Why Aesthetics?

A child’s first experience, of peeking through a telescope to see the vivid sharply etched, yet fragile, rings of Saturn is a powerful one; perhaps as powerful as standing amidst redwood trees listening to the sound of wind rustling through the leaves or experiencing a moment of clarity when an elegant geometrical proof, surprising in its simplicity, emerges from a chaos of sketches and doodles. It is in this sense of awe and wonder that our minds nibble at confronting powerful ideas such as infinity (whether the infinity of numbers, or the interminably large scale of the cosmos, or the immeasurably small universe of cells and atoms and quarks). The emotional turbulence that overwhelms us when we reflect on nature, truly understand a scientific idea, or solve a tricky mathematical or engineering problem often leads to powerful aesthetic experiences. These experiences, we argue, are no different or less than the aesthetic experience we have in engaging with powerful artistic human creations, be it music or the visual arts.

That said, the role of the aesthetic has often been ignored in the discussion on learning. And I truly believe that is a huge mistake on our part.

On designing aesthetic educational
experiences in science

I was invited to give a presentation on this topic at conference titled Beauty at Work: An International Symposium at the Catholic University of America, in Washington DC (May 2023). I was part of a session on  Aesthetic Properties and Scientific Information, along with Myron Penner (a philosopher of science from Trinity Western University); Amanda Nichols (professor of chemistry from Oklahoma Christian University); Milena Ivanova (from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge); and Rebecca Kamen (artist in residence at the University of Pennsylvania). More details about the conference and a video of my talk (On designing aesthetic educational experiences in science) can be found here. 

Aesthetics & coding

Does beauty have a role to play in learning to code? Can code aspire to beauty and elegance? In this article (Good, Keenan, & Mishra, 2016, titled Education:=Coding + Aesthetics), we argue that it does and it should.

Mathematical poetry

What does mathematics have to do with poetry? Not much, at one level, but a lot at another. Though their goals may be different, both mathematicians and poets play with structure and form, seek elegance and parsimony in their work. And in their own way they strive for truth and beauty—defined within the rules and structures of their discipline. I have loved both mathematics and poetry – with little or no success in each. But over the years I have played little games with both and some of these explorations are presented here.