Chapter 15: Drawing Scientists Together: University Faculty’s Perceptions of Art and Perceived Barriers to Constructing and Implementing Visual Data in Science Classrooms

In 2012, we joined efforts to research the effective presentation of visual data in college science classrooms. As a collaborative research team of science educators, a science instructor, and an art instructor/scientific illustrator, we lamented the decline of real-time diagram construction in science classrooms, and the accompanying absence of sketching as a cognitive learning tool by college students. Were we a unique group, or did our colleagues have similar opinions on the value of art in science classrooms? Our goal was to identify science faculty who were interested in the issue, and probe what these science instructors felt was the role of visual representation and active graphic construction in the classroom, as well as their perceived barriers for implementing it within their own courses.