I have taught science meets art classes in many formats, from one-day to three-week workshops, from Stanford to Phoenix to Indianapolis to Beijing to Saudi Arabia. But not until Susan Neville gave me the opportunity to stretch this out into a year-long college seminar at Butler University have I been able to fully explore a myriad form of arts (while drilling down specifically to physics as our primary science).
We have read plays aloud together and written about whether female physicists need a love interest (they do not!) to anchor their stories. We have created graphic novel excerpts about physicists and great discoveries in physics—they have used everything from construction paper to glued-on cotton balls with the absolute freedom and creativity of young children, then pivoted to writing scholarly academic papers on physics and graphic novels. I learn so much from my students each year and am inspired by them.
But not until a scheduling coincidence filled one of my classes with dance majors have I been able to learn from a group of dancers about the possibilities of choreography and physics. I usually show videos and have them read an article about a physics dance, then they write a reader response. But this year, I gave them the opportunity (it was only fair to let the non-dance majors do this as well) to write down their choreography of a dance concept from something they learned about physics this year. I am ecstatic about the results, floored by their creativity, and excited to share that, on top of the wonderful results from the dance majors, one unexpected “black hole dance” was created by a football player! Next year, I hope to return to my old Tuesday/Thursday schedule (lots of commuting from rural Indiana to Butler) and I might not be with the dancers again, but either way, this assignment stays.
