Back to the Drawing Board Reconstructing DaVinci's Vitruvian Man To Teach Anatomy

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In today's high tech world, one hardly expects to see the original chalkboard or blackboard utilized in research, teaching, or scientific communication, but having spent an equal number of years doing both art and biology and dabbling in computer graphics, I have found the simple technology of the chalkboard and chalk to have incredible flexibility and potential for teaching almost any subject in biology. Overwhelmed by the onslaught of new technologies, I had forgotten the simple and elegant untapped universe of a blank slate and some pre-formed calcium carbonate. I started to experiment with lesson plans, dissections, and even animations on this black space and rediscovered what I knew instinctively as a child: That this simple, fiat, open vista of opportunity had enormous potential for inquiry learning and for deep, meaningful, and engaging teaching at all levels in the life sciences-and it's fun! The chalkboard, or for the sake of this article, the blackboard, appears before us in almost every classroom: blank, inviting, sometimes ominous, and often forgotten. I have found no technology that can replace it or even come close to allowing the creative potential of drawing skills to come alive in teaching biology. And the feeling of chalk and slate, just like the feeling of a paper and pencil, is a rich tactile, sensorial experience that you can only achieve with natural objects. But the blackboard is more than just a space, it is an invitation to scientific inquiry, creative dialogue, and a format for diverse conceptually-based storytelling in front of a live audience. It is also an integral component of almost all cultures and their pictorial affirmation of being part of nature. It has the potential to reveal stories on everything from ecological networks to molecular pathways; it can reveal complex procedures and processes, and teaches us about the ephemeral nature of living systems--one minute they're there, the next minute they're gone-all via the eraser. While there are endless possibilities with the chalkboard or blackboard, I have chosen to demonstrate and discuss the use of Leonardo DaVinci's Vitruvian Man in teaching introductory anatomy because it demonstrates how the blackboard allows a teacher to work out, experiment with, and imagine a lesson in a limited amount of time and produce a lecture with a pleasing visual aesthetic that can be replicated. Sometimes with technology, content and experience become "flattened," and for a subject as dynamic and "alive" as biology, that is a very undesirable effect. Devoid of interaction with others or the mind-body interaction, learning biology can literally become lifeless. That is why Leonardo DaVinci's work is ideal for infusing that spark that is biology, and his images and life are ingenious for teaching all levels of biology and even medical school. DaVinci's work both distinguishes and blends art processes and the life sciences in a way that conveys his deep love of the natural world and establishes a framework upon which to build almost any life science lesson. * The Blackboard & Biology Education's Mind Body Connection In Art and Experience, Dewey commented that "Even in the caves, human habitations were adorned with colored pictures that kept alive the sense experiences with animals that were so closely bound with the lives of humans" (p. 7). John Dewey was considered to be "the father" of modern educational philosophy. Darwin believed that direct experience, which involved actually physically doing, making, creating was a major component of any learning process. Dewey emphasized mind and body merging for optimal learning experiences. Drawing on the blackboard is one of those experiences. Dewey refers to doing as part of experience, ". thought is immediately embodied in the object art." The experience of the biology lecture that engages the students in drawing can be informative, inspiring, engaging, and "heightened" with the instructor refining and intensifying the knowledge, involving the audience, and organizing the flow of information. …