DP students applied themselves to creativity and science

Secondary

29-09-2023

The fields of science and the arts are often thought to be incompatible. In our minds, scientists hold test tubes while artists hold paint brushes and never the two shall meet. This is likely to be true in some cases but there are people who can see the art in science. Using a microscope and some digital imaging tools, people create the most amazing pictures of the microscopic world around us.

By Minka Peeters Weem, biology teacher

Real beauty can be found around us in many of the small things we see every day.

A cross section of a leaf of dune grass could be analysed thinking about the relationship between structure and function but can also be enjoyed for its beauty. With the DP students we watched the results of yearly competitions held by some of the manufacturers of cameras. If you are interested you can find these images here.

Inspired by the artwork, our DP students asked if they could use their CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) time for creativity and take some microscope pictures of their own. They went out to find some material which they then looked at under the microscope and subsequently enhanced with some digital techniques. Even with simple equipment, they produced some pleasing images as you can see below.

DP students made art out of microscopic pictures.

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