Marry sciences and arts

By Betty KituyiDO you call yourself an Artist or a Scientist? Or are you in the valley between? The contemporary Uganda education system introduces us to both arts and science subjects at lower secondary. It is ironical though that the products of this system see very little or no relationship between science and arts.The answer that easily slips off their tongues when asked is that: “Sciences are hard and arts are easy!” Some primary school pupils know already what subjects they will do even before they are introduced to them.Artists accuse scientists of not being real to the world. Our education curriculum especially at higher level is loaded with abstract content that bears little reality to the learners, with little or no practice at all.Yet the arts are lived. In a CRE lesson when the topic is African marriage, the learners are excited because it is real. Is there something not being done by Science teachers to make Sciences real to the learners?Chemistry for example is one of those subjects that is quite unpopular. Makerere University, last year, had no postgraduate student doing Chemistry.Chemistry can be performed! Chemistry stories could be created and told during lessons. What is wrong with telling students a story on marriage between sodium and chlorine, for example? This would help foster the underlying idea (electrons) which is the interest in the bond. This would be an interesting way of motivating learners about the subject. Why do Science teachers stick to the old colloquial method of recording science experiments for example? Why don’t they give students a chance to experiment with their creativity, employing poetry to record their observations, for instance? Would this not transform what is observed in the test tube to the physical reality?Arts teachers too have been accused of biasing their students against Science. A Geography teacher teaching about the minerals in Uganda talks about mining copper but mentions nothing about the science of the whole process. Yet this would be a wonderful place for students to reinforce earlier knowledge on metals and their extraction. This was learned in Chemistry.The big questions of humanity are equally susceptible to valid answers from Science and Literature. Both passionately pursued share the common characteristic of doubt. Scientists test and refine their hypothesis. Likewise, artists engage in a ceaseless inquisition of their own nature and environment.It is arguable that science and arts far from being at odds comprehend and teach each other.Arts help us to live in good social environments, making strong and lasting relationships. It lends us the language to understand the world around us.We need Science to think, analyse a problem and come up with solutions for our daily living. In Science we learnt the skills to find solutions for life’s challenges. These things should be initiated in young minds while in school when they see sciences and arts lived in ordinary learning environments for them to apply later in life.Embracing both science and arts leads to complete living. At a time when discovery is being commercialised at breakneck speed, we need alliances between arts and sciences.The spirit of wonder that possesses a Scientist in their lab is the same that catches performers on stage, says Richard Dawkins in his book, Unweaving the rainbow. Teachers owe their students these attitudes.The writer is a poet and a Chemistry lecturer at Kyambogo University.