Artistic and Contemplative Pedagogical Practices in the Physics Classroom

The first part of this paper concerns a Modern Physics class at San Diego State University that was redesigned in hopes that hands-on experiential learning would improve grades in general and those of Undergraduate Minority (UGM) students in particular. The redesign resulted in a decrease of D/F grades from 25% to 5%. The GPA of UGM students increased from 2.5 to 3.0 and is now on par with that of the other students. Visualization, art, and group sharing exercises help students to engage and open up their minds to the “weird” quantum world. Also included are video projects, animations, and virtual immersion through gaming, to help students tap into their creativity. This in turn gives them the courage to engage with difficult physics problems. Discussed in the second half is a Polymer Science class that I co-teach with Prof. Alter from the Dance department. One fifth of all class sessions are attended by science students and dance students jointly. These sessions have shown that students can effectively collaborate, while synthesizing knowledge of creative practices and scientific inquiry. We are convinced that the use of these emergent pedagogies not only improves the students’ learning experience, but also better prepares them to be creative partners in the workplace.