Plants being grown in the luminous science project.

Luminous Science explores interdisciplinary learning by blending biochemistry, computer science and art. We grow plants using hydroponic gardening techniques, collect and analyze data using sensors, video, images (including microscopic), and hands-on measurements, and then translate that data into artistic representations that communicate information about the biology, chemistry, and health of the garden. Do elementary and middle school students benefit when bio and computer science instruction is blended with art? That's the question this research aims to answer. 

 

Publications

  • Lila FinchR. Benjamin Shapiro and Franziska Carstens. 2018. Teachers' Values in Co-Design of an Art-Science-Computation Unit. In International Conference of the Learning Sciences (London, UK – August, 2018).

Project Website    Laboratory for Playful Computation