types of plant life found around the school and tried to record them in the way that Darwin would have - with botanical drawings. I'll upload some of their drawings soon.
It's interesting that nowadays drawing is often seen as a leisure activity but of course in Darwin's time it would have been the only way to record images - no cameras yet, no mobile phones, no internet to share the images with others. It must have been so exciting when the ship came back to England and people saw all the wonderful 'Endless Forms' which Darwin had found.
Unfortunately the 'Endless Forms' exhibition has now closed but there are still lots of interesting resources and activities on the site - I've put a link to it on the blog. The exhibition looked at how visual artists were inspired by Darwin's findings and I have the book in school if anyone would like to take a look at it.
