Science and creativity
Authors: Bruno Flavia 
Published: March 2020

&lt;p&gt;I teach Natural Sciences in a Liceo Artistico, a type of secondary school in Italy. It is designed to give students the skills to progress to any university, but specifically devoted to art related topics.&lt;br&gt;During my career I have been following the national educational standard of the Ministero dell&amp;#8217;Istruzione, dell&amp;#8217;Universit&amp;#224; e della Ricerca of my Country.&lt;br&gt;During the years students are involved in meaningful hands-on activities &amp;#160; such as the study of the rocks in the country, preparation of easy chemical reactions and observations through a microscope of vegetal and animal organisms. These last ones are very interesting in a Liceo Artistico where many topics focus on the study of the morphology.&lt;br&gt;The theory confirms what the students learn during the practical activities, furthermore it is important to acquire a correct scientific terminology as well as to be able to express scientific issues.&lt;br&gt;I teach during the year the following main topics:&lt;br&gt;Science of Earth: the Solar System, the two motions of the Earth, structures of the Earth surface (rivers, lakes, glaciers, oceans and seas), the Earth&amp;#8217;s Spheres, the movement of lithospheric plates.&lt;br&gt;Biology: the characteristics and functions of living organisms especially the cells and the biodiversity. The Evolution, Mendel&amp;#8217;s genetic laws, organism-environment relationship in order to valorize and to maintain the biodiversity. Chemistry: state of matter, classification of matter, the Mendeleev&amp;#8217;s Periodic Table, the main chemical reactions, atomics models, chemical bonds, chemical nomenclature.&lt;br&gt;The extra-curricular course proposal of my school (POFT-Piano dell&amp;#8217;Offerta Formativa Triennale) includes my project whose title is &amp;#8220;Science and creativity&amp;#8221;. The achievement is to create a link between scientific subjects and the art ones in order to approach knowledge which appear distant but have really many points to share.&lt;br&gt;Every year some classrooms study different topics such as the Nanoparticles, Biomimetic and this year the Adaptations of the animals.&lt;br&gt;After a scientific conference, plastic models and graphic drawings will be realised by the students, who starting from the scientific reality, can express their creativity.&lt;br&gt;During the years I organize some educational visits for example to the Botanic Garden as well as to the countryside; in this way the students have opportunities to create an e-book with texts and photographs.&lt;br&gt;For instance two years ago my classroom created an e-book with botanical cards and the following year another one with the title &amp;#8220;Rocce a Milano&amp;#8221; where students took pictures and texts about this topic.&lt;br&gt;Many classrooms and teachers are involved in this project for example Plastic and Drawing teachers, as well as Multimedia teachers. I manage to gather the interested teachers and to realize the projects.&lt;br&gt;With our productions we participate in competitions and we are sometimes selected.&lt;/p&gt;